Rating: PG | Runtime: 119 minutes
Release Date: November 18th, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Disney+
Director(s): Adam Shankman
Writer(s): Brigitte Hales / J. David Stem, David N. Weiss & Richard LaGravenese (story) / Bill Kelly (characters)

Never fear. We will come up with something very smart at the very last minute that solves all our problems!

Let’s just say that it only took a minute or two before my partner asked if we should just shut it off (she eventually pivoted to “We should have shut it off” every half hour). Why? Because the opening animated device recapping everything that occurred in the first film seems never-ending in large part because it’s completely unnecessary. No one is watching the sequel without first seeing the original and being able to stream the former means you can also stream the latter since they’re on the same platform.

We laughed in earnest a few times (Maya Rudolph gets to have fun every once in a while), but mostly in jest (like at the fact that James Marsden must have only had one day available—with the script planning accordingly—despite his character still being more developed than Patrick Dempsey’s Robert who’s left to his own devices far away from the main plot for the duration).

The music is forgettable (although Idina Menzel does get to finally sing). And there’s zero narrative propulsion to get us to care about anything that happens. We slog through exposition and more exposition, find the film didn’t know what to do with two villains beyond bask in its apparently intrinsic “boldness”, and roll our eyes at SO. MANY. EASTER. EGGS. If nothing else, it proves just how great the original was. Enchanted‘s magic simply couldn’t be replicated.

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(L-R): Amy Adams as Giselle, Sofia (played by Mila & Lara Jackson), Gabriella Baldacchino as Morgan Philip, and Patrick Dempsey as Robert Philip in Disney’s live-action DISENCHANTED, exclusively on Disney+. Courtesy of Disney Enterprises; Inc. © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.