Review - Enchanted (2007)

           Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, as promised during my breakdown of the trailer drops and announcements from this most recent D23, here is my review of the 2007 Disney film Enchanted starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Idina Menzel, Timothy Spall, and Susan Sarandon. 

           So, the movie starts off in the land of Andalasia, which is pretty much every single kingdom from any Disney animated fairy tale ever. Andalasia is ruled by an evil queen named Narissa, who will lose her throne when her stepson, Prince Edward, gets married. So, Narissa is pretty much obsessed with ensuring that such a thing never happen. Ultimately, however, Edward meets and falls for a maiden named Giselle, and the two are set to be wed. Narissa ultimately shoves Giselle into an enchanted well, sending her into the live-action world, where she ends up smack in the middle of Times Square. Lost and very confused, Giselle wanders the streets of New York, up until she is saved by Robert, a lawyer and single father, along with his daughter Morgan. 

          As the days go on, Giselle learns how things work I'm this live-action world, all the while bringing a bit of the fairy tale world into the lives of Robert and Morgan. We also meet Robert's girlfriend, Nancy, who works as a fashion designer. Back in Andalasia, Edward finds out what's happened, and he heads to the live-action world to rescue Giselle, and Narissa sends her henchman Nathaniel to keep Edward and Giselle apart. This doesn't work, however, as the two do reunite, and the two spend time trying to get to know one another. 

         Having had enough, Narissa enters the live-action world herself, and uses a poison apple to put Giselle to sleep permanently. Edward attempts to reawaken her with true love's kiss, but is unsuccessful. Edward suggests Robert try the same thing, and this time it is successful. Enraged by this, Narissa turns into a dragon and grabs Robert, only for Giselle to take up a sword and save him from Narissa's grip. Meanwhile, Edward falls for Nancy, who agrees to marry him in Andalasia. So, happy endings overall, with Giselle and Robert getting married in the live-action world, and Edward and Nancy getting married in Andalasia. 

        Okay, so, everyone has talked about how this movie satirizes many of the classic cliches from various Disney animated fairy tales. Everything from adorable animal sidekicks, random musical numbers, to discussions about true love and love at first sight. Yeah, pretty much all of that unrealistic fantasy stuff that Disney made famous, and was subsequently criticized for it, all gets brought to attention with this movie in a way that is very humorous. Heck, even the role reversal of Giselle taking the sword against the dragon to save Robert, when traditionally it would have been the opposite, I definitely got a kick out of that. 

        I also admire that the land of Andalasia was completely hand drawn, and not CGI. I mean, there's something about the hand drawn style of animation from Disney that just feels warm and familiar, and perhaps just a bit nostalgic. Now, seeing the outfits that the animated characters wear brought to life, that's pretty cool. 

        Now, as far as the cast goes, Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey are both excellent as Giselle and Robert. James Marsden is hilariously hammy as Edward, while Idina Menzel was entertaining as Nancy, and I like how they almost went the wicked stepmother route with Nancy, but turned it around and made her likeable. Timothy Spall as Nathaniel is hilarious as the bumbling buffoon, and his performance was definitely a lot of fun. But, my favorite performance in the movie is Susan Sarandon as Narissa. She just owns the screen in both animation and live-action, and boy does she make one hell of an entrance when she finally appears in the live-action world. I also want to give a shout-out to a few Disney alums who are featured in the movie, including Julie Andrews as the narrator, Paige O'Hara (the voice of Belle from Beauty and the Beast) as a soap opera character, and Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel from The Little Mermaid) as Robert's secretary. I think that it's awesome that these three icons of Disney all had roles in this movie. 

       Overall, I think that director Kevin Lima did an excellent job with this movie, and it's definitely one that everyone who was raised on classic Disney can appreciate and enjoy. I'm giving Enchanted a rating of 5/5. 

         Okay, so that'll wrap up my review of Enchanted, an definitely keep an eye out for my review of the upcoming sequel Disenchanted this November. Also, next Saturday is the official start of HallowScream with my long-overdue review of the Tim Burton film Sweeney Todd, and I'll be back in Wednesday to review my all-time favorite anime series Death Note. So, be sure to stick around, as the forthcoming weeks here at Chuck's Movie Breakdown are definitely not ones to miss. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.