REVIEW: Enchanted [2007]

Rating: PG | Runtime: 107 minutes
Release Date: November 21st, 2007 (USA)
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Director(s): Kevin Lima
Writer(s): Bill Kelly

The steel beast is defeated peasants. You are free!

Who better to deliver in the family friendly genre on Thanksgiving than Disney with their new animated/live action hybrid Enchanted? This movie is very cute and quite good at being both wholesome for the kiddies and tongue-in-cheek for the adults. You must appreciate a studio that can poke fun at itself. By using the classic stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty—all made famous in their own right by the Mouse House—we’re given some big laughs.

The acting is very self-referential and broad as far as the fairy tale roles that make the journey into our world’s New York City go. Screenwriter Bill Kelly gives the cast some great lines and set pieces to play in, ultimately showing that the storybooks aren’t always right. True love does exist, but not necessarily with the person you first assume. The message is good, the songs are good, the animation and acting are good—Disney came through. Along with Meet the Robinsons, Mickey and friends may be turning this ship around for a new renaissance.

We’re ushered into the story with 2D animation of Giselle, a pretty girl looking for her Prince Charming. That man is Prince Edward, recently led by his stepmother’s henchman to battle ogres and partake in adventures that will keep his mind off a wife. Because his getting married means Queen Narissa loses her crown. She’s having none of that and will cross into evil stepmother/queen/hag territory to trick Giselle into falling through a portal to our world.

Now a fish-out-of-water, Giselle must find her way back to her love as he eventually comes looking for her with her best friend Pip the squirrel and the evil witch’s lackey Nathaniel in tow. It’s on this path that she runs into divorce lawyer Robert Philip to turn both of their lives upside down.

I love how this fantasy world comes into ours so awkwardly. Giselle’s ability to call on all the animals of her meadows allows her to do the same in NY, only the creatures who answer are rats, pigeons, cockroaches, and flies. It’s a priceless gag because they help her anyway. Also, every time she breaks into song, every person on the street joins along to have a blast within a huge choreographed number.

Her innocence is very precious, so trying new things always gets her new lawyer friend in trouble despite helping those in her wake. Patrick Dempsey plays Robert to great effect. He sees what she’s doing and can’t help falling for her joyful inability to see cruelty in the world. Playing the straight man to her craziness leads to wonderful moments of laughter as well as those full of poignancy and compassion to give the kids in the audience something to think about and lessons to learn.

While Dempsey’s evolution as a character is something to appreciate, it’s the transplants that shine: Amy Adams and James Marsden as Giselle and Prince Edward, respectively. They bring the happy-go-lucky mentality of Andalasia to our disenchanted realm. The over-acting is great and the culture shock fantastic. Adams is gorgeous and has the chops to make the aloofness work while also being able to change into a human being upon seeing what reality brings. When she tells Edward that she was thinking about giving up singing, his reaction really hits home on the vast void between storybook fantasy and the real world.

As for Marsden, his childish actions are truly funny. A borderline simpleton, his Edward believes in chivalry to the point where he must only flip a switch when told a suspected villain is actually a friend. His smile is infectious and his vacant expressions are indispensable for the film to work on its dual levels.

Everything works to bring a wonderful family-friendly story to life. Complete with its pop-up book bookends, Enchanted is truly magical. I don’t know how it could have worked as a fully animated work like I’ve heard was the original plan, so I’m thankful they took the plunge to expand it into live action. Crossing between these two worlds is seamless with 2D characters turning into humans or 3D computer generated animals.

With many instances ripe for a wrong turn, the filmmakers seem to come to all the right decisions. Working in older Disney yarns and playing each story thread to its effective conclusion leaves us with a tale that could become a classic amongst the ones it appropriates. So, if you are looking for a way to spend a couple hours with the whole family, Enchanted is definitely a great to do it.