A stellar cast dazzles up this otherwise alright live-action fairytale

Rating: 9/10 (24 September 2008)

What happens when the archetypal Disney princess is thrown from her blissful animated world into the no-nonsense world of modern-day Manhattan. That's exactly what "Enchanted" wants to show you, and in, uh, a family-friendly manner. Although the premises of Enchanted are fairly interesting, it's the amazing cast that is arguably the movie's most powerful asset. Not only the actors' performances, but the casting choices are also top-notch across the board.
One may not be sure if a 33-year-old would be able to pull off the archetypal Disney princess in the real world, but Amy Adams left me smitten throughout the movie; with her cute innocence and wide-eyed optimism, within moments it becomes hard to imagine anybody else in the role of Giselle. Her transformation from a near-stupidly optimist into a real-world woman over the course of the movie is also handled very well and smoothly, which prevents Adams' aptly over-melodramatic acting (for most of the movie) from coming off as cheesy.
Timothy Spall is also fully believable and downright hilarious as the evil queen's bulky lackey Nathaniel. Patrick Dempsey - who plays the hardheaded divorce lawyer Robert - and James Marsden, playing the archetypically handsome but egotistically dimwitted Prince Edward, are also enjoyable in their respective roles. Giselle's talking chipmunk friend Pip, who can't talk when he's in the real world and has to communicate by acting, is also a drop-dead hilarious CG character; his imitation of Nathaniel in particular cracked me up.
However, Idina Menzel was fairly unconvincing and overacted as Robert's pragmatic girlfriend Nancy, while Susan Sarandom - who is perfectly casted as the evil Queen Narissa - is disappointingly misused (more on that later).
Unfortunately, the movie's strength drastically weakens once the evil Queen Narissa shows up in the real world near the movie's ending. Not only is Narissa farcical and not menacing at all in person, but even the CG dragon that she transforms into during the climax looks like a 3D character with cartoon proportions and comes off as more humorous than menacing. There is also no proper explanation of why Narissa still wants to kill Giselle even after she knows that Giselle's true love isn't her stepson (Edward). The climax, where Giselle dispatches the dragon, should have been better defined and more developed.
Carrie Underwood's "Ever Ever After" at the end lent the movie at bit of Disney 'plasticness', but I won't complain much about it because after all, it's supposed to be a feel-good ending, complete with cheesy dancing from Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams; the movie itself is rife with colorful musical numbers that resemble a Broadway musical on steroids, in classic Disney fashion; not to mention the staple "and they all lived happily ever after" narration.
All in all, despite a bogged-down ending, Enchanted is a thoroughly entertaining feel-good family film that sincerely honors its not-so-believable homages rather than ridiculing them. However, along with some wonderful performances, the biggest reason that Enchanted is so memorable is its undeniable feel-good charm. RATING: 9/10