Had a Smile on My Face the Whole Time

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2007)

I had a smile on my face the entire time I was watching "Enchanted." Well, maybe not the whole time ... a chipmunk is sorely mistreated and I did worry for him.
"Enchanted" is something special. It will be remembered as a movie that proved how even today's jaded audiences can embrace a film with no graphic sex or violence, a movie with a truly sweet soul.
"Enchanted" does include special effects, but its real special effect is Amy Adams' performance. I fell in love with this girl. I don't know how long it's been since I fell in love with an actress. I'm really tired of the trampy style that rolled in with Madonna's career.
Amy Adams conveys genuine sweetness. You really want this girl to live next door, to be your best friend, to marry your son. About how many tramp-style starlets can we say any of these things? "Enchanted" lets you know it is something special with its very first scene. A rich, warm, blessed voice narrates  Julie Andrews! I knew I was in good hands. The opening animation is . . . well, enchanting. I was swept off my feet by this lovely animation. I had read very positive reviews of "Enchanted" and here I was loving the very first scene, and I thought, "This is too good. It can't keep being this good." But it did, largely thanks to Amy Adams. Magic turns Giselle from a cartoon character to flesh and blood Amy Adams. Adams finds herself dressed in a fairy tale princess gown, but stuck in a Manhattan sewer. Adams moves her fingers and arms like a ballet dancer, in order to express . . . enchantment. I was enthralled.
Patrick Dempsey is very good as Robert, a cynical, 21st century lawyer. Dempsey plays against his "McDreamy" good looks. He conveys real burnout. Competing for Giselle's hand is James Marsden, utterly perfectly cast as Prince Edward, who gallantly saves a busload of midtown Manhattan peasants. Rachel Covey is adorable as Morgan, Robert's motherless daughter. There is a talking chipmunk who all but steals the movie. And Susan Sarandon, or someone, shows up with hag make-up that curls your toes.
There's an exuberant dance number in Central Park, reminiscent of Disneyland's "Small World" display, and of Vincent Minnelli, MGM musicals. It just got better and better as it went on.
So, why haven't I given "Enchanted" a ten? The script. Fantasies work best when they tell truths about real life. Classics like "I Married a Witch" made the fantastic believable, and told us something about reality that a more realistic movie couldn't tell. "Enchanted" could have been a tad more plausible, and it could have given Robert and Giselle more developed scenes where her naivete and his cynicism, and her change from a cartoon character to a creature who can feel anger . . . and another response she's not ready to give words to, and his change from a man who wants to get rid of her by handing her some bills to someone quite different, were more emphatically dramatized. There are those scenes  Giselle's response to Robert's work as a divorce lawyer, for example  I just wish they had been better crafted with studier writing.
But no criticism should keep you away from "Enchanted." It really is a movie I'd recommend to anyone, and if you don't smile the whole time you are watching it . . . maybe the only cure is to watch it again.