Enchanted

What is the world coming to? It’s not often that a Disney film would make you reminisce on times past, make you feel down and cause you to slide into the deepest depths of depression….yet their latest offering, Enchanted, does just this. Not so much the film itself, but what it represents.

But wait, I am jumping ahead of myself. Allow me to backtrack. Enchanted is a spoof of the 2D Disney films that ruled children’s cinema until Toy Story and its fancy computer generated imagery set about its demise.

It begins like a typical old Disney animation with a beautiful princess-to-be, Giselle (Amy Adams), finding her prince charming (James Marsden), with both singing to express their true love. The movie then transports into reality, with Giselle ‘falling’ from the animation into modern day, real life New York.

What ensues is most comical, as the naive and innocent Giselle adjusts to the ‘real world’.

Enchanted is not without it’s share of catchy Disney songs, one number “That’s How You know” will have you struggling not to burst into applause after it’s big finish.

Yet Adams voice, though undeniably beautiful, doesn’t sound quite as ‘Disney’ as, say, Belle in Beauty and the Beast or Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. A girl like me who grew up listening to the old Disney tunes over and over can’t help but be a little put off by this, though admittedly most viewers will not be so petty.

Marsden as the dashing yet dumb prince has the perfect Disney demeanour, with a flawless Disney voice to match.

A down side to the film is the jarring transitions when animation mixes with real motion: kids won’t mind, but they adults may not find it so appealing. This ‘kid vs adult’ dilemma is another area where the film falls down. Is it made for kids or adults?

It appears script writer Bill Kelly and director Kevin Lima were undecided as to their target audience, with plenty of mild sexual innuendo and ‘intelligent’ humour thrown in with childish slap stick and a babyish ending. The result is a film that isn’t quite kiddy, but isn’t quite adult either.

One can’t help but wonder if aiming it more towards adults would have served the film better. After all, it is the adult viewers who grew up with the corny Disneys which Enchanted spoofs. Therefore, most children won’t understand or appreciate the film’s main underlying joke anyway, so the film may be wasted on them.

Yet perhaps the saddest part of all was not the film itself but what this film represents: the end of the innocent Disney era. It causes a slight pang to think that our children won’t grow up on innocent, moralistic offerings like The Little Mermaid or Bambi. It’s quite depressing thought.

The Verdict: The film is cute and full of laughs. The songs are catchy and the characters likeable. Definitely worth a look, even with its groan-worthy ending.