A slightly dissenting view

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2007)

The film opens with a straight-forward, not-very-ironic, animated prelude; the beautiful princess Giselle (the uber-talented Amy Adams) lives in the forest with her animated friends, waiting to meet her "one true love". He arrives in the form of the handsome, charming, none-too-bright Prince Edward (the very game James Marsden), who comes with the requisite evil step-mother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon). Narissa's reign is threatened by her step-son's impending nuptials. What to do? Transformed into the prototypical poison apple-wielding crone, Narissa lures Giselle to a wishing well and pushes her in. Down she falls, until she arrives, fully 3-D flesh-and-blood, at a manhole cover in N.Y.C.
The live-action Giselle is lost, confused, disoriented... but her sunny disposition and indefatigable optimism will not be deterred. It is here the film-makers have made their most inspired choice- the casting of Amy Adams as Giselle. In a role that that has many opportunities for failure, her every note is pitch-perfect. The naivety and optimism that could have been cloying or superficial are infused by Adams with nobility and warmth. Her performance is the center of the picture, and it's chief attraction.
From here, a great deal of promise is somehow not... quite... realized. Giselle is taken in, at the behest of his young single-parented daughter, by a kind but cynical divorce lawyer, Robert, ably but somewhat blandly portrayed by Patrick Dempsey. The juxtaposition of his modern day attitudes toward love with Giselle's story-book "happily-ever-after" optimism is none too original, which would be OK if there were some wit involved, but it's all rather rote. Robert's girl-friend of five years Nancy (Broadway star Idina Menzel) is understandably put-off by his new room-mate, but Giselle's child-like charm eventually wins even her over.
Edward arrives seeking his love, and is followed by the Queen's henchman Nathanial (Timothy Spall), who has been instructed to stop him and, eventually, by means of poison apple, kill her. Nathanial is not truly evil, but is influenced by his unrequited love for the Queen.
With the whole world of Princess/Fairy Tale convention to play off of the moments of actual inspiration are few and far between. Perhaps had the budget been smaller and the score a bit less bombastic this could have played more low-key and charming. But the style is more "Roger Rabbit" than "Princess Bride", and the script simply can't support the scope of the canvas.
One choice nicely made by the screen-writers is played out in the relationship between Giselle and the attitudes of the modern day world. Giselle's sunny optimism, predictably, begins to rub off on the people around her, infusing them with a better outlook. Less predictably, the opposite begins to occur with Giselle. Things she found straight-forward become suddenly more complex. It's easy to suggest that we have much to learn from Giselle; that a seemingly well-adjusted, happy person has something to learn from us is fresher territory, and goes to the heart of what is right with this film. It suggests that there is a yin and yang relationship between optimism and cynicism. Giselle's unwavering optimism finds it's balance in Robert's more complex world-view, and visa-versa. That we can all see the world in a new way through the eyes of others is both happy ending and the real world. Nice.
I expected a bit more from this film. It's premise is rife with ideas, very few of which are discovered or explored. The Disney princess ethos is permanently ingrained in our culture; we all know the conventions, we all understand the appeal. That this ingenious premise is so under-imagined from an intellectual point of view, simplistically presented from a story-telling point of view, and over-boisterously presented from a charm point of view is disappointing. There is fun to be had here, but this is neither as clever as the aforementioned "Roger Rabbit" or endearing as "The Princess Bride". It actually could have been both.
The real heart of the film is, always, Amy Adams. That she is not drop-dead Hollywood gorgeous is further testament to her talent. Fresh off her Academy Award nominated role in the touching "June Bug", her performance is funny, touching, wise, brave, and beautiful to behold. Just like a real princess.