So close………… This is a feeling I experienced while watching the movie Enchanted. Enchanted is the story of Giselle, a fairy tale maiden who has finally met her true love, who just happens to be a prince named Edward. They decide to get married, but Edward’s stepmother has another idea. She knows that if Edward gets married that she will no longer be queen, so she decides to send Giselle to someplace sad where no one lives happily ever after: present day New York City. Giselle must learn how to make it in her new world, with the help of the kind lawyer Robert and his daughter Morgan. Although Giselle wants nothing more than to get back to her home and marry Prince Edward, she soon realizes that her life at home might not be all she thought.
I was very skeptical about this film. It seemed to be treading a very fine line between good idea and extremely campy. However, as it was a musical I felt I must see it. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the film, which seemed to delight in making fun of itself. (For example, Giselle, who was friends with the animals in her fairy tale home, enlists the help of the animals that can be found around New York, such as rats, cockroaches, and pigeons.)
When I first saw the previews for this movie I thought that it was just a typical chick flick, something I was not in the mood for. However, after many recommendations by friends I decided to see it. As I said, I was surprised by the movie, which--while it definitely was a chick flick--had me engaged until the ending, when it succumbed to the typical chick flick trap.
Amy Adams was very charming as the lost Giselle, and Patrick Dempsey did well as Robert, the man who takes Giselle in. However, my favorite character is the chipmunk Pip, who comes to New York to find Giselle. I won't tell you too much about Pip because I don’t want to ruin some great parts of the movie.
Overall, Enchanted was good. I enjoyed the music and the story, and the acting was well done. I was slightly disappointed in the very chick-flick ending, but I don’t know what I expected from a movie called Enchanted. This enchanted movie receives a 9.
5 comments:
I thought Amy Adams was ridiculously awesome in this, but Patrick Dempsey was merely adequate. But otherwise, I agree with SP, the movie was a nice romp until the ending, which tried to tie up too much.
I'm wondering though--and this is for SP as well as anyone else who has seen Enchanted--how would you have changed the ending to make it better?
Good question DW. I don't know if it could have ended in a different way given the fairy tale plot line it was given, so as much as I didn't like how they tried to tie everything up, I don't see a different ending being in the cards.
I think that Amy Adams was really good and Patrick Dempsey's performance may have been enhanced for me because he's hot!
i haven't seen it, but what i imagine to be a large part of the appeal and comedy of Enchanted is the way it pokes gentle fun at fairy tale movie conventions, which Disney (the studio that produced it) pretty much single-handedly popularized. Cinderella/Snow White/Sleeping Beauty-like damsel in distress? check. wicked step-mother-type character who dresses in black and is actually a witch? check. dashing empty-headed prince? check. insanely cute animal buddy for comic relief? check. the elements are too well in place for it to be anything but intentional. did you see that element to the film?
I'll jump in here and answer PM's question with a resounding yes, it's quite obviously a tweak of the fairy tale genre, and sort of takes after Shrek in that way. (You know, back when Shrek was a fresh, original idea.)
In fact, the movie is at its finest when it's asking questions simultaneously of both the conventions of the real world and the conventions of the fairy tale world. The middle third does this quite well. Unfortunately, it does default on that promise in the final third, as it succumbs inevitably to the conventions of the fairy tale (which, to be fair, is probably a financially shrewd move, even if it's less artistically interesting).
Dr Worm, I'm not sure it's entirely fair to use the phrase "less artistically interesting" when referring to Disney ;).
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