When Giselle, a beautiful maiden of the magical land Andalasia, meets her fairy tale Prince Edward, it is only natural that she marry him right away and live happily ever after. But before the wedding, Queen Narissa, bent on keeping the throne for herself, sends Giselle tumbling down a well to be banished from Andalasia forever. With a delightful twist, Giselle emerges from the well to find herself in the very real, very unanimated, modern-day Manhattan-and falling in love with a single father who is not quite fairy tale material. As Giselle interacts with our world in true Disney style, she can’t help but spread a little enchantment along the way.
Enchanted is a wonderfully innocent and humorous film for the entire family-dads were laughing just as much as moms in the theater. Giselle (Amy Adams) is a true delight to watch on screen and Morgan (Rachel Covey) and Robert (Patrick Dempsey) are a terrific father-daughter pair, bringing tears to my eyes on a few occasions. Although girls will swoon for this movie, boys are likely to squirm during a few mushy, overly romantic scenes. And I couldn’t help but feel that Disney tried a bit too hard to please the parents with this one-I think a lot of the humor will be lost on younger ones so I suggest this film for middle school age and up.
PROS
Enchanted deals with many important themes and handles them gently and honestly. When Robert decides to propose to his long-time girlfriend, Nancy (Idina Menzel), his daughter, Morgan, must face the new idea of gaining a stepmother. Robert handles this issue quite well and truly wants what is best for his daughter-they have a very touching and heartfelt relationship.
The film is honestly very funny and entertaining. The actors are superb and believable, turning the vague and unimaginative dialogue they’ve been given into captivating onscreen performances. Giselle and Prince Edward, with their facial expressions and overly dramatic gestures, really appear to have come from an animated world. And Pip, Giselle’s trusty, chipmunk sidekick, steals the show with his hilarious antics and voice-or lack thereof.
A couple that is on the brink of divorce ultimately reconciles, notating that every relationship has problems that need working out and you shouldn’t sacrifice all the good times because of a few bad.
Robert and Giselle are complete opposites when it comes to their views on love: Robert doesn’t believe in true love while Giselle bases her entire life on it (like so many Disney heroines in the past). In the end, they realize that love should be based in reality (jobs, bills, kids) but it doesn’t hurt to have a little fantasy thrown in. I really appreciated this theme because most Disney animated films (“Snow White,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “The Little Mermaid”) depict women whose sole purpose in life is to find their Prince Charming. And although this might have been the case in pre-Jane Austen eras, it is simply not the modern mindset when it comes to relationships. But Enchanted doesn’t shy away from the real-world issues of marriage and the ever-increasing divorce rate-for that, I applaud them.
CONS
Humor that parents may find objectionable include: a dog peeing on Prince Edward’s shoe; Pip, the chipmunk, defecating onscreen for laughs; and some gay innuendos.
At one point, Robert walks into the bathroom as Giselle is stepping out of the shower, however nothing can be seen because two flying pigeons artfully wrap her in a towel, Cinderella style. Meanwhile, Robert’s girlfriend, Nancy arrives just in time to see Giselle topple onto Robert, still dressed in her towel.
Some adult characters are seen drinking Martinis.
Morgan tells Giselle that “men are only after one thing” and when Giselle asks what that is, Morgan replies, “I don’t know, they never tell me!”
I disagreed with the casting of Timothy Spall as Nathaniel, Prince Edward’s attendant. I had a hard time differentiating between his character in Enchanted and his character as Peter Pettigrew (Wormtail) in the Harry Potter series. His facial expressions and voice were too similar in both films. And Susan Sarandon’s performance as Queen Narissa was easily, and happily forgettable.
Also, I’m not sure which previews your movie theater will air before Enchanted but two of the previews I saw were highly inappropriate for younger viewers. They were trailers for the movies: Definitely, Maybe and P.S., I Love You. Check out these trailers online before taking your children to see Enchanted. If you find they are too PG-13 for your kids, you might want to arrive to the theater a few minutes later to skip these previews.
OVERALL
I truly enjoyed Enchanted. It might not become a classic in the hearts of children everywhere, but it is one of the best kid’s films available this year.
