At the Movies
By Senitra Horbrook
It didn’t take very long for me to fall under the spell of Enchanted. Maybe it was the beginning, which is 2-D animated (hand-drawn), making it feel like one of the Disney classics of yesteryear. Maybe it was the way Amy Adams wholeheartedly took on the part of Princess Giselle, singing and dancing through the streets of New York City.
Part 2-D animation and part live action, Enchanted enables director Kevin Lima and writer Bill Kelly to help Disney poke fun at itself while paying homage to the studio’s movie classics. The result is a really good movie.
As Princess Giselle, Adams gives one of the most spirited performances of the year. Adams, who was nominated for a supporting-actress Oscar for Junebug in 2005, is truly the star here. She brings all the innocence and sweetness of the classic Disney princesses like Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.
The movie’s first few minutes are devoted to how Giselle meets Prince Edward (Jason Marsden) in a land called Andalasia. The animation is a welcome change from the computer-generated images that dominate today’s animated movies.
The smitten Giselle is ready to marry Edward when his evil stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), uses a little trickery to banish her to the real world. As the animation gives way to live action, Giselle, wearing her cumbersome wedding gown, pushes aside a manhole cover and emerges in the midst of bustling New York City, lost and confused, but soon crosses paths with a single dad and divorce lawyer named Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his precocious daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey).
Robert is willing to let Giselle make a phone call or two, but he also thinks she’s a bit bonkers with her chatter about being a princess from Andalasia. She’s convinced that her prince will find and rescue her, so Robert reluctantly lets her stay at his apartment. He’s skeptical about all that happily-ever-after stuff, even though he’s about to propose to his longtime girlfriend Nancy (Idina Menzel).
This is where Enchanted invokes those well-known Disney themes — the battle between good and evil as Prince Edward and the conniving Narissa knock heads to reach Giselle first. And, yes, there is a poison apple here.
The musical numbers are really what make the movie. In one scene, Giselle feels obliged to tidy up Robert’s messy apartment. So, in a tribute to Whistle While You Work from Snow White and The Work Song from Cinderella, Giselle sings The Happy Working Song. Instead of birds and chipmunks from the forest helping her clean, pigeons, rats and roaches do the dirty work. It’s kind of gross when the (computer-animated) roaches come crawling out, but nevertheless it’s a cute and creative scene. There’s also the big show-stopper number in Central Park where Giselle sings That’s How You Know — a tune about recognizing true love — to Robert. (Credit goes to composer Alan Menken and songwriter Steven Schwartz.)
I won’t say Enchanted is enchanting because, well, that would be really clichéd. It’s probably as clichéd as the happily-ever-after ending.
So instead I’ll say Enchanted is charming and delightful, words that my thesaurus tells me are synonyms for enchanting. Any way you slice it, Enchanted is a rare treat, as sweet as the pumpkin pie left over from Thanksgiving. ••
Movie Grade: A-