Disney's "Enchanted" is a delightful, adorable and very fun film that has great humor (and parody/satire) for kids and adults!

Rating: 10/10 (31 July 2012)

From time to time, I find myself watching the career of a single actor or actress, watching pieces of their work throughout their career. After having come across the delightful and extremely talented Amy Adams in films like "The Muppets" and "Sunshine Cleaning", I decided to watch some of her previous work, eventually coming to the Disney release "Enchanted", which I'd always intended to watch, but never have gotten around to.
This film is one of the best comedic family releases of the decade, if not the single best example. It is a loving homage (and at times, seemingly a parody and borderline satire) of classic Disney and family fantasy. Following a classical animated Disney princess who is transported to modern-day New York City by her soon-to-be wicked stepmother, the film is extremely heartfelt, hilarious and joyful.
Adams stars as Giselle, a fairytale princess from the magical (and animated) kingdom of Andalasia, where she spends her time pining for true love's first kiss with her woodland animal friends, including a talking chipmunk named Pip. When the valiant and vain Prince Edward saves her from a troll, she becomes convinced that she's found true love, and plans on marrying him the next day. However, Edward's evil mother Narissa fears losing her thrown to Giselle and tricks her into falling down a magical portal, where she emerges in (live-action, real-world) New York City. After being confused by the cities lack of mysticism and light-heartedness, she is taken into the home of handsome divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey), where she learns more about the real world, while teaching Robert to lighten up and believe in goodness and fairytale logic.
Narissa (played in voice and live action by Susan Sarandon) sends her henchman Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) to find Giselle and stop her from getting to Edward (James Marsden), whom has traveled to New York with Pip to find her.
From there, it becomes a culture clash story as Giselle realizes Robert may be her true love, and feels torn between Andalasia's charms and Edward, and the real world.
The film is remarkably well-made. From an opening prologue that is so cliché Disney, it's almost painful to watch (in an ironic, charming and quite funny way), to the culture-clash of Giselle and Edward's transportation, a lot of conventions of Fantasy and adventure are bent and played with.
The cast is absolutely wonderful. Adams basically is the film, and plays the role to perfection. There isn't more to be said, other than she is the beating heart of the whole thing, and she's the only actress who could have done this role justice. She deserved all of the praise she got, and honestly could have (and should have) won an Oscar for the role. It's a daring, wonderful performance. Marsden is also extremely notable and is just as good as Adams. Parodying the concept of a Prince Charming, Edward is charming and vain to the point of being likable-yet- unlikable all at once. Marsden walks a fine, fine line, and balances the character quite nice. Dempsey is good as Robert, bringing a realism to the fantastical proceedings, and grounding the film. It's also a nice touch that he's a divorce lawyer, acting as an antithesis to Giselle's visions of true love. Covey is charming as his daughter Morgan, and will melt the heart of parents and children with her innocence. Sarandon is a lot of fun as the villainess Narissa, and she plays the role well, but as the focus is mainly Giselle, she doesn't get much development. Much better is Spall as the semi-villainous Nathaniel, who is a bumbling, lost henchman with more complexity than one might think. He is able to succeed as a villain and a character where Sarandon is somewhat unable to due to their uneven screen time.
In terms of production, this is a gorgeous film. Kevin Lima's slick direction adds a lot of character, and makes you forgive some of the lesser scenes, and the script by Bill Kelly is a lot of fun, and loaded with hundreds of Disney references. The score by Alan Menken is very decent, though not as big a focus as one would think for such a silly film, and production and costume design is top-notch. Songs and lyrics by Menken and Stephen Schwartz are wonderfully meta and self- referential, including a song literally entitled "Happy Working Song" and a hilarious and beautiful song about how to let someone know that you love them.
This praise being said, there are some minor faults. For starters, the villain Narissa is extremely under-developed. She's a classic case of a character who is evil simply for the sake of being evil. Times have changed, and it's hard to accept a villain who is evil for no reason these days in a film. There is also some minor flaws here and there in the animated sequences. The opening prologue does drag a little bit, despite being too quickly paced. It tries to do too much with the opening animation in terms of parody/satire, making it feel a little indulgent and bloated. Some of the humor, while funny, is geared towards adults a little bit too much, which could cause parents watching the film with children to get into awkward conversations trying to explain the adult jokes. Finally, the film really does paint-by-numbers during the third act, which was a bit of a letdown after how wonderful the first hour was.
However, these faults, despite being fairly significant, cannot diminish the fact that most of the film is completely flawless. Featuring a lovable, endearing cast and some first-class filmmaking, this one is easily a perfect 10. I love it, and I think it's a great film for families, or even adults looking for a hilarious, nostalgic rush. Check it out!