Movie: Enchanted

[timepiececlock]

It was everything the reviews promised it would be: enchanting, funny, adorable, romantic, witty. It was saccharine like you wouldn't believe, especially the opening sequence, but all the sweetness was done very carefully, to create the set-up for interesting and moving character development. Amy Adams was splendid; she carried the movie and really did seem like a Disney Princess come to life, with sincerity so mind-blowing that it made everyone else first embarassed, then in awe.

The movie had a lot of gags, but they were good gags. Funny or cute in ways that drove plot forward and, surprising, quite a lot of development. I worried from the first trailers that the characters entering our world-- the princess and prince-- would be hard to sympathize with because they were too ridiculous or cartoony. But the directors and writers really gave Giselle the reality treatment: to become real doesn't just mean gaining flesh and blood, it means you feel things differently than you did before. It is a well-written, thoughtful parable for accepting the bad with the good in life, artfully decorated with as many fairy tale cliche's and Disney references as you could think to cram into one movie.

I loved it. I would happily enjoy watching it again. It's fun and its sweet no matter what your age, and it doesn't look down on the audience's intelligence. My vote: go see it!

Comments

[rasielle.livejournal.com]

I liked it a great deal as well! Though the first half much more than the second half. There was, I thought, a bit of a contradiction between the two: the Stiff Guy (I forget his name...) and the rest of the film spends its first half denouncing love that develops too suddenly and quickly, and then that entire theme is derailed quite effectively by the rest of the movie. Most especially with the fiance and her spoiler at the very end.

I didn't think any less of the film, though, because Stiff Guy and Giselle's romance was substantial and meaningful enough to transform both of them. So it didn't matter to me that the relationship was fast. Plus, I loved every bit of them onscreen. The rational divorce attorney gets the princess, finally.

Also, did you think the animated bits were pretty? I thought they were stunning. I wish Disney would go back to animating quality stories, like foreign fairy tales. Or excellent children's fantasy series, assuming they let the author work on the script, of course. They have more than enough money for it. ;_;