Enchanted

Produced by
Barry Sonnenfeld
 Written by
 Starring
Patrick Dempsey
James Marsden
Susan Sarandon
Timothy Spall
Idina Menzel
 Music by
 Editors
 Cinematography
 Studios
 Distributors
 Release date (s)
 Language
 Preceded by
 Followed by

***Enchanted*** is a 2007 American fantasy-musical film, produced and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures in association with Barry Sonnenfeld and Josephson Entertainment. Written by Bill Kelly and directed by Kevin Lima, the film stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, Rachel Covey and Susan Sarandon. It premiered on October 20, 2007, at the London Film Festival before its wide release on November 21, 2007, in the United States.

This is the first Disney movie to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures instead of Buena Vista, due to Disney semi-retiring the name in May 2007, making all other future Disney movies permanently distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

The plot focuses on Giselle, an archetypal Disney Princess, who is forced from her traditional animated world of Andalasia into the live-action world of New York City. The film is both an *homage* to, and a self-parody of, conventional Walt Disney Animated Classics, making numerous references to Disney's past and future works through the combination of live action filmmaking, traditional animation and computer-generated imagery. It heralds the return of traditional animation to a Disney feature film after the company's decision to move entirely to computer animation in 2004. Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who had written songs for previous Disney films, produced the songs of *Enchanted*, with Menken also composing its score.

*Enchanted* was well-received critically, and received two nominations at the 65th Golden Globe Awards and three nominations at the 80th Academy Awards. The film earned more than $340 million worldwide at the box office.

## Plot

Giselle (Amy Adams) lives in the blissful and traditionally-animated fairy tale world of Andalasia, where animals are talkative companions and musical interludes punctuate nearly every interaction, characters breaking into song and "happily ever after" a foregone conclusion. Prince Edward (James Marsden), her designated true love which he hears her voice in the forest, saves her from a troll and they plan to get married the next day. However, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), Edward's evil stepmother, schemes to protect her throne, which she will lose her claim to the throne once Prince Edward is married. The next day, when Giselle arrives at the palace, Narissa disguises herself as an old hag. She then throws Giselle down a well and into a magic portal that transports her to a world "where no one lives happily ever after" - Earth.

As Giselle falls down the well, she transforms into a live action version of herself and emerges through a manhole in Times Square in modern day, live-action New York City, and after a turn of events, she meets Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey), a hardened, yet friendly divorce lawyer who is at first reluctant to help her find her way home. At his daughter Morgan's (Rachel Covey) insistence, Robert lets Giselle stay at their apartment despite believing that she is crazy and worrying about the safety of his daughter. Following the ways of her fairy-tale world, Giselle recruits urban animals in the city – pigeons, cockroaches and rats – to help her clean his apartment while she fashions a dress out of his curtains. Robert reaches the end of his patience when Giselle causes an argument between him and Robert's fiancée, a fashion designer named Nancy (Idina Menzel), who misunderstands the situation and runs off after arguing with Robert.

At Robert's law firm, his secretary (Jodi Benson) tries to find Giselle transportation home, but cannot locate Andalasia. Deciding he must part with Giselle in Central Park, Robert offers her some money. However, Giselle almost immediately gives it to an old woman who happened to have encountered Prince Edward slaying a city bus that morning, while searching for his lost bride. Deciding that Giselle needs his protection, Robert rejoins her. While walking through the park, Giselle questions Robert on how he displays his affection for Nancy and spontaneously starts the musical production number of "That's How You Know" with many performers in the park joining her. Giselle eventually helps Robert reconcile with Nancy by sending flowers to her, along with tickets to the King's and Queen's Ball.

Meanwhile Narissa's henchman Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) follows Edward and a talking chipmunk named Pip, who have journeyed to New York to rescue Giselle. Nathaniel makes his first attempt to kill Giselle by giving her a poisoned caramel apple, but is foiled when she inadvertently flings it onto the helmet of a passing bicyclist. Nathaniel and the prince then spend a night at a cheap motel, where Nathaniel questions his adoring but servile relationship with Narissa after watching a soap opera. Finding Giselle and Robert at an Italian restaurant, Nathaniel serves her a poisoned apple martini. Although Pip is unable to speak coherently in the real world, and has trouble alerting the Prince to Nathaniel's intentions, he foils Nathaniel's plot. Infuriated by these failures, Narissa goes to New York City to kill Giselle.

As Giselle and Robert spend more time together, Giselle discovers that the real world is much more complicated than she realized, while Robert is affected by her optimism and idealism. After a brief argument with Robert, Giselle realizes her own emotional growth and her growing feelings toward him. Edward continues to look for Giselle and eventually finding her at Robert's apartment. While Edward is eager to take Giselle home and marry, she insists that they first go on a date, which she has learned is customary in the real world. They end their date and attend at the King's and Queen's Costume Ball. After Nancy and Edward pair off to dance, Giselle dances with Robert. During their dance, Giselle realizes that Robert is her true love as he, very softly, sings the lyrics of the song to her. Edward and Nancy seem to realize the attraction between Giselle and Robert and also discover a mutual attraction. Unbeknownst to them, Narissa has traveled to New York from Andalasia. Using her old hag's disguise, Narissa successfully poisons Giselle, but is stopped by Edward before she can escape with Giselle's unconscious body.

Nathaniel exposes Narissa's plot, admits his deeds and reveals that one must kiss Giselle by midnight to break the poison apple's spell, or Giselle will die. After Edward's kiss fails to wake Giselle up, Robert kisses and revives her. Giselle admits that she knew Robert was her true love. Narissa uses the distracting moment to break free. Deciding to write her own ending to the story, she transforms into a dragon. When Robert protects Giselle, Narissa takes Robert hostage, luring Giselle out the window and up to the top of the Woolworth Building to kill her. However, with Pip's involvement (that happened earlier in the movie), Narissa falls to her death, then was impaled and was in flames near where Edward, Nancy and Nathaniel see at, and exploding into magic dust at street level. Giselle catches Robert, and they manage to keep from sliding off the roof, ending in a romantic embrace.

Edward finds Giselle's discarded shoe and places it on Nancy's foot (à la Cinderella). They happily leave for Andalasia to be married. Giselle uses her magical dress-making talents to run a successful New York boutique, assisted by both humans and animals. Both Nathaniel (in New York) and Pip (in Andalasia) become successful authors, writing self-help books based on their experiences. The last scene shows Giselle, Robert, and Morgan playing and living happily ever after together as a family.

## Cast

* Amy Adams as Giselle. A princess-to-be who ends up almost having her dream of meeting her prince a reality. Adams was announced to have been cast in the role of Giselle on November 14, 2005. Although the studio was looking for a film star in the role, director Kevin Lima insisted on casting a lesser-known actress. Out of the 300 or so actresses who auditioned for the role, Adams stood out to Lima because not only did she look like "a Disney princess" but her "commitment to the character, her ability to escape into the character's being without ever judging the character was overwhelming." Hailing from Andalasia, Giselle displays similar traits to the Disney Princesses; Lima describes her as "about 80% Snow White, with some traits borrowed from Cinderella and *Sleeping Beauty*... although her spunkiness comes from Ariel a.k.a. The Little Mermaid." She is "eternally optimistic and romantic" but is also "very independent and true to her convictions". Over the course of the film, she becomes more mature but maintains her innocence and optimism.