I am indeed enchanted

Rating: 8/10 (29 March 2014)

Giselle, a beautiful young peasant woman, lives in the animated fairy tale kingdom of Andalasia. She dreams of finding true love. True love finds her when the dashing Prince Edward saves her from a giant troll. Yes, this is one of those animated kingdoms with giant trolls. Talking animals too but more on them later. It's also one of those animated kingdoms with an evil queen. Queen Narissa knows that she can not allow her stepson Edward to marry. If he does his new bride will take Narissa's throne. So when it's love at first sight for Edward and Giselle, with a wedding to take place just a day after they met, Narissa has to take action. She banishes the naive, all too trusting Giselle to...New York City? Good luck finding true love there sweetheart.
Giselle has not just been sent from Andalasia to New York. She's been sent from an animated world to a live-action one. So out of the sewer and into Times Square steps Amy Adams. And Adams proves to be an absolutely amazing living, breathing, real-life Disney princess. You wouldn't want to imagine any other actress in the role, Adams is as perfect as perfect can be. In this ultimate fish out of water story the challenges Giselle faces are enormous. But as any good fairy tale princess would she faces those challenges with a smile on her face and a song in her heart. It is impossible not to be charmed by the relentlessly upbeat, positive-thinking, romantic idealist Giselle. And so much of the credit for that has to go to Adams who is stunningly brilliant in the role. She certainly looks the part of the fairy tale princess and her personality shines through to the point it's almost a little overwhelming.
Of course modern-day Manhattan is really no place for a naive, idealistic fairy tale princess. Luckily for Giselle she is taken in by a single father, Robert, and his young daughter, Morgan. Robert was just about to propose to his girlfriend Nancy but Giselle's presence causes complications. Meanwhile, because this is a fairy tale after all, Giselle's Prince Charming must come save her. Tipped off by Pip, Giselle's talking chipmunk friend, Edward learns where Giselle has been sent and comes to New York to save her, chipmunk in tow. Unfortunately in the real world animals can't talk so Pip faces all kinds of problems of his own as he tries to help Edward find and rescue Giselle. While animals can't talk here Giselle does find a way to put the local wildlife to use. No cute little chipmunks here though, in Manhattan it's pigeons and rats and cockroaches who Giselle puts to work. Quite funny that. Anyhow Narissa knows she can't let Edward bring Giselle back to Andalasia so she sends her henchman, Nathaniel, to New York to finish the job with, what else, a poison apple. Edward is oblivious. It's only our fearless, though now unfortunately speechless, chipmunk who realizes the danger Giselle is in. More hilarity ensues as prince and chipmunk seek to find Giselle.
Enchanted keeps a smile on your face throughout. The story is so engaging, the characters so embraceable. Adams is the obvious standout but the rest of the cast is excellent as well. Patrick Dempsey is perfectly cast as Robert, a guy all too grounded in the real world to believe in fairy tales. The exasperation Dempsey shows as his character deals with the impossibly chipper Giselle is priceless. Whereas Giselle begins to adjust to the real world she finds herself in Prince Edward never changes. He's a swashbuckling fairy tale prince brought to life and James Marsden captures that wonderfully. Susan Sarandon as the evil queen, Timothy Spall as her put-upon henchman and Idina Menzel as Robert's girlfriend are all great too. It's such a lively, energetic, flat-out fun film. The film looks fantastic, a fairy tale beautifully brought to life. There are some great songs too, the standout one being That's How You Know which is performed as a gigantic, breathtakingly brilliant Central Park production number. You may think this would be a very predictable story but the movie has some surprises for you, the quest for true love not as straightforward as it seems. If there is any little quibble with the film it may be that it goes a little over the top at the end where the villain becomes, quite literally, too big of a presence. But all in all it's hard not to love this movie. Such a charming movie, with a performance from Adams which is as good as it gets. Adams creates a character who anyone, fairy tale prince or real-world man, would fall in love with. If you love her, and you will, you'll love this movie.