An Enjoyable Letdown

Rating: 5/10 (21 March 2008)

Before I go into detail let me make a disclaimer: I was expecting a LOT out of this movie--I was expecting this to be the great Disney comeback.
Now, that said, you could imagine my disappointment when it wasn't the perfect movie. I'd heard great things and I was expecting them. And in the first scenes I got them--Amy Adams is precious in this movie. She plays the part pretty much flawlessly and really puts forth a great performance. In fact, all of the scenes with just her (and many times with Patrick and the kid) are great. I found my self laughing and remembering all of the great Disney moments I haven't lived in so long.
But the script really fell apart as they started transplanting more fairy tale characters into the real world. They stopped making light of old stereotypes from the classics and started applying new stereotypes from some of the worst examples of Disney animation. The script started to fall apart as they tried to work on comedy and get characters into scenes where they shouldn't be. And while it could have worked in the animated world--it doesn't in the real world and they lose the whole edge. Instead of just transplanting characters (many of which they didn't write very good parts for), they started transplanting typical gimmicks used in animated movies. They should have been making the characters funny: focusing on how they didn't fit in in New York, how things were no longer perfect. But once we got past Princess Giselle in New York City, all of the transplanted characters forgot they were in a different world that wasn't perfect (unless they were making a chincy cultural reference to bait the adult audience) and everything went exactly as it would have in the animated world. It wasn't really a great achievement in any technical areas either--it was pretty bland, typical family Disney movie.
So the kids will definitely enjoy this, and if you don't care too much about acting, plot continuity, editing, cinematography, etc, you'll probably enjoy it for what it is. But if you are critical at all, if you couldn't sit through the latest remake of Cheaper By The Dozen, this movie is not for you. Do yourself a favor and just look up the Amy Adams scenes on Youtube (especially the Central Park scene, the apartment clean up scene, and the intro).
Hears to hoping that Disney's magic will come back with the upcoming 2d animation flicks.