Not likely to enjoy it if you are recently divorced or separated

Rating: 3/10 (24 November 2007)

Getting past the pretty wrapping (beautiful characters and decent acting), the message is hard hitting about divorce. Not necessarily a feel good movie in that case and you are not likely to enjoy it if you are recently divorced or separated and seeing it with your kids. Or if you were wishing you are divorced or separated. Fathers squirmed uncomfortably all over the theater during the true love discussions and how if there are problems at the beginning of a marriage they never get better and you ultimately divorce. "I should get extra daddy points for having to sit through this fine film," said the father sarcastically to the mother and family in the row in front of us.
The movie fails to poke fun at Disney fairy tales and the adult humor is lost on the kids. Could send troubled moms over the edge. Kids will half laugh and be half bewildered as adults laugh and sometimes just groan at humor only they can really understand. For example, when the cartoon-princess-turned-human-princess summons fairytale creatures to help her clean the apartment of her savior in New York, woodland creatures are not available. So instead, roaches happily scrub the tub in unison. This is the highlight of the film.
Then there is the not so hidden message: Divorce/separation is a reality and sometimes you are just with the wrong person. This is a reality that even a fairytale princess must learn and accept. Not a bad message in general but see note above about seeing it with kids while contemplating or recently separating. Will a holiday movie the best place to learn that lesson?
But wait there's more ...
As with all Disney movies, the mom is nowhere to be seen. But she didn't die this time. No, Mommy had deserted the family. See, moms sometimes leave and never say why. Dad raises 6 yr old daughter alone. Daughter doesn't like Daddy's girlfriend who tries hard to impress daughter. Daddy is a divorce attorney and talks openly and often about the reality of divorce. All the while an annoying little chipmunk does cute jokes that makes kids in the audience laugh. A little sugar with the medicine. Then new woman enters picture and Daddy promptly dumps current girlfriend/fiancé that he's been dating for 5 years for new woman (aka princess from cartoon story) that he's known for a day because he has finally fallen in love. Daughter prefers new woman anyway because she acts like a sweet innocent princess. Princess's handsome prince comes to find her and finds that she is in love with the attorney and decides to fight for her. In the end, he decides that he really wants the attorney to have the princess since the princess and divorce attorney are truly in love. Since the rest of it was so unreal, why not?