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We've had plenty of ironic takes on the classic fairytale in recent years, so Enchanted finds itself entering into a crowded field. Enchanted's twist is that it prevents a fairytale-meets-culture-clash comedy. A princess from a ridiculously clichéd (but deliberately so) cartoon fantasy world winds up in present-day New York, and chuckles ensue. The opening is pure golden age Disney homage: a young maiden, Giselle, who talks and sings to her woodland animal friends, pines for a valiant prince to sweep her off her feet. Said prince happens to drop by and saves the fair maiden from a monstrous troll, proposing on the spot. Just as the wedding is about to happen, the prince's mother jealously pushes the princess-to-be down a magical well, and she ends up climbing out of a New York manhole cover in the middle of Times Square. This sequence is brilliant fast-paced fun and makes it seem like a terrible shame that Disney have stopped producing films in the traditional animated format (thankfully, since Pixar head honcho John Lasseter took over he's restarted the production of 2D 'toons).
Upon entry to New York, Giselle is played by Amy Adams, whose disarming innocence and naivety is both amusing and endearing. Adams, who has impressed in roles in smaller films, will surely see her star rise in the wake of this film's success. Equally entertaining, however, is James Marsden as the dashing prince who pursues her into the real world. After failing to leave a major impression as Cyclops in the X-Men series and getting completely sidelined in the third instalment, Marsden seems to have found his niche this year, as he has excelled in the light-hearted roles he has played in Hairspray and now Enchanted. Taking the less colourful role of Robert, the "real-world" New Yorker who finds himself helping Giselle, is the younger Sean Penn-resembling Patrick Dempsey. He does well in the less outlandish role, making his character one to root for. The most scene-stealing character, however, is a completely artificial one, Pip the chipmunk. Through some excellent CG and animation he completely comes alive.
The film gently pokes fun at genre formula, such as making reference to the ludicrousness of people spontaneously bursting into song in musicals, but for the most part it plays things fairly straight. This is partly beneficial as the central romance is portrayed likeably but also leads to a relative paucity of laughs in the later stages, as well as utter predictability. Also, despite some very well-choreographed musical numbers including one that tours much of Central Park, none of the songs are particularly memorable and feel superfluous once they stop being funny. Basically, though, Enchanted makes good use of its family-targeted premise and the intended age demographic will lap it up. A little more guts to depart more from the established formula wouldn't have gone amiss, but presumably the embracing of so many conventions was entirely the producers' intent.
The summary
Cute, charming, likeable - all these words apply to Enchanted. If that's enough, it shouldn't disappoint.
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