Enchanted:
directed by Bill Kelly

A movie review! You all knew I had to get around to these at some point. So I'm excited that I get to review a movie directed by Bill Kelly, who also directed one of my favorite "second tier" Disney musicals ever--A Goofy Movie. It is with great pleasure that I add Enchanted to my list of recommendations. Review in both spoiler-free and in-depth flavors after the jump...

Spoiler-free Recommendation

If you grew up on classics like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, you owe it to yourself to see this movie. You will catch every joke, and for the most part they will be very, very funny. Enchanted is a modern fairy-tale classic. Amy Adams steals the show--as every good princess inevitably does--and the music is catchy but not overdone. This is not a riff or a parody or a send-up; rather, this is a movie that pays homage to the value of fairy-tales to real life. The final confrontation was somewhat lacking, but the ending managed to be perfect all the same. Children under 5 or 6 might not appreciate the live action approach, but I do recommend this movie for anyone who has ever been a child.

In-Depth Review

Enchanted is a movie about Princess Giselle, a Disney-esque cartoon princess who finds herself lost in New York City. Her beauty, optimism, and tendency to burst spontaneously into song naturally put her at odds with the hustle-and-bustle of modern-day living (not to mention modern-day romance). Fortunately, a sympathetic child (played charmingly by Rachel Covey) convinces her father--a divorce attorney--to lend some aid.

Eventually, Giselle is "rescued" by her prince (James Marsden), whose scheming stepmother (surprise!) is behind Giselle's exile--but not before she discovers that true love can arrive in the most unlikely and inconvenient of ways. A quick special-effects-laden final showdown--easily the weakest part of the entire move--wraps up the action, and the ending montage puts everything as it should be.

The first thing you will notice about this movie is that Amy Adams (Giselle) is amazing. She actually manages to shift her character from flighty and bubbly to deep and determined, allowing experience to mature her character without taking on the jaded, tough-girl attitude that so often accompanies the "anti-princess" of most modern fairy-tales. Simply put, Adams carries this show, but this is as it should be: she is the princess!

The next thing you notice will depend largely on how jaded you are. This movie makes some very mature, very bold statements about love and marriage--I don't think I have ever seen a movie dare to cast divorce in such a negative light. It is subtle and tactfully done, but Giselle's attitude toward divorce is unmistakable. Which is important, because the message of Enchanted is ultimately that, if you're willing to work for it, "happily ever after" can happen in this world as surely as in any Disney movie.

I didn't care for the final showdown--the stepmother (well-played by Susan Sarandon) transforms into a dragon and spouts about a dozen lines that take the meta-story too far. Also: just throw the guy already! The fight between princess and dragon was obviously a lapse on the director's part, a choice to put special effects on display at the expense of decent writing. Fortunately, the scene was brief.

My wife and I have had some pretty big dreams come true lately, so I admit that I was viewing this movie through partial eyes. But I laughed--a lot--and appreciated the not-quite-parody undercurrent that ran through the entire film. Highly recommended.