Movie Gazette

Enchanted makes me want to make a wardrobe out of curtains, converse with a chipmunk and break into song. I’m a cynical reviewista in my everyday life with a tendency to lean more towards blood and guts horror, but by gosh and golly if this movie didn’t make me into a girl and surpass my expectations.

Sweet cartoon heroine Giselle (Amy Adams) is literally living in a fairytale, complete with furry little singing friends and gallant and handsome prince (James Marsden) all ready to marry her. But when the proverbial evil stepmother (Susan Sarandon) decides to put the kibosh on the nuptials in order to keep her crown and sends her down a wishing well into New York (don’t you hate when that happens?), Giselle must figure out a way to make it in this strange new world. Luckily, she chances upon Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his fairytale-loving daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey), and though bewildered by her “happily ever after” mentality, they help Giselle navigate her new surroundings and discover their own storybook endings.

This is definitely the epitome of a chick flick—princesses and cute animals and McDreamy and romance abound, and pretty much any male who hears about Enchanted can’t stop the automatic eye roll. And it’s true—just like Pretty in Pink, there’s very little to appeal to boys. But so what—they’re just missing out. The real draw here, aside from the surprisingly clever plot, is Adams. As the perpetually wide-eyed Giselle, Adams takes a role that could easily have been … well … cartoonish and instead, infuses it with such sincerity that you can’t help but just want to watch. Also great is Marsden, who, like Adams, shuns the easier route of perhaps overplaying the duet-loving Prince Edward and chooses instead to relish his inner cartoon. And instead of mocking itself outright, Disney wisely chose a more gentle ribbing that allows for more of a tribute and less of trying to let us “know they’re in on the joke.” My only qualm is the end action sequence, which is great, effects-wise, but out of sync with the rest of the movie. I actually lost interest during the climactic battle, which is a bad sign, and is the only thing that kept me from going all out on the 10 scale (Sarandon, by the way, is a spectacular villain, so it’s not her fault). Not enough to sway me from my unabashed girly-love, though—Enchanted may be sweet and all, but it’s also witty, clever, and introduces Amy Adams to the world in a role that proves she can make any character seem real.