Too violent for young children, no continuum.

Rating: 2/10 (6 August 2008)

Not impressed with this movie at all. The storyline is basically a mish-mash of some of the old, successful Disney stories: Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and even Mary Poppins (the central park dance routine is very reminiscent of Julie Andrews, Dick van Dyke and the kids dancing in the park before they jump into one of the chalk pictures on the sidewalk), and anything else you are sharp enough to detect in there. That is not the problem. In fact, that is kind of fun. Revisiting bits and pieces of our old favorites...
Part of the problem lies more in the cutesy, gratuitous violence that runs rampant throughout the movie, especially the "funny" yet "cute" sadistic touches. I have never even liked it when filmmakers insert the highly overdone cat screaming or dog howling in pain in the background when someone inadvertently tosses something aside and it finds its mark. What is funny about hurting an animal? Well, in Enchanted, the torturing of animals is not accidental, it's deliberate and very disturbing, to say the least. Even though it's being done to a cartoon chipmunk, that somehow does not make it any less upsetting. If I were a parent, I would not want my child watching this kind of behavior, especially since it is being characterized as "funny" and "cute". It is neither, and children should not be taught that it is.
I very much recommend that parents take a look at this movie themselves first, before exposing their children to it. Do not judge this movie by the cover. It is definitely not suitable for small children. In fact, I wish I hadn't seen it myself.
Other than that, the other part of the problem is that the whole storyline is a big piece of disorganized fluff. There is no more basis for the romance that blooms between Robert and Giselle, than there is for the one between the Prince and Giselle. And Giselle runs around risking life and limb to go chasing after her Prince, only to be completely sidetracked, once they find one another, by her "feelings" for Robert, who has heretofore shown little else but irritation with her. And his irritation gets magically transformed into deep love for no tangible reason whatsoever.... Fairytale, indeed! Makes no sense at all.
I loved Amy Adams in 'The Wedding Date'. In fact, she's the reason I wanted to see this movie too. But, sadly, not impressed here. The acting is very mehhh... The storyline struggles - a lot. And the whole package is just not what I would expect from a movie of this caliber, with these actors. Too much trying too hard. Not enough real fun. No actual substance. Saccharin as can be. By the time it was all over Amy Adams' face must have really hurt from all that forced cheery smiling. I wonder how long it took to recover muscle control after the shoot?