Enchanted (2007)
I remember going to the theater, watching Enchanted (2007), and being completely terrified by certain sequences as I was still a child and relatively new to the movie-going experience. However, upon later viewings, I now unabashedly adore this film. From the delightful performances, the now-memorable tunes from Disney legend Alan Menken, and the self-referential yet sincere humor to its skillful twist on the Disney Princess genre and its films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and The Little Mermaid (1989). With that out of the way, here is my spoiler-filled review of Enchanted.
Enchanted follows a fairy tale princess named Giselle (played by Amy Adams), who finds herself banished from her traditionally-animated kingdom of Andalasia to the live-action hustle and bustle of New York City by the evil Queen Narissa (played by Susan Sarandon). There, she meets a good-hearted but cynical divorce lawyer, Robert Philip (played by Patrick Dempsey), and his six-year-old daughter, Morgan (played by Rachel Covey), who take her into their apartment while she awaits her animated Prince Edward (played by James Marsden) and her chipmunk friend, Pip (voiced by Jeff Bennett in the animated scenes, and director Kevin Lima in the live-action scenes), to rescue her. As time passes, Giselle's infectious spirit begins to touch the lives of those around her, especially Robert's.
Adams' bubbly performance as Giselle is, in a word, enchanting. Her endearingly lovable demeanor and character arc from an animated character to a human woman was my introduction to Adams as an actress and left an indelible impression on me as a child. Dempsey's character of Robert and his relatable bewilderment to the unfolding magic around him serve as an excellent counter to Giselle's childlike wonder, especially during the musical numbers, and they share an undeniable chemistry.
Covey's performance as Morgan works well as the film's true believer and the deliverer of several funny lines, the most amusing of which comes when she prepares Giselle for a ball during the third act. Marsden is flat-out hilarious as the comically vain yet morally decent Prince Edward for the situations he finds himself in, like "slaying" a New York City bus or getting hit by cyclists in Central Park just as he bursts into song. Idina Menzel (pre-Frozen (2013) days) gets a rare non-musical performance as Nancy Tremaine, Robert's girlfriend, which I think was a smart move on the filmmakers' end. Also, unlike Lady Tremaine from Cinderella, Nancy is kind and warm-hearted and gets her happy ending with Edward.
Moving on to the villains, Sarandon is having a ball as Narissa in both her animated and live-action forms, despite having more screen time as a hand-drawn character. Timothy Spall as Nathaniel fits into the animated henchman archetype perfectly, for his experience playing Peter Pettigrew from the Harry Potter films pays off here. However, Nathaniel has more of a character arc, from serving as Queen Narissa's loyal minion and admirer to questioning himself over whether Narissa admires him back.
On the musical side of things, composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz wrote five original songs for this movie: "True Love's Kiss", "Happy Working Song", "That's How You Know", "So Close", and "Ever Ever After", and they are all modern classics. "True Love's Kiss" has the most nostalgic value to me, for it is sung by Giselle and Edward, begins the movie during its animated beginning, and has the most timeless sound, and "Happy Working Song" (also sung by Giselle) is a modern and funny self-parody of songs like "Whistle While You Work" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, while "So Close" and "Ever Ever After" are a contemporary romantic ballad at the ball sung by Jon McLaughlin akin to "Beauty and the Beast", and a modern country/pop number sung by Carrie Underwood, respectively. However, my favorite tune is "That's How You Know" (also sung by Giselle), a full-blown musical homage to Menken's previous showstopping tunes like "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid and "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast.
Director Kevin Lima deserves a lot of praise for this movie. Not only was he technically the perfect pick for this kind of film, but he had had experience directing Tarzan (1999), the last entry of the Disney Renaissance of the 1980s and '90s. Said experience pays off in spades, as exemplified by the animated segments, which perfectly capture the nostalgic-looking aesthetic of Disney's animated pictures, right down to the 1.85:1 aspect ratio at the beginning before transitioning to the live-action 2.39:1. Lima handles the live-action scenes effectively, while also making the subtle but creative use of character framing and blocking akin to that of an animated movie, including the use of extreme close-ups on characters' faces, which I appreciate more in hindsight. Usually, I wouldn't say that I like cheesy humor in movies. Still, the way Enchanted infuses said cheesiness with a certain sweetness compliments the overall presentation of a self-parody and a love letter to classic Disney films and leaves me with a big, cheesy grin on my face every time. Without Lima's careful directorial balance between the sweet and the cheesy, this picture would have been either insufferably over-the-top or utterly misguided in its execution.
Speaking of Disney's films, there are countless visual and story references to and cameos from iconic Disney actors, like Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins herself) narrating the beginning and end of the film, and Disney Princess voice actresses like Jodi Benson (Ariel from The Little Mermaid) as Robert's secretary Sam, Paige O'Hara (Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991)) as a soap opera actress, and Judy Kuhn (the singing voice for the titular character from Pocahontas (1995)) as a pregnant woman whom Prince Edward encounters. These memorable cameos make this viewing experience all the more fun for Disney fans like me.
In conclusion, Enchanted is a lot of fun. Its irresistible charm makes the self-parodying aspects all the more enjoyable, and I cannot get enough of it. It took me several years of watching more Disney films and movies in general for me to appreciate this one entirely, but over fifteen years after its original release, I now consider Enchanted an unofficial entry into Disney's Princess lineup and a modern classic in its own right. What are my thoughts on the 2022 sequel, Disenchanted? Stay tuned.
Final Score: 8 out of 10
Disenchanted (2022)
Almost fifteen years to the day after Enchanted's theatrical debut in 2007, its direct sequel, Disenchanted (2022), has finally arrived, albeit as a Disney+ exclusive. I was initially skeptical about whether a sequel to a movie from my childhood would work after many years. Is the old magic still present, or has it already worn off? Well, it's different this time around, to say the least. Without giving too much away, on with my spoiler-filled review of Disenchanted.
Disenchanted follows Giselle, Robert (once again played by Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey, respectively), and Morgan Philip (played by Gabriella Baldacchino, replacing Rachel Covey) ten years after their happily ever after. After welcoming their newborn baby Sofia, Giselle and Robert decide to move from their New York City apartment to the suburban town of Monroeville. Morgan, struggling to adapt to the changes, is unintentionally embarrassed by Giselle's efforts to help her fit in and has a falling out after angrily calling Giselle "just a stepmother." A disheartened Giselle then uses a wishing wand given to her by King Edward and Queen Nancy (played by James Marsden and Idina Menzel, respectively) to wish for a fairy tale life like that of her old home, the animated kingdom of Andalasia. The next morning, Giselle awakens to discover that Monroeville has transformed into a fairy tale kingdom called Monrolasia, complete with singing and dancing villagers, talking animals (her chipmunk friend, Pip, returns, albeit with the ability to speak in the real world), and familiar faces now occupying fairy tale roles (Robert becomes a swashbuckling hero archetype, Morgan a Cinderella-esque maiden, and Malvina Monroe, the snooty head of the town council (played by Maya Rudolph) as an evil queen). All seems perfect until Giselle begins acting like a wicked stepmother, thus starting a race against time before midnight, when the spell becomes permanent, and before all of Andalasia and its inhabitants die from their magic being sucked into the real world.
Performance-wise, Adams continues to shine as Giselle, for not only does she retain much of what made her original performance so magnetic, but she adds a fun twist on the wicked stepmother tropes by going back and forth between personalities, thus adding a comedic edge to her gradual turn to the dark side, so to speak. Dempsey still shares romantic chemistry with Adams and gets to showcase a lighter and more heroic side to Robert during the Monrolasia segments, with him singing like Edward and unsuccessfully attempting to slay a dragon while successfully slowing down a rampaging giant from crushing villagers. Speaking of Edward, Marsden has not missed a single beat as the character after all this time. However, this film does him a disservice as he doesn't have nearly enough scenes in the movie for me to enjoy. Menzel, as Nancy Tremaine, finally shows off her singing chops in this film and subsequently gets to sing the movie's best song, "Love Power", but I will talk more about that later.
Moving on to the movie's new additions, Rudolph chews the scenery as both Malvina and her evil queen persona, which is appropriate for the kind of character she is playing, as do her two assistants, Rosaleen and Ruby (played by Yvette Nicole Brown and Jayma Mays, respectively). Baldacchino holds her own as Morgan, with her character taking Robert's place in the first act as the cynical one and making snarky remarks, as most teenagers do. She also has a good singing and dancing range during the musical numbers and shows the necessary emotion and heart required for this movie. I hope that she finds success after this movie, for I see untapped potential in her as a musical star.
On a side note, before the movie was released, I was surprised and a little disappointed in the filmmakers for not bringing back the original actress for Morgan, Rachel Covey, to reprise her role. However, not all is lost, for Covey makes a brief cameo appearance as a Monrolasia village girl, which I appreciate the filmmakers for doing.
Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz return to pen the original songs, but unfortunately, most of them lack the same memorability as the first film's tunes. The sole exception is "Love Power", a powerful ballad sung by Nancy towards the third act to Morgan, who is sent to Andalasia via a well in her new home's backyard for help, as the spell takes an increasing toll on Giselle and her surroundings. The sequence featuring the song showcases a hybrid of the live-action actors and their animated counterparts, which was effective enough to elevate the emotional resonance with the characters. If anything, this moment is the one to write home about.
Hairspray (2007) director Adam Shankman takes up the directing duties this time around, and he does a competent job handling both the musical numbers and conveying the necessary emotion and narrative stakes at hand while choreographing said production numbers himself. However, he falters when it comes to directing the visual effects sequences for the film's computer-generated imagery (CGI for short). Not that the original movie's CG effects were hyper-realistic, but most of the production values for the sequel look like it was shot on manufactured sets rather than the natural settings of New York City and has an overall straight-to-video quality (including the traditionally animated sequences, which look like a step up from Disney's straight-to-video sequels of their animated classics from the 1990s and early 2000s). On that note, I will never know why Disney didn't bother to ask original director Kevin Lima to return for the sequel. It could be the case of the studio continuing a Hollywood tradition of not asking the original films' directors to return for the sequel and moving on to use another hired hand, save for big names like Steven Spielberg.
What separates Disenchanted from the original is its attempt to try something new with the story, unlike other recent Disney sequels like Hocus Pocus 2 (2022), which essentially repeated the same story beats, but with new supporting characters and a contemporary setting. However, what made Enchanted so much fun to watch was its seamless tonal balance between the cynicism of the real world and the delightful spirit of the animated one. In contrast, Disenchanted plays out, for the most part, more like a straightforward live-action fairy tale movie without the amusing quips from Robert along the way. Yes, it is funny seeing Robert and Morgan singing and dancing like Giselle, but without someone on the outside commenting on the absurdity of everything going on, it becomes rather monotonous in tone and somewhat generic. Also, I was disappointed in the lack of legacy Disney actors as cameos because other than James Monroe Iglehart (the Genie from the Broadway adaptation of Aladdin (1992)) as a commuter (and later town baker), and several clever signs with animated characters' names like Lumière (Beauty and the Beast (1991)) and Smee (Peter Pan (1953)) on them, I couldn't find any other reference to write home about (there is a musical excerpt from "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast present, though).
I respect Disenchanted for trying something new storywise. However, despite most of the original cast returning for the sequel, Disenchanted lacks the special blend of magic that made the original so memorable. It's still fun, but not as fun as I would have liked it. I won't completely write this movie off, for I will still recommend it solely for "Love Power", but it is still a little disappointing.
Final Score: 7 out of 10
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