Written by Pollo Misterioso
Everyone has a favorite Disney film. From Beauty and the Beast to Sleeping Beauty there is something familiar and inherently pleasurable from the “happily ever after” that comes from these fairy tales on screen. Disney’s latest picture Enchanted brings back the magic of these fairy tales without all animation in a way that is appealing to everyone.
The journey begins in the animated land of Andalasia in a cottage that is reminiscent of all the forest huts that we have seen in Disney films. Giselle, played by Amy Adams, who was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress in this film, sings of finding her true love’s kiss and her Prince Charming.
It is then that she meets Prince Edward (James Marsden) and they are to be married, but his evil stepmother Narissa, played by Susan Sarandon, does not want to give up her crown and sends Giselle to New York, to never find her happily ever after. Here we move from animation to the real world, as Giselle must find her way around town and her Prince. She is found by Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey) who help her adjust as Prince Edward comes to New York to save her.
Giselle believes that true love can be found in a day, in one encounter and sealed with a kiss. Robert, being that he is a divorce lawyer, finds it hard to think that love can be more than a business merger. But the fairy tale seems very much present in our daily lives when Giselle gets all of the people in Central Park to sing and dance about love. Even in the city Giselle can manage to gather all of the neighborhood creatures to clean the apartment, including the cockroaches, pigeons, and sewer rats. But like she says, “It’s always nice to meet new friends.”
Enchanted is careful in its mockery of all that is Disney. The apartment scene comes straight from Snow White and is heartwarming, but also fresh in its “realistic” fantasy. How can you not think that pulling hairballs from the bathtub is disgusting, but also so friendly in a nice song about tidying up. There are many other deliberate scenes and scenarios that are taken directly from other Disney classics, so much so that the film becomes a nostalgic guessing game for viewers. Robert and Giselle float across the river in Central Park like Ariel in The Little Mermaid and her best friend Pip, a friendly chipmunk, is representative of all creatures that befriend our fair maidens.
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