Enchanted

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Enchanted

Rated PG; Directed by Kevin Lima; Starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Susan Sarandon, Timothy Spall, Rachel Covey, Idina Menzel

We’ve seen the Disney fairy tales. The heroine who sings to woodland animals finds true love with the handsome prince who can also manage a song or two. And of course, they live happily ever after. The latest take on the Disney fairy tale is Enchanted, a comedy that pokes fun at those Disney animated features like Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, but it’s Disney that’s making fun of itself and manages to give us a funny, charming film.

Starting in fine animated fashion, we find Giselle (Amy Adams) wishing for her true love to show up. In no time at all Prince Edward (James Marsden) shows up and they both lived happily ever…oh wait. Prince Edward has a wicked stepmother Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) who finds a way to get rid of Giselle by sending her to a place where there are no happy ever afters – modern day New York City. This time it takes Giselle some adjusting to get used to NYC and for the denizens to get used to her, especially divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey). Meanwhile Edward and his sidekick (Timothy Spall) are also in New York looking for Giselle (but for very different reasons).

Amy Adams makes a great heroine. Dempsey lacks oomph as the befuddled city dweller, but Marsden makes up for it as the singing prince. Enchanted is funny and clever. Where else can you get a musical number involving pigeons, rats, and roaches? The plot mixes enough surprises among the predictable plot points to keep it entertaining. Disney picks fun at its own film history and makes a winning film.