Amy Adams plays Giselle in Walt Disney Pictures’ Enchanted, © 2007.
Though Enchanted is a parody of Disney films that have been around for more than half a century, it offers some new and fresh ideas that will definitely intrigue the entire family, not just the little girls.
When I first saw the trailers for this film, I was almost immediately put off by it. The concept of a storybook princess coming to our world seemed ridiculous to me and automatically assumed that this film would involve slapstick and crude jokes from the little chipmunk. What a misjudgment. Director Kevin Lima has put a very fun film together.
Giselle (Amy Adams) is your typical princess living in a cottage with wood-land creatures in an animated fairy-tale setting. She longs to live happily ever after with her prince and even crafts a sculpture of him with the help of her animal friends, hoping this is what he will look like.
Meanwhile, Prince Edward (James Marsden), a somewhat dim-witted but heroic prince comes to Giselle’s rescue from a troll and Edward declares they will be married the following day.
After traveling to Edward’s castle, Giselle encounters Edward’s evil stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), disguised as an old woman, who pushes Giselle into a wishing well. Giselle falls through blackness and emerges from a manhole in our three-dimensional New York City. Edward goes after her with the help of Pip, a spunky chipmunk. Narissa sends Nathaniel, one of her henchman, to travel to New York and get rid of Giselle once and for all.
In New York, Giselle meets Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter, and stays with them in their apartment until Edward finds her.
Adams was an outstanding choice for this film and her character portrays an adorable amount of confusion and curiosity in the strange world of New York City. She is pleased to see and talk to anyone,and certainly not afraid to portray the princess the animators had dreamed of. Adams also clearly derives her character from other Disney princesses such as Snow-White and Ariel from “The Little Mermaid.”
James Marsden and Susan Sarandon also mold very good characters. Marsden’s character is what helps this film evolve from a live-action fairly tale depiction to a very humorous parody Marsden himself looks more like a male model than he does a strong prince, a good looking, yet scrawny man fashioning an enormous red outfit with big poofy shoulders. Sarandon’s Queen is evil, but just the perfect fairy tale evil that doesn’t take it farther than Bill Kelly’s screenplay allows; a nasty woman who acts and looks like the queen in “Sleeping Beauty” and uses the tactics of the queen from “Snow White.”
Sarandon is a strong actress and it’s a pity that she did not have more opportunity to develop her own unique character.
The screenplay otherwise is very fun and clever. Though at this point Disney princess storylines are unbelievably predictable, it was refreshing to see them unwind in a new setting; a world of opposing peoples and values. Musical numbers tie into the film every once in a while and do not go dull for a single moment, and though we are in the city, you will swear you just saw a fairy tale Disney film. Though it’s classic in its approach, the new twist-in with reality is what keeps audiences of all ages intrigued.
Rated PG for scary images and mild innuendo.