Disney’s back, baby! Oh yeah! After years of producing tepid, uninspiring films such as Underdog or straight to DVD sequels like Bambi II (Who the hell gave that the green light?) or Lion King 67: Even Lioner, they’ve managed to finally hit gold again: I’ll state it now; loud and clear: ‘Enchanted’ is a brilliant film!
The plot of Enchanted concerns an animated fairy-tale world Andalasia where beautiful Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land just as she is about to enter the land of ‘happily ever after ‘ and marry her prince charming. She finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle meets with a charming divorce lawyer with a young daughter who DOES believe in fairy tales, it seems that things might not work they way they always do in fairy-tales. Meanwhile Prince Edward, closely followed by the Evil Queen’s lackey Nathaniel and aided by Giselle’s magical squirrel Pip, tries desperately to find the one true love of his love to take her home.
The beauty of ‘Enchanted’ comes from the tautness of the script. In ‘Enchanted’ Kevin Lima has produced something which manages to balance the post-modern all knowing wink at Disney films with the spirit of Disney that we have all been exposed to at some point. By creating two set of characters with two distinct background: ‘real world’ and ‘fairly world’ he allows himself to marry and perhaps explore the Disney legacy in a different light: by filtering it through the cold , grim reality of New York he allows us to both see it for the excessive , saccharine sweet mess but also makes us realize why it is important to have this sense of fairy tale somewhere in our lives.
The film is also very clever in its’ blending of the two separate worlds, almost to the point of saying that there’s reality in fairy-tales and real life is not totally without magic. The song and dance number filmed in Central Park is simply a feat of visual and visceral delight. Not only is it riotously funny but it is possibly the only musical number which feels like something the Freed Unit would have produced at he top of their game in the 50’s and 60’s.
Cleverly, Disney keeps the animated world of Andalasia mimicking the look of their original Snow White and Cinderella films. Even though you can tell it is not hand-drawn and painted as it used to be, the 2D feel works perfectly, reinforcing that sense of being familiar with this unique land. New York is shot with clear, bright colors and light, exposing the difference very vividly. The film even plays with aspect ratios to enforce the difference between the two worlds with Andalasia in 1.75:1 and New York shot in a ratio of 2.35:1 when Giselle becomes a live-action character.
The cast of ‘Enchanted’ are uniformly good with James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Susan Sarandon (in the small but well-suited part of the evil queen), Patrick Dempsey and young Samantha Ivers all giving excellent performances. The real star of the show is , however, undeniably: Amy Adams.
Creating a great balance between doe-eyed innocence and sheer vivacious, explosive enthusiasm, Amy Adams plays Giselle as a girl out of place nut not lost. Her character’s attempts at trying to bring the rules of Andalasia to New York seems funny and amusing at first but as the film progress that she does make a difference because of how much she simply cares. It’s also very clever seeing some of the real life seeping into Giselle’s system, with her beginning to question the things she believes in. In one of the film’s best scenes, it is a joy watching the results of a brief moment of sexual chemistry between her and Robert play out on her face in such extravagant details.
But to all the criticism and analysis of the film, there is one fact that stands head and shoulders over all the others: how much fun ‘Enchanted ‘is. Not for one moment does the audience lose themselves from the magical tale being weaved right in front of them and for once I can assuredly that here is a film that can appeal to both parents and their children.
So take my advice: go and see ‘Enchanted’ this weekend. You’ll find your worries slowly drifting away as you feel the magic take hold and you realize for once and all: Yeah, baby! Disney’s back.
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