Enchanted

The first two-thirds of Disney's Enchanted is sweet, charming, almost-perfect, can't-wipe-the-smile-from-your-face fun. Simply put, it's endearing and, well, enchanting. When I saw the film, the theater was filled with young girls buzzing with giddiness, laughter and wonder. What little girl wouldn't love having a princess—complete with big poofy dress—to sing with and go shopping?

But it's not just for kids. It's funny, inventive and clever. The movie also works on a second level by lovingly evoking Disney's classic canon. Enchanted references everything from Snow White to The Lion King with both gentle satire (like "Happy Working Song" where real-life rats and pigeons help a cartoon princess clean a New York apartment) and sly references (pay attention to little details and character names). If nothing else, it's worth seeing for the wonderfully cartoonish performances of Amy Adams (Junebug) and James Marsden (X-Men) as the real-life versions of a classic Disney princess and her prince charming. They are magnificent.

Amy Adams is stellar as the princess Giselle

Speaking of excellence, the music is by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (the duo behind Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame). The songs are very good—especially "That's How You Know," a massive song-and-dance set piece in Central Park. It's possibly one of the most fun film sequences in a long time, leaving my screening crowd reeling with laughter and contagious smiles.

Unfortunately, the movie can only maintain its top-flight magic for so long. Near the end, the movie falls into predictability and cliché, and—most concerning for parents—sends mixed messages. But when Enchanted is at its best, it's very, very good.

The fun begins in classic two-dimensional animation with a young girl named Giselle (Adams) in the land of Andalasia who daydreams of a prince who will come and give her "true love's kiss." She sings and dances with her animal friends who represent a Who's Who of Disney cartoon creature history: a chipmunk, blue birds, a baby deer, a gray rabbit, an owl, a warthog and more.

Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and Giselle have a laugh over a pizza

This sweet, idealistic beginning is basically a condensed Disney classic. Giselle falls into danger and is saved by the brave and charming Prince Edward (Marsden). They share a song (about the magic of "True Love's Kiss"), instantly fall in love and ride off to be "married in the morning!" But alas, not all is well. Edward's wicked stepmother (of course) knows that if he marries, she will lose her throne forever. And so, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) dupes Giselle into a trap that send her to a place "where there are no happy endings." Where else but New York City?

Luckily, the completely confused Giselle stumbles onto a fairy tale-believing young girl and her single father Robert (Patrick Dempsey). Can they help her find her Prince Edward before it's too late?

The meat of the story is the fish-out-of-water (or Snow-White-in-Manhattan) story of Giselle trying to figure out this strange world—and changing it with her joy, simplicity and love. After all, our actual world is very much different than the classic Disney cartoon. Not only are rats, pigeons, cockroaches and wasps the only animals around to help out during the "Happy Working Song," but nothing happens like it does in Andalasia. Birds get injured, plates are dropped, and a pigeon eats one of the helpful cockroaches. That never happened to Sleeping Beauty.

James Marsden (right) as Edward, confronting Giselle's other suitor, Robert

Giselle also discovers this world has a much different view of love. She's confused by ideas like "dating" and how Robert and his girlfriend Nancy could be in love for years but not yet married. Giselle's outright shocked by the idea of divorce—a discovery that drives her to tears. She says, "Separated forever and ever?" It's a poignant moment that made me think how sad it is that we're not always so easily affected by such travesties.

Robert, for one, is not. Burned by a former love, Robert is a calloused realist in love. He sees love in a practical, business-like fashion. The two are on far opposite ends of the love spectrum. Over and over, he explains to Giselle that love can't happen in a day, is not merely magical, and is a commitment that takes work. Giselle's lovey-dovey version of love, he explains bitterly, is mere fantasy. "Many marriages are happy if they just don't end," he says. "Forget happily ever after."

Giselle and Robert's discussions about love are intriguing and well placed in a family movie reflecting Disney's history. After all, Disney is a chief perpetrator of the Hollywood myth of easy, instant and magical love—the kind where fireworks ring out, cartoon birds sing and couples are magically connected in happiness. It's a breath of fresh air to find a movie stressing that love only begins with magical feelings—but from there, it's about choice and commitment. By featuring characters with very different and very incomplete perspectives on love, Enchanted is in position to explore what love really means. Giselle and Robert have the opportunity to learn from each other and apply in their respective relationships the truth that successful love needs both real-world commitment and fairyland romance. And for a while, it seems that maybe that's where all the love talk is headed—well, until the two-thirds mark hits.

Susan Sarandon as the evil Queen Narissa

(Slight spoiler alert) In one key scene, the movie's direction takes a predictable—but dreaded—Hollywood turn that severely muddies the movie's messages about love. Instead of using these two couples to show a realistic and affirming view of love, Enchanted sends mixed messages about what love is. It talks a lot about commitment, but chucks commitment out the window. It talks about the need for couples to get to know each other, but instead affirms the idea that true love is something magically discovered nearly immediately. The problem isn't that Enchanted defines love incorrectly, but that the definition is unclear and confusing. It feels as if the filmmakers took the easy way out with a crowd-pleasing resolution at the expense of its values and message. With all that's said about love, the resolution of the love story is unsatisfying. When the movie ended, I thought, Are the characters any better off now? What happens two years down the road?

Sadly, the pinnacle scene also changes Giselle. She stops singing and loses some of her innocence and joy. And while the film lauds this change as a positive step in her personal growth, it just feels sad. Giselle is a strong woman, dynamic character, and great role model—one who will become quite popular in Disney lore—but the real world changes her, and I'm not sure all the changes are actually positive. For her sake, I almost wish Giselle would've stayed in Andalasia. But I guess then I wouldn't have had so much fun seeing her bring a little bit of that world here.

Talk About It

1. What do you think happens with Nancy, Robert, Edward and Giselle after the film ends? Are the characters better off now then when the movie began? Explain why you think that.
2. Read 1 Corinthians 13. What do these verses say about love? How do these ideas sound like Enchanted? How are they different from Enchanted?
3. What does Romans 12 mean when it says not to "conform" to the world? How does Giselle conform to her world? Do you think it's a bad thing? Why or why not?
4. What do you think Giselle can learn from Robert about love? What can he learn from her?
5. Would you rather live in this world or the world of Andalasia? Why? What do you think is missing in Andalasia? What is missing here that we could learn form Edward and Giselle?

The Family Corner

Enchanted is rated PG for some scary images and mild innuendo. The scariness is the typical family movie violence of characters and animals being harmed, threatened and put in danger. The Queen also turns into an evil dragon (a la Sleeping Beauty). There are mild sexual references here and there. The Queen and her henchman have some kind of weird sexual tension between them. Robert and his girlfriend talk about her "sleeping over" and Nancy catches Robert in a suggestive situation with Giselle and assumes they've slept together. Robert stumbles on Giselle in the shower but birds carrying a towel cover her. There are at least two poop jokes.

Photos © Copyright Walt Disney Pictures

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