Enchanted

Speaking of romantic comedies, Enchanted is one of a certain subset that have been popular lately, the supernatural spin on the well-worn formula. Guy meets girl, but there's a problem because he or she is a vampire, a ghost, a zombie, turns into a wolf, etc. In Enchanted the spin is that the main character comes from an animated fairy-tale. It reminds me of Woody Allen's short story, The Kugelmass Episode, in which the main character begins an affair with Madame Bovary. Kugelmass says the only problem is that she is fictional.

In writing about this film, it should be noted that I am not the target audience. I hold no sentimental attachment to the Wonderful World of Disney. That studio has been made some good films and some bad ones, and though Disney and his minions have shaped what we expect of feature animation, I am resistant to looking at them through rose-tinted glasses. Enchanted will really work with those who do, who have deep-seated affection for the classic animated features of the pre-television era and get misty-eyed whenever they see Tinkerbell wave her wand above the Magic Castle.

The creative team of Enchanted steals from Disney, so it is a self-homage rather than simply a rip-off. We begin with about ten minutes of 2-D animation that recalls films like Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. Giselle is a girl who lives in the forest and converses with the woodland creatures. She longs for a handsome prince. Edward, who fits the bill, hears her singing and they meet and will marry the next day. But Edward's stepmother, Narissa, doesn't want him marrying, for fear that will somehow cost her her crown (I'm not sure how that works) so spirits Gisele away to a land where "there are no happily ever afters"--modern day New York City.

We then go to live-action. Gisele is now Amy Adams, and we get the fish-out-of-water humor that will recall Splash. She is completely at a loss, and is aided by a lawyer, Patrick Dempsey, and his daughter. Why they don't pack Adams off to a nuthouse, I don't know, instead she lives them while assuring them that Edward will come rescue her. He does, along with his aide, Timothy Spall, who is secretly the queen's toady, and a chipmunk. Much hilarity, along with musical numbers, ensues, and over the course of the next hour Dempsey and Adams realize that they are right for each other.

The best part of this film is how hard Adams and James Marsden, as Edward, sell their situations. Adams is so perky and innocent that it's impossible not to root for her. But she's also so good that she overwhelms the inconsistencies of the script. For example, she's amazed at modern plumbing, but also knows what a toilet is. Do animated fairy-tale characters use commodes? The possibilities for culture shock are endless, but the film doesn't really go there. Also, it's kind of routine for the characters to end up in New York. It would have been more interesting had she turned up at, say, Disneyworld. She would have been mistaken for one of those girls that walk around the park pretending they are princesses. I'm sure that would have made more interesting drama, but perhaps too meta for Disney.

The songs, by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, are not bad. The one people will remember is Happy Working Song, which reminds one of Mary Poppins singing A Spoonful of Sugar. Adams has a Tarzan-like effect on animals, and sings the song while vermin clean up Dempsey's apartment. Another big number is How Do I Know, which is set in Central Park and involves a cast of hundreds. On the extras it is revealed that one of the dancers was in Mary Poppins, and he's glad that this kind of film is back again. I respectfully disagree. Mary Poppins was a film for its time, but I really don't want to see it's kind come back again. Enchanted, to be fair, tries to put a post-modern spin on the genre, but it leaves me kind of cold. I will make a point of seeing Amy Adams in just about anything, though.