Juxtapositions and subliminal message work!

Rating: 5/10 (12 November 2007)

I saw this in a preview on 11/08/07. I'm writing this review today because I really needed to digest what I saw that night. I will admit, I read more and a few reviews here today that are glowing with praise and in many of the cases it is justified. The overall good feeling and sweet taste that you are left with after watching this film is quite palatable, by design.
I fear that the overall public has taken another clever marketing ploy, hook, line, and sinker! If you read even a few of the other reviews then you have had more than enough of a good thing and I will refrain from adding to the drooling... Instead I will tell you I laughed when Disney wanted me to laugh, cried when they wanted me to and watched their practically subliminal messages roll across the screen like waves of cotton candy, eagerly gobbled up by all who witnessed....
OK, Movie starts in a fairy tail classic that Disney does so well, ( the CGI mapped and converted humans coupled with the classic animation was not very good) then we thrust a Juxtapostion of 2 of the most unlikely elements, with loads of potential for "what ifs'" New York and a Naive cartoon fairytale character. This hes been done so many times before in Hollywood but never on this scale. After a while I was sitting thinking to myself,"Hmmm what else can we make these lovable innocent characters do in NY city that would illicit a good laugh..."? well the studio found most of them! Moving on to Children and adult relationships... Do we really think Disney is the most qualified party to be giving our children suggestions on how to deal with divorced/ing parents? I was very disturbed to realize that any child who is old enough and sees this film will be asking for his divorced/ing parents to get back together for Christmas..( Poor Santa and all those wish lists!) it clearly made 2 suggestions with it's plot;
1). Parents don't really need to divorce, they can work it out with just a little help of some fairy tale smoke blown up their collective....(which kids will try to do..)
2). Money can solve many of your problems in life or love...
The above #2 statement killed me to write. I liked where the movie was going until Amy Adams ( who can sew up any dress she desires, fit for any Queen,from any fabric in the house overnight) Tells the little girl (Rachel Covey)that she needs a really great dress for the ball tonight, and this is where I suspect there was some board room drama at Disney, and the little girl advises Giselle that she has this Gold card for 'emergencies' and this is an 'emergency'! Well I suspect the writers had envisioned a moment of bonding where the two make a dress together by hand from some special fabric, but Disney saw an opportunity to whore this film out to pay for its budget but letting the naive princess to be go shopping for enough clothes to fill a wardrobe for a year! and in the end she shows up looking lovely as Amy Adams always does but paling in comparison to the dresses she had made herself! Product placement strikes again... and again... and again...
What are we teaching our kids... Yes I can see the point that on one level the film can pass along the message that we need to take time to get to know someone before getting into a serious relationship, but I don't think that is one of the messages that kids will come away with.
p.s. "Dear Santa all I want for Christmas is a shiny Gold Card"....
p.p.s. The acting was OK, Wormtail is typecast as wormtail here.. and I found James Marsden to be the most believable and likable of all the cast.
Go see it for your self... someone has to pay for all that product placement!