"Enchanted" Talkback (Spoilers)

[StormBlue]

I've been searching high and low for an "Enchanted" talkback but found none here.


The plot: In an animated fairy tale world, a young girl meets and falls in love with the handsome prince of her dreams. News of this romance upsets the prince’s mother, the evil queen, who uses her black magic to send the girl hurtling out of the animated world into the one place in the universe where there is no true love: modern day Manhattan. The now-real girl has to survive in New York City and find her way home again to her true love. Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden and Susan Sarandon star.


http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd83/Lakewoodr/enchanted-poster-770.jpg
The movie opened Wednesday night in theaters across the land, introducing to audiences Disney's mix of revived 2-D animation and live-action. I went with two of my friends (one who is a fellow Disney geek like myself) to see the movie and see if it was worth the hype.

If you're definitely a Disney movie geek, it's very hard NOT to like this movie. This movie hits the target as an all-round family film. As one of a few guys in the theater, I never felt out-of-place or wondered why I was subjecting myself to what equated to a romantic comedy. The movie kept me entertained through and through, and I have hope that if Disney keeps up this pace, we may be seeing a new era in Disney movies.

From talking with friends, when saying positive things about Disney movies we often refer to the music that made everything memorable about them. Whether it's "Under the Sea", "A Whole New World", or "Hakuna Matata", the score from those early 90s Disney movies always took us back to that viewing experience in the movie theater when Aladdin was running through the streets ("One Jump Ahead") or when Nala found Simba after so many years ("Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"). The great Alan Menken was in charge of the musical score for "Enchanted" and his work is phenomenal as it always is. The movie treats each song as a huge production, central to the plot and important for the viewers to remember. The soundtrack is a mix of typical Disney ballads, modern music, and the movie's score. If you were to check out the soundtrack on iTunes, don't let the rating for it fool you. People are pissed that Carrie Underwood's song is only available if the full album is purchased. There are honestly ratings of 1 star because of that. The album as a whole is a great buy, so I say go for the gusto.

The cast is spot-on. There is already a buzz that "Enchanted" may do for Amy Adam's career what "Mary Poppins" did for Julie Andrews... who happens to serve as narrator for this movie. The movie's 2-D animation is beautiful but not around too long you to become accustomed to it. In fact, the movie's first 5-10 minutes are in "animation land" and then take you to the harsh realities of Manhattan. Yet, the time spent in Andulasia (sp?) is contrasted well to our female lead's time in Manhattan. Giselle should already take her crown as the new Disney princess. Amy Adams does a wonderful job conveying Giselle's innocence and adapting several of the cues a typical animated princess has and making them "real".

The plot's simplicity makes the movie work. The writers do a great job of parodying the typical Disney princess movie as well as providing homages to those movies that make Disney what it is now. Check out this Wikipedia link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchanted_(2007_film)) for more. The movie also gives our princess a chance to think for herself, instead of letting her prince dictate her thoughts and motivations- a very modern move that doesn't feel like the viewer is being preached to about the equality of women.

"Enchanted" doesn't come across as some cheap movie that Disney has pumped out to make money. From the acting to writing to musical accompaniment, there are so many things that Disney gets RIGHT... in this movie. There was a preview for a movie starring Martin Lawrence & Raven (from "That's So Raven") that looks like Disney should have made it a Disney Channel movie instead but that's neither here or there.

If you have children or young nieces or nephews or even a few friends who might be interested in seeing the movie, take a shot and go. If you're a Disney musical geek, you'll love it. If you're a standard movie-goer, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Doggeh]

I really enjoyed this movie and I think it worked out really well.

It took me a bit to adjust to the 2-D animation on the big screen. I really liked it though and I welcome its return...even though it was rather short.

I really like the Prince Edward he absolutely cracked me up!

Did anyone else catch any of the little reference to past Disney animated movies? The poison apple, evil witch turning into a dragon, Gizelle lost her shoe, and one of my favorites the Belle Notte resturaunt.

I came in just after the previews ended...which ones did they show?

[Ishtar]

Well, it's about time this movie got a talkback. I already saw it twice, actually. I thought it was one of Disney's best movies in a while. I thought the plot was an interesting twist on Disney fairy tale movies. I liked all the characters, and I thought all the songs were pretty good, but that was expected since they were done by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. My favorite thing were all the references to past Disney films such as Jodi Benson, Paige O'Hara, and Judy Kuhn making cameos, the poison apple scene, Giselle losing a glass slipper, the law firm being named after Snow White songwriters, etc. I think, maybe, Narissa's character design was based off an earlier design for Maleficient, but that would make sense, since she is based off both her and the Queen from Snow White.

[Movie06]

I saw it, didn't like it, I like the idea but I don't like the execution of it.

[judyindisguise]

Saw it, loved it. I can't remember the last time I was part of an audience that adored a film this much. Lots of laughter and applause at the end. People were raving about it as we left the theatre. A charmer. I'll probably see it again.

[Anime Freak]

Dont know if this happened in any other theaters, but mine was filled with little kids and when it came to that scene at the end of the movie where Narissa was in her "old hag" form with the poison apple and suddenly appeared next to Gizelle, the kids all shreiked and freaked out. Funniest thing ever lol!

[Ishtar]

Dont know if this happened in any other theaters, but mine was filled with little kids and when it came to that scene at the end of the movie where Narissa was in her "old hag" form with the poison apple and suddenly appeared next to Gizelle, the kids all shreiked and freaked out. Funniest thing ever lol!
Wow. That's hillarious. Reminds me of that line the daughter, Morgan, says in the movie when Robert reads her someone's biography in a book: "She...died?".

[Phantasm]

LOVED it!

So nice to see Disney go back to its roots.

Amy Adams was precious.:anime:

[Ed Liu]

Saw it this weekend and my wife and I thought it was wonderfully entertaining fun. Some more specific thoughts:

- Amy Adams is cute.

- The homages to Disney animation fly fast and furious, but it's kind of funny to watch them gently parodying themselves as the movie unfolds. Even so, it's a parody in the same way that Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead are parodies, in that they may be poking fun at a genre, but they do it out of love for love of the genre while also being pretty good genre movies in themselves. Despite the gags, Hot Fuzz is a pretty good buddy-cop action film. Despite the gags, Enchanted is a wonderful fairy-tale type movie.

- There's talk that this will turn into a Broadway musical, but I think a lot of th fun comes from the animated/live-action split and I don't think it'll play anywhere near as well on stage.

- Amy Adams is cuuuute.

- This really isn't a "where are we going?" kind of movie, but most romantic comedies aren't. If you watch the trailer, you can pretty much guess exactly where the movie is going to end up -- my only question was whether Robert was going to end up in the animated world or whether Giselle would stay in the real world. Once they introduced Nancy as Robert's girlfriend, it was pretty clear that a swap was being set up, so then it's just a question of who ends up where.

- While I'm on the subject of the trailer, most of the really funny gags are in there already. The interesting bit is that I still think they're funny in the movie, even when I know they're coming. The bit where the bikes plow into Prince Edward mid-song still gets a laugh out of me even though I've seen it dozens of times.

- However, "Thank you for taking care of my bride-to-be, peasants!" did NOT appear in the trailer and is one of the funniest lines in the picture. Hats off to James Marsden for taking on such a thankless role and spinning it into comedy gold.

- Did I mention that Amy Adams was cute? She's a total charmer and a completely magnetic screen presence.

- The "That's How He'll Know" musical number in Central Park is probably my favorite of the movie, and it's a real show-stopper. It's terrific, and probably going to end up on the short list of "Favorite Movie Musical Numbers Ever" list, right alongside "You're Rocking the Boat" from Guys and Dolls, "Friend Like Me" in Aladdin, and almost all of them from Singin' in the Rain. (EDIT: This number also does "live-action cartoon" as defined by Cartoon Network better than any of the actual live-action cartoons on CN does them.)

- Susan Sarandon seemed to be having WAY too much fun as the evil queen. She was terrific at it, though, which I'm sure has led to all manner of jokes in her household from Tim Robbins and her kids.

- I have to admit I was a bit disappointed by the ending, only because Susan Sarandon is done in basically by an accident. I would have preferred one where Giselle, Robert, or both did more to contribute to her downfall.

- Multiple choice question: Amy Adams is as cute as:
A) A button
B) A baby panda
C) Nothing else on Earth because she's now at the top of the "Cute" heap
D) All of the above
E) None of the above
F) You, there, you were gonna pick "E"? What's wrong with you? Are you made of stone or something? BLIND stone?
;)

- Beyond being cute, Amy Adams also pulls of the hard trick of being relentlessly sweet without ever crossing over into being sickening, cloying, or artificial. That's a lot harder than it looks, so kudos for her to pulling it off so effectively.

- I was hoping that the "I'm...ANGRY!! Hee-hee-hee" moment would lead to something, but it doesn't. I'm not even really sure what it adds to the movie or to Giselle, really.

- New York City itself is quite a character in the movie. I don't think it would work anywhere else but in NYC, but they clearly know and love the city and knew how to use it effectively. Or maybe I'm just letting my blatant NYC partisanship show. Nah -- NYC rules :).

- I'm sure if I thought very hard about the sexual politics of the story, I'd be pretty upset by it. Luckily, I'm opting not to think very hard about the sexual politics of the story because the movie was just too entertaining to do that to it.

- Amy Adams? She cute.

EDIT: One other thing: all 4 of the main characters in the movie embody the lesson of, "If you love someone, set them free." Robert lets Giselle go with Prince Edward even after he's become painfully aware of how much he loves her. Giselle is ready to let Robert go with Nancy, and eats the apple because she thinks it will rub out the painful memories of how much she loves him. Nancy gives up Robert when it's clear that he's the one with Giselle's True Love's Kiss. Prince Edward lets go of Giselle when he realizes that she doesn't really belong to him, although he's also so shallow that you wonder if he's really in love with either one.

-- Ed

[FightingDreamer]

Question: Does James Marsden actually get to sing "That's Amore" in the movie. I heard an MP3 of it from the soundtrack, and it's quite funny.

[Ishtar]

Question: Does James Marsden actually get to sing "That's Amore" in the movie. I heard an MP3 of it from the soundtrack, and it's quite funny.
Just a tiny bit during the Bella Notte restaurant scene, I believe.

[AdamYJ]

I saw it today. I thought it was great. At first it feels a little saccharin when they're in the animated world, but I think it's probably supposed to. Things pick up when they get to New York. It certainly covers all the Disney fairy tale staples pretty well. Beautiful princess. Handsome prince. Evil Villianess. Bumbling, evil sidekick. Good animal sidekick.


- I was hoping that the "I'm...ANGRY!! Hee-hee-hee" moment would lead to something, but it doesn't. I'm not even really sure what it adds to the movie or to Giselle, really.

I think it's basically showing how Giselle is changing just a little bit through her experiences in New York. Remember how she said that she had only heard of anger before. Previously, there were only two emotions in her life: happiness and unhappiness. It was a rather uncomplicated existence. Now, the concept of unhappiness had started to develop some degree of complexity.


EDIT: One other thing: all 4 of the main characters in the movie embody the lesson of, "If you love someone, set them free." Robert lets Giselle go with Prince Edward even after he's become painfully aware of how much he loves her. Giselle is ready to let Robert go with Nancy, and eats the apple because she thinks it will rub out the painful memories of how much she loves him. Nancy gives up Robert when it's clear that he's the one with Giselle's True Love's Kiss. Prince Edward lets go of Giselle when he realizes that she doesn't really belong to him, although he's also so shallow that you wonder if he's really in love with either one.

-- Ed

What's kind of an underplayed thing in the movie is what the character of Nancy wants. When she's commenting on the flowers and doves and tickets to the ball, she makes mention of how romantic and spontaneous Robert's being. So, you start to get the feeling that she's been wanting a little more romance and spontaneity in her life, which is something that Robert really wasn't willing to do until Giselle managed to drag it out of him. Luckily, romance and spontaneity is pretty much what Prince Edward does (though he doesn't do much else). Also, of all the female characters short of the evil queen Narissa, Nancy's probably the only one with an assertive enough personality to keep Edward's ego in check.

In a review I read in Time magazine, they commented that they felt that they went with a cliche fairy tale ending. The thing is, a fairy tale is a fairy tale is a fairy tale. And no matter what you do in order to play with them and parody them, they end with the bad guys punished and the good guys living "happily ever after".

[nachonaco]

I greatly enjoyed this movie, and oddly enough thought that the predictability was JUST enough. Susan Sarandon and Amy Adams are my new goddesses. Seriously.

I kinda liked the swapping.

I know this movie just came out, but any word of a DVD? My guess would be sometime in March or April?

Hehe...If only there'd been more of a Wicked reference. I love Idina Menzel and LOVED her role. (...Why am I the only one that thinks she's pretty?)

The one thing I didn't like was the poop humor. Seriously.

[silverwings]

I loved everything *but* the ending. From the momen Giselle wakes up until the swap... worthless.

First, a minor compliant. It's a fairytale spoof. In that sense, why does Giselle have to save the prince? Seemed more of a PC thing then a spoof or twist. She had to be knocked out with the apple AND save the day? Particularly when up to that point she's shown no prior training in swordplay or althelicism?

Major complaint, - the way the Dragon 'dies' is pathetic. With the storm, I was expecting more of a Snow White death, where she is struck by lightening and then falls to her doom. But with the sword, I was expecting a Sleeping Beauty ending - toss the sword of light/love and impale the dragon thus causing her to fall to her doom.

But alas, no one can actually 'kill' here. So instead we get the 'accidental' death of falling to the ground. But, she had wings. :shrug:

If the death of Narissa had been better, then I could have accepted Giselle's role in her downfall.

Everything else about the ending? The tidy clean up of relationships and such? Loved it. :D

"How Does She Know" better be nominated for Best Song as well, come Oscar Time. Bring back the Disney tradition. :)

[mookie75]

I haven't seen this yet, but I just received news that Enchanted had the honor of being my three year old niece's first movie in a theater. From what I'm told, it kept her attention almost the entire time (except for a brief time when she was fascinated by the lights that line the main aisles of the theater).

It sounds like a good choice on the part of my sister. My niece gets a nice little "princess movie," which is totally her thing right now, and my sister gets a little dose of Dr. McDreamy. :p

[Dudley]

I said this already at the Disney Forums, but i'll say it again here. That this movie was better than I expected.

I enjoyed the songs in it, and the story was solid and enjoyable. The animation was nice, too. Nothing too spectacular, but it didn't need to be.

[Temple Fugate]

I just got back from this movie. Boy was it a treat.

Just like the core of Disney, the center of this movie is pure heart. The contrasts between the real world (NYC) and fairy-tale world (Andalasia) were both blatant and subtle, but it was done mostly with care. The film didn't rely on the gimmicks to sell the plot, it relied on the heart. (Of course the gimmicks came along for the ride, but there wasn't a time when a gimmick felt out of place among the unfolding story.)

I'd rather Nancy had a bit more in this film, but her character arc (downplayed as it was) fit like a glove. If she hadn't been in the movie at all, the resolution couldn't possibly have worked satisfyingly. Prince Edward needed someone to fill Giselle's place and complete the "Happily ever after" ending.

The sight gags in the live action photography were just cartoony enough without being annoyingly and obviously so. I've seen a lot of live-action Disney/Family Channel/Cartoon Nothing productions that go crazy with animation-inspired gags, and they look terrible. This movie knew just how to hit it right, and I think a lot of it was the way the actors played out their roles. They felt both real and imaginary at the same time. Especially the queen's conflicted crony. He played a very important role in this film despite his status as a servant and his actions which were firmly rooted into the B-plot.

Robert's daughter fit excellently as well. She's the vehicle behind solidifying Robert's and Giselle's romance. Both characters talked to her more properly than they talked to each other at first, and she was able to help both of them adjust to the other's world. She was properly mature, but not unbelievably so. ("And boys are only after one thing." "What is it?" "I don't know. Nobody ever tells me." That cracked me up.)

I'm glad that the number of songs in this film was kept to a minimum so that they could keep the story flowing, as well as making what little musical numbers they had absolute gems. There were only two major ones, one in Andalasia and one in Central Park. The latter was a brilliant sequence full of little things my eyes kept scanning the screen for. The consistency among dancers was primary among my delight. You kept seeing the characters from the previous scenes appear in future shots, such as the musicians and old people in the boats. Robert's dead-pan "I don't dance. And I don't sing either." attitude nailed this entire performance. His unwitting participation in every single shot was in itself entertaining.

Amy Adams was so perfect as the princess I couldn't believe she was a real person. She has the most perfect voice and such great expressions, it really was as if she stepped out of a cartoon.

I really don't see the Cyclops in Prince Edward at all. You'll have a hard time convincing me that was really the same actor in that outfit. His voice was higher pitched and he could actually sing, plus that glimmer in his eyes pulled off the shining prince aura perfectly. ... HIS EYES! No wonder I didn't recognize him. I only saw half his face in X-Men. :p

The dragon's design was really nice. Not Malificent in the least. (Just so that's not misinterpreted, I like both of them, and I'm glad this wasn't just a carbon copy.) I noticed the awfully small wings early on, and knew that would be her literal downfall. Speaking of which, that downfall came way too early for my liking. (And I'm really impressed Giselle was able to fling that sword with precision accuracy.) Overall, though, this 5-minute sequence wasn't really what the film was about anyway. The love conflict was already resolved and we just needed some icing on the cake.


- Multiple choice question: Amy Adams is as cute as:
A) A button
B) A baby panda
C) Nothing else on Earth because she's now at the top of the "Cute" heap
D) All of the above
E) None of the above
F) You, there, you were gonna pick "E"? What's wrong with you? Are you made of stone or something? BLIND stone?
;)

I once had a test where "None of the Above" was listed ABOVE "All of the Above," thereby rendering the "all" choice impossible. I took a shot that my professor didn't think it through, as all of the other answers covered by "All of the Above" fit the question. Turns out it was correct. Me and about ten other students pointed out the error after the test. :p


In a review I read in Time magazine, they commented that they felt that they went with a cliche fairy tale ending. The thing is, a fairy tale is a fairy tale is a fairy tale. And no matter what you do in order to play with them and parody them, they end with the bad guys punished and the good guys living "happily ever after".Especially considering that Giselle's entire "Happily ever after" mindset HAD to happen or else her character would have had to traumatically wake up and go along with Robert's real-world mentality. I'd much rather have the ending we got, where Robert's belief that there were no "Happily ever after"s was the one that was proven wrong.

Bottom line: This movie is a litmus test. If nothing in it made you smile, you are truly a bad person.

[AdamYJ]

Especially considering that Giselle's entire "Happily ever after" mindset HAD to happen or else her character would have had to traumatically wake up and go along with Robert's real-world mentality. I'd much rather have the ending we got, where Robert's belief that there were no "Happily ever after"s was the one that was proven wrong.

Well, it's true of pretty much every Disney/fairy tale send-up we've seen. As much as people may like to laugh at the little jabs at fairy tales in a movie like, say, Shrek, the villian still gets punished and the hero gets the girl.

I think in the case of Enchanted, there was a sort of compromise point reached. Giselle started to realize that "Happily Ever After" wasn't as simple as she thought (so simple she could marry a man she knew for one day) and Robert realized that true love and romance can happen even if they aren't easy to find.


Bottom line: This movie is a litmus test. If nothing in it made you smile, you are truly a bad person.

And then they must be punished in a true fairy tale way, in which something gruesome happens to them, or at least in a Disney fairy tale way in which they fall off something very tall. :p

[Damien]

My only complaint was that the dragon talked. Other than that, great great movie.

[Kevin]

I saw it yesterday, and it was a lot better than I originally thought it was going to be!

The cast were spot on! Prince Edward was just downright hilarious! The writing was really well done and the plot moved along nicely. I also loved the various musical scenes in this movie as well. Of course the best part of the movie was seeing the return of 2D animation by Disney. Something we haven't seen in many years.

There were two minor quirks I had though:
The Queen's "death". She just accidently fell off the building. Why couldn't a lightning bolt strike her a la the Queen in Snow White?
The "swap" done in the ending. Personally I thought both Princess Giselle and Prince Edward should of returned to their own world to keep things consistant.

I highly recommend that anyone who loved the classic Disney films, go and see this movie. You won't be disappointed. For anyone else here who has seen it, what were your thoughts?

[FightingDreamer]

Well, I finally managed to see this, and... It's good. Ultimately, like our good Speedy Boris, who reviewed this back in March (http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=22327), I am a little disappointed that they didn't do more with the idea of Giselle finding it difficult to keep her sunny attitude in a place like New York. Still, the movie made me smile a lot, laugh loudly a few times, and ultimately pleased.

Pros
-I very much appreciate that Amy Adams and James Marsden played their roles without a hint of irony; winking, self-conscious performances would have sunk the movie. True, Adams gains more shades of gray as the plot moves on, but she's incredibly loveable, and Marsden is hilarious as the ridiculously noble prince. Patrick Dempsey (aka "McDreamy" from TV's "Grey's Anatomy") does a nice "straight man" as Robert, and Susan Sarandon plays her evil queen to the hilt in both forms (animated and live-action, that is).
-The 2-D animation is gorgeous, and the opening sequence nearly had me in hysterics because it's so... well, Disney. It's like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty cranked up to 11. All the other little nods and cameos were great, especially Jodi Benson (the voice of Ariel, if you didn't know already) as Robert's secretary Sam. We need to get her in more movies, dagnabbit!
-While the CGI in the real world sequences is not the most impressive I've seen, there's a lot of nice character animation in creations like Pip or Narissa in dragon mode (cool design, BTW).

Cons
-The songs are fun, but there's nothing here rivaling "Under the Sea" or "Be Our Guest" for replayability. And whose idea was it to put the ending scenes to that awful Carrie Underwood song? Underwood has a great voice, I'll give her that, but there's a huge dissonance between the music and the images in the ending.
-I could have dealt without Narissa's lampshade hanging about Giselle coming to the rescue. We already figured that one out, lady.

Overall, Enchanted is a lot of fun, although I'm not sure I'd call it a classic. ***/****

[Gold Guy]

It was a very cute film, and the main character annoyed me but made me smile, so I don't know if I hate her or like her. The main villainess didn't impress me, maybe because she waited too long to stop Gisselle. The ending was sweet, so I guess the sequel will deal with problms with their marriage or something.