Another success for Disney self parody. This time in both live action and animation.

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2008)

Newcomer Amy Adams as Giselle is really the star of this film. Disney has had success before with self parody: "Aladdin" (1992) and "Hercules" (1997), but never before with a live action film. The Disney self parody works most of the time, but what really carries the film along is Amy Adams' performance as Princess Giselle. Immediately, she is lively, charming, spunky, likable and very much a Disney style fairy tale heroine. That's the first thing I noticed about this film. In my opinion, Disney does not have a good track record of live action films, with the notable exception of "Mary Poppins" (1964). So, I'm pleased to see a better than usual live action film from Disney.
I thought Disney's self parody idea, used here in a live action film, would be the star of the film, and bring out, as before, more lively and creative screen writing. In parts, it does, more or less throughout the film. With the return of Academy Award winning Disney composer Alan Menken, the songwriting for this film seems to have had a very good inspiration, I think, partly due to Disney's return to it's fairy tale story roots. The self parody is mostly "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" without the dwarfs at first and later uses "Cinderella" for more references.
The story idea of self parody, which can be very insightfully funny when done right, works well for most of the film. Whenever it falters a little, there is always Amy Adams charming and sprightly acting performance to hold one's interest and keep one believing in the magic of Disney's fairy tale stories all over again, for a new generation.
Received 3 Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song.