The Third Draft

Enchanted (2007)                                                    Back to Reviews
by Coach Patton
©D. Patton, All Rights Reserved

Directed by: Kevin Lima
Written by: Bill Kelly

1:47 Rated: PG (for some scary images and mild innuendo).
A classic Disney fairy tale collides with modern-day New York City in a story about a fairy-tale princess from the past who is thrust into present-day by an evil queen. Soon after her arrival, Princess Giselle begins to change her views on life and love after meeting a handsome lawyer. Can a story-book view of romance survive in the real world?  

Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Susan Sarandon, Idina Menzel, Rachel Covey

There's a word for women like Giselle: Supercalifragilistic. Ditto her film, Enchanted.

A cartoon princess from the fairy-tale kingdom of Andalasia, Giselle falls down a well, comes up a sewer, and lifts a manhole cover to find herself -- now made of flesh and blood -- smack in the middle of Broadway. Both in the geographical and musical meanings of the word.
 
Enchanted follows the beautiful princess Giselle (Amy Adams) as she is banished by an evil queen (Susan Sarandon) from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer (Patrick Dempsey) who has come to her aid -- even though she is already promised back home to a perfect fairy tale prince (James Marsden) -- she has to wonder: Can a fairy-tale vision of romance and “happily-ever-after" survive in the real world?
 
There could be no better title for Enchanted than just that, encapsulating in a single word the feeling that audiences of every age will experience while watching it. The film, a purely magical cartoon/live-action hybrid buoyantly directed by Kevin Lima (1999's Tarzan) and imaginatively written by Bill Kelly (2007's Premonition), features a central premise so ingenious and yet so simple that it's amazing Walt Disney Pictures has never before used it. Richly comic and yet unexpectedly touching too, Disney has crafted a family feature that should deservedly span and delight all demographics as it lovingly pays tribute to its animated library while also playing with those pictures' shared tried-and-true conventions.  
 
In the animated land of Andalasia, Giselle (Amy Adams) is a sprightly young woman whose best friends are woodland creatures and whose dream of finding a prince is in the forefront of her mind. While attempting to escape the wrath of a giant troll, she falls from a tree and onto the horse of the dashing Prince Edward (James Marsden), who immediately proclaims, "We shall be married tomorrow."
 
All is not peachy in Andalasia, however, as Edward's evil stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), would find her throne threatened if he takes a wife. Transforming herself into an old hag, Narissa lures Giselle away on her wedding day and pushes her into a vortex that sends her directly to the live-action real world of New York City — "a place," Narissa says, "where there are no happily ever afters."
 
Finding herself trapped in surroundings that are at great odds with her innocent and naive fairy tale sensibilities, Giselle is taken in by divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a single father about-to-be-engaged to Nancy (Idina Menzel). As the naturally sunny Giselle struggles to adapt while waiting for her fiancé to rescue her, Prince Edward and Giselle's chipmunk sidekick, Pip, arrive in Manhattan in hot pursuit.
 
The longer Giselle stays in New York, the more whole she becomes as a person, bonding with Robert as he teaches her that life and relationships are a lot more complicated than she has been led to believe. Meanwhile, more trouble is afoot. Attempting to reach Giselle before Edward does, Narissa sends goofy henchman Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) after her with the dastardly mission of giving her a poisoned apple.
 
A delectably witty fish-out-of-water story, Enchanted puts a smile on the viewer's face in the first scene and keeps it there for the duration of its fast 107 minutes. While the script could have been written with a sharper satirical edge and misses out on some fairly obvious gangbusters situations to put Giselle in — where is the scene where she stumbles upon The Disney Store, or one where she comes in contact with the "Alice in Wonderland" statue in Central Park? — the material cooked up is nonetheless vibrantly original and frequently hilarious.
 
Lost and adrift in the Big Apple on her first night there, Giselle cluelessly sits down next to a homeless man and asks him to give her a kind word or, at the very least, a smile to cheer her up –- he grabs her tiara and runs away. When she sees a billboard with a castle on it, she climbs up onto the scaffolding and knocks on its cardboard door. And when she runs into a small short-tempered man on the street, she assumes he is Grumpy-the dwarf.
 
The film continues these sorts of gags to optimal effect, blending the rough-and-tumble landscape of New York City with Giselle's gift for drawing out the whimsical. To tidy up Robert's messy apartment, she calls on the help of all the nearby animals, who turn out to be houseflies, rats and cockroaches (shades of Ratatouille). Later, believing that a song is sometimes all it takes to lift a person's day, Giselle finally meets her match in the form of reggae musicians on the street, who help to turn one of her tunes into a full-blown musical number spanning the length of Central Park. One of the best production numbers I’ve seen in years -- since Fame.  
 
All Robert can do is look on in amazement at a beautiful, unapologetically cheerful woman unlike any he has ever met before. By the time Prince Edward reaches his fair maiden, Giselle is a changed person herself, helpless before her newfound feelings for Robert and recognizing that she hardly knows this prince guy she has agreed to marry. Determined to make it work — Robert, after all, already has a girlfriend — she suggests they go out on a date first. After a moment of thought, Edward earnestly queries, "What's a date?"
 
Two years ago, Amy Adams was nominated for an Academy Award for her memorable performance in 2005's Junebug. Adams is glorious as Giselle, essaying a quintessential Disney heroine with a fresh twist. Her speech, facial expressions, mannerisms, and overall physicality and personality are like a true-blue animated character sprung to live-action life. She is comically gifted all on her own, but also earthy and sympathetic enough in the second half of the movie that she slowly but surely turns into a multifaceted human being with a kaleidoscope of emotions. One particular scene where Giselle experiences the feeling of anger for the very first time is brilliantly performed by Adams with a truthfulness that’ll near break your heart.
 
As love interests Robert and Prince Edward, Patrick Dempsey (2007's Freedom Writers & TV’s Grey’s Anatomy) gamely plays the straight man without seeming like a dullard and James Marsden (2007's “Corny Collins” of Hairspray) is flawlessly cast as the hunky, sword-carrying, absent-minded cliché that all Disney princes are. Susan Sarandon (2007's In the Valley of Elah) chews the scenery as the maniacal Queen Narissa. And Idina Menzel (2005's Rent) makes the most of her screen time as Nancy.
 
Lusciously photographed by Don Burgess (2006's Eight Below) and sprinkled with lovely, wink-inducing original songs by veteran Disney and Broadway lyricists Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, Enchanted is sheer happiness personified. Not too juvenile for adults and not too objectionable for children, the film is a fantasy of overwhelming invention and a little danger, a comedy of genuine chuckles big and small, a love story of sweetness and depth, and a gentle coming-of-age fable where the central character does not grow up so much as she grows within.

Most of all, the movie is entertaining in a big way, so much fun that the viewer hates to see it come to a close. In a holiday season of predominantly serious fare, Enchanted proves that a motion picture can be light and frothy and yet still be intelligent and emotionally rewarding. As unlikely as it may seem, this is one of the year's best and brightest films. Or at least that’s How It Seemed from Where I Sat.

What’s it worth?           
For film buffs  & For the average viewer: GO SEE THIS MOVIE. It is a delight. See it with a loved one or a family member, whichever. I loved it I hope you will too.

 
ROLL CREDITS: 

Director: Kevin Lima
Screenplay: Bill Kelly
Cinematography: Don Burgess
Music: Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz

CAST:
Amy Adams--Giselle
Patrick Dempsey--Robert Philip
James Marsden--Prince Edward
Timothy Spall--Nathaniel
Idina Menzel--Nancy Tremaine
Susan Sarandon--Queen Narissa
Rachel Covey--Morgan Philip

FADE TO BLACK.
In The Name Of Truth, Justice and In the Service of A Higher Good, I Remain Your Friend, Movie Reviewer and Spiritual Advisor, Coach Patton

 
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