Very Amusing

Rating: 9/10 (4 December 2008)

Think of Disney's "Enchanted" (2007) as part "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) and part "Prince Charming" (2001), with a bit of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988) thrown in for good measure. But its real predecessor is Walt Disney's very first production "Alice's Wonderland" (1923). Contrary to popular belief Walt's first sustained character was neither Oswald the Rabbit nor Mickey Mouse. It was a six-year old real life girl named Alice. While working for an advertising agency in Kansas City Walt altered a concept from Max and Dave Fleischer's "Out of the Inkwell" series and mixed a live actress (Virginia Davis) with animation.
"Enchanted" is all about the juxtaposition of the real world with the animated world. Animated characters become their real life counterparts, and then turn back into pop-up book scenes. As in "Prince Charming", a storybook prince finds himself dealing with modern day Manhattan. But this time he is has come to this strange world voluntarily.
It seems that his stepmother (Susan Sarandon playing a high mileage version of Snow White's Evil Queen) has transported his future bride Giselle (Amy Adams) to the real world. Adams is quite simply amazing in this role. She has no trouble selling her character's wide-eyed innocence (this is literally true-just watch her eyes). Giselle works her magic on a cynical divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his six- year-old daughter. Although the film has no weak scenes I found myself trying to hurry along the portions that did not feature Adams.
There are some relatively subtle sight gags; watch for the difficulties Giselle has maneuvering her huge Princess gown around the real world. Also watch for Adams' two musical numbers, "Happy Working Song" and "That's How You Know". These are absolutely priceless and compare favorably with the cinema's best musical moments.
"Enchanted" might have the decade's widest target audience as it has almost universal appeal. My only criticism is that the effects loaded climatic scene is not nearly as entertaining as the sequences that precede it.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.