Enchanted Review

I was dying to see Enchantedwhen it came out last holiday season but I couldn't talk my husband into going and my nephew had already seen it.  So I added it to my Netflix queue and waited patiently for it to come out on video.  It came out last week so I watched it on the day it arrived and liked it but wasn't totally wild over it. 

Enchanted is about Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) who is a animated character who is much like Snow White in her pureness, sweetness, and propensity to attract cute forest animals but the mere sound of her lilting voice.

When Giselle meets and plans to marry the local prince his mother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) fears losing her crown to Giselle and banishes her to a place where "there are no happily ever afters" - New York City.  It is at this point when the movie goes from full animation to live action which was very cool and reminded me a bit of The Wizard of Oz when it goes from black and white to brilliant Technicolor.

Anyway, Giselle ends up in New York where she is innocent and naive and trying to find her way back to the castle without much luck.  Along the way she runs into Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter who rescue the damsel in distress and try to help her out.  Giselle is sure that her prince from animated land will come to rescue her and the daughter believes that she is telling the truth however Robert thinks she's fairly off her rocker and tries to get rid of her although he is intrigued by her sweetness and light.

The movie reminds me a little of the movie Splash.  Remember that movie about the mermaid who grows legs and finds herself in the real world?  It's that same sort of fish out of water story with the added twist that the leading lady can talk to animals and doesn't turn into a fish when she gets wet.  Many of the big laughs came from seeing the animated characters interacting with the people and objects of the modern real world.

The actors in this movie were good, but I especially enjoyed those that were once animated who ended up in the real world.  The way they carried over the same overly dramatic animated personalities to the real world was really great.  Amy Adams was especially great as the wide-eyed princess.  Her actions (dramatic arms, singing frequently, spinning around) were exactly what you'd expect to see a Disney princess doing in an animated feature.  She carried it over into real life and maintained it very well.

Enchanted was a really cute movie and I enjoyed it.  My husband watched about 10 minutes of it and walked away.  My nephew (8 years old) saw it at the theatre and hated it.  These two facts lead me to believe that it's more of a chick flick.  It got really great reviews and comments and I liked it, but I didn't think it was fantastic or anything.  Maybe it would be better on the big screen or better seen during the magic of the holiday season. 

Enchanted was very clean so it is appropriate for kids of all ages, although the Queen, the witch, and the dragon may freak out small kids.