ENCHANTED

An awful lot of my childhood was spent immersed in Walt Disney’s stories and movies. My bedtime picture books were all from Disney movies, and a lot of what I watched early on were Disney classics like SNOW WHITE, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and PINOCCHIO (which was the first movie I ever watched on a big screen – Thanks Grandad). So in keeping with that early education and entertainment, perhaps it’s not surprising that ENCHANTED struck a sweet chord for me.

Disney takes their classic fairy tale format, and gives it a slight upgrade with this movie. We have a wholesome princess (Amy Adams), a charming prince (James Marsden) or two (Patrick Dempsey), and yes – an evil queen (Susan Sarandon). This time out, the fairy tale crosses over into the real world, as they all end up magically making their way to modern day New York City.

This isn’t the first time a fairy tale has tried to present itself in the modern world, but what makes ENCHANTED work, is how despite all it’s absurdity, and the obvious fish-out-of-water format…it never stops being a fairy tale. The truth of the matter is that it could very easily stay as one long animated feature. Indeed, The Brothers Grimm would have been impressed!

Disney seems to have had a lot of fun in referencing and making fun of themselves. I tried to mentally note every reference to various Disney classics, but I lost count. I will say that I’m impressed at the cleverness of many of them, especially the “Happy Working Song” sequence that is a great play on the old scenes of woodland creatures helping tidy up.

Here’s the trick – to get the most out of ENCHANTED you have to let yourself be a kid again. Try, If you can, to turn off the outside world for an hour or two, and tap into the wonder you felt when your parents and grandparents told you bedtime stories. Do that, and it won’t be hard to imagine this story on the shelf with all those timeless others.