Well, despite my slight reservations about being a 21-year-old guy going to see a film that appeared to be marketed towards 8-year-old girls, I bit the bullet, went with my gut and went to see
Enchanted. I did not regret it.
Maybe it was to do with the fact that my previous cinema trip was to see the turgid, ponderous
The Golden Compass, but this movie seemed like such a breath of fresh, rose-perfumed air to my soul. Yes, it's played broad; yes, the tone is pitched at a primarily family- (and female-) friendly level; and yes, it's wholly predictable in all respects.
Enchanted's triumph is that it's witty, lively and just knowing enough to take these old-fashioned values - innocence, earnestness, simple, safe fun - and deliver them in a way that makes them feel fresh even to a jaded modern audience. Key to this is the wonderful approach the film takes to its own "Disney-ness"; though it's billed as a outright satire in the vein of
Shrek, I feel that Disney have accomplished something far more impressive here, playing things just tongue-in-cheek enough to keep it feeling modern, relevant and self-aware, yet at the same time giving us a movie that's reverent and earnestly loyal to the pure Disney spirit, with the ultimate effect being that that spirit is reinvigorated and revitalised, reminding us why we fell in love with it in the first place.
Thanks to the skill with which the foundations of this production have been constructed, those tasked with executing it simply have a ball (no fairy-tale pun intended
). Patrick Dempsey is a good straight man and an engaging lead; as one Ain't It Cool review pointed out, Timothy Spall seems to have found his true incarnation as a bumbling animated sidekick; Susan Sarandon is underused but good value as the showboating evil Queen; and in Rachel Covey's Morgan and director Kevin Lima's CG chipmunk Pip, the film delivers both an effective cute kid and an endearing animal sidekick, two of the most difficult things to get right in a family movie. Top marks amongst the supporting cast, though, go to James "Cyclops" Marsden as the dashing dimwit Prince Edward. Marsden has always struck me as being the kind of clean-cut, spotless matinee idol that would have been all the rage about 50 years ago, but just seems kind of bland now, hence his seemingly perpetual role as "Nice Guy Who Gets Blown Off In Favour Of The Real Hero" (see also: X-Men, Superman Returns); to his great credit, though, he seems to realise this inherently comical fact about himself, and sends it up to great effect here. The scene from the trailer in which he gets run over by the cyclists was the thing that persuaded me to see this, and the winsome way in which he delivers the line "Thank you for looking after my bride, peasants!" had me laughing for about half a minute.
For me, though, the fact that I enjoyed this movie as much as I did can be credited primarily to two people. The first, obviously is Amy Adams; I know it's been said by every critic in every review, but she simply IS a Disney princess made flesh, all doe-eyed innocence, (literally) over-animated twirls and beaming smiles. In less accomplished hands, the character of Giselle could have lapsed into irritating exaggeration or cloying sickliness, but Adams keeps her touchingly vulnerable, winsomely goofy and genuinely, earnestly and adorably sweet, selling her transition from two-dimensional caricature to three-dimensional human being without compromising the character's pure heart. What fully sold me on the film, though, was the musical contribution of Disney stalwart Alan Menken. I've been a huge fan of this man's work all the way back to
Little Shop of Horrors, and the work he did with Disney in the late 80s and 90s -
The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, amongst others - have produced some of Disney's most classic tunes. Simply hearing his name mentioned in regard to this project was enough to pique my interest, and then seeing the film...OK, so the more modern, poppy ballads "So Close" and "Ever Ever After" were more than a little bland, but when it comes to the film's three true Disney-style musical numbers, the ball went sailing clear out of the park. In "True Love's Kiss", we get a wonderful (and more than a little knowing) homage to the classic sound of Walt Disney's heyday, as well as a memorable thematic motif to anchor the peppy score; in "Happy Working Song", we get a hilarious, yet thoroughly accomplished, full-on parody that's as uplifting as it is amusing; and, in the majestic "That's How You Know", we get a full-on extravaganza of musical flavours that, to my mind, rivals anything Menken's ever done before, and one worthy of going down in history as a member of the classic Disney canon. Seriously.
Perusing the movie news sites, I've noticed that
Enchanted is being met with critical plaudits (93% on Rotten Tomatoes), audience adulation ($87 million and counting at the box office) and even early awards recognition (two Golden Globe nominations is pretty good for a Disney comedy!). I think that's a testament to the sheer feelgood lovability of this film; it's not high art, but it is the sort of film you'll watch, adore and treasure. I've heard talk of sequels, but frankly I'd rather not see them materialise;
Pirates of the Caribbean was a textbook case of how to diminish a beloved property with superfluous additions, and trying to embellish or stretch out this perfectly-formed, self-contained little gem seems like a misguided and vaguely repellent idea. For the time being, though, if you've ever had any sort of fondness for Disney and fairy tales (I'd guess that's most people here), and you think you can put cynicism on hold for 107 minutes and simply enjoy this for the unassuming confection it is, then
Enchanted comes with my highest recommendation.