Customer Rating:      Summary: Lives up to it's title Comment: What a great movie! Disney has outdone itself in parodying their own cartoons and then sending the characters out into the "real world". I didn't find a dull moment in it. The acting is superb with Susan Sarandon standing out as the evil queen. It has a fun score with great songs that will have you looking for the soundtrack. All in all, a great film experience for kids and adults.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Instantly One of My Favorite Films! Comment: In the magical, animated land of Andalasia, a beautiful maiden named Giselle sings to her animal friends of her inevitable meeting with a charming prince who will whisk her away to her own happily ever after! Sure enough, she soon meets such a prince, the insufferably charming Prince Edward. The wedding is immediately on, but Edward's stepmother, the evil Queen Narissa, has no intention of losing her royal status. Thus begins Narissa's labored attempt to thwart the ever upbeat Giselle's happily ever after. In the guise of an old hag, she sends Giselle down an enchanted well and into the real, live-action world of contemporary New York City, a place where, according to Narissa, there are no happily ever afters.
Within the real world, Giselle appears real herself, as do Prince Edward and Giselle's chipmunk friend, Pip, who later follow on a rescue mission to find her. On her own in New York at night, still unclear on just what has happened to her and why, Giselle is extraordinarily lucky (or is it fate?) to be discovered by a single father named Robert and his sweet little girl who holds a not uncommon fascination with princesses and fairytales. Reminiscent of Maureen O'Hara in "Miracle on 34th Street", Robert has been burned by love, abandoned by the mother of his child, and is opposed to tales of true love and the idea that dreams come true. Intent on raising his child with a "real world" sensibility, he is reluctant to become involved with the clearly contrary Giselle, but his good nature makes it unavoidable. Robert takes Giselle in, intending it to only be temporary, but her magical presence and unrelentingly optimistic personality soon turn Robert's world upside down. As Robert tries to last through Giselle's spontaneous (and beautiful) singing and animal friends' antics long enough for her prince to come retrieve her, he also has to keep things square with his own halfhearted romance to city girl Nancy and not lose his well-grounded mindset in the process. Meanwhile, Prince Edward has acquired the help of Narissa's untrustworthy servant, Nathaniel, who is on his own mission to lead Edward astray while attempting to serve up poison apples to Giselle at every chance he gets with only little Pip aware enough to try and foil him. Eventually, everyone comes together and all truth comes out for a truly magnificent, truly Disney finale!
The first time I saw it, Disney's "Enchanted" instantly became one of my top favorite films! To the hardcore Disney fanatic, it should be seen as nothing less than a new Disney Masterpiece. It is, as director Kevin Lima says, a celebration of all things Disney. It's the culmination of 80 years of Disney magic! Everything about it is simply wonderful, and at its heart is an all new Disney "princess" story that is every bit as delightful, magical, and fantastic as those of Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, and all those other Disney dreamgirls. Amy Adams makes a perfect Disney "princess", and I know Disney princesses. I've been trying to find one for years! Oh, they're around, but not in my area and never single. Le sigh... She couldn't be more gorgeous, nor could her voice, and her performance is simply marvelous! The rest of the cast is flawless as well, with Patrick Dempsey playing a believable and perfect contrast to Princess Giselle's whimsy, Susan Sarandon as a living embodiment of the traditional Disney villainess, James Marsden spot-on as the dashing and slightly narcissistic prince, Timothy Spall as the humorously devious Nathaniel, Rachel Covey as little Morgan (Robert's daughter), and Idina Menzel as Robert's love-interest, Nancy. We even get Disney legends Julie Andrews as the opening narrator and Jodi Benson as Robert's secretary. Disney's musical magicians Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz handled the music here, earning Oscar nominations for 3 of the 5 outstanding original songs! I am definitely getting the soundtrack! The traditional, Art Nouveau animation, in the few animated sequences, is top-notch Disney quality, and so are the visual effects, from the CGI Pip in the real world to a creature in the finale that is Pip's complete opposite. Of course, for the Disney fanatic like myself, one of the big treats of watching "Enchanted" is spotting the countless nods to Disney films of the past. There are far too many for me to try to list! Not that the novelty takes away from the story at all. Following Giselle's adventure in New York and the changes and development of the characters as they affect each other is a priceless experience that may even bring tears to your eyes!
In my opinion, "Enchanted" is unquestionably a must-own film. Whether you are a Disney fanatic or not, you'll likely find it plenty entertaining if you're not opposed to magical films altogether. The decision would be on which version to get. The film has been released on DVD in widescreen and fullscreen formats, and also on Blu-Ray. Personally, I can't afford the upgrade to Blu-Ray yet, so I picked up the widescreen DVD. People, don't buy fullscreen. It's dumb. The picture quality, even on the humble, regular DVD that I went with, is stunning, and so is the sound. The bonus features are a bit light though. Sadly, a film so deserving of a commentary in this case has none (I'm sure we'll see one in a later release). What we do get are three nice behind-the-scenes featurettes on two of the main musical numbers and the finale at the ball, a blooper reel, six deleted scenes, and "Pip's Predicament: A Pop-Up Adventure". Pip's Predicament was pretty disappointing. Despite knowing what to expect, it still felt pathetic the whole time. Rather than make a real animated short (as PIXAR would have), Disney used the pop-up book style of telling a story here to do it more cheaply, and a rather weak story it is. Might have been okay in animation though. There are also two Easter Eggs, though they're not really hidden. One is the Carrie Underwood music video for "Ever, Ever After", the end song of the film. The video is a bit goofy in the live-action sequences, but it has original animation, and that's always appreciated. What they were trying to do was pretty good, and they pulled it off okay. Glad to have it as an extra. The other Easter Egg is more frustrating that pleasant. It is basically an advertisement for the Blu-Ray release of Enchanted, letting us know that on the Blu-Ray disc there is an extra featurette showcasing various Disney film comparisons to Enchanted. We get a slight taste of it, so that's cool, but who wants to have their nose rubbed in the ground for not buying the Blu-Ray. That stuff is still too pricey, especially the players themselves. But, when I do get a Blu-Ray player, I'll have little trouble repurchasing "Enchanted". It's just that good!
One last comment about bonus features. When this film was released, Target stores carried it with a bonus disc holding a 31 minute behind-the-scenes featurette on the film. It's an excellent featurette, and you should really seek out that bonus disc on Ebay or something. It is a crime that this featurette was only available as a new release bonus from a particular retailer. This featurette should have been on all releases of the DVD.
If you enjoy "Enchanted", look for these awesome flicks on DVD: "The Little Mermaid" (read my review for the Platinum Edition), "Cinderella", "Snow White", "Sleeping Beauty" (coming soon to DVD and Blu-Ray!), "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", "Pinocchio", "The Sword in the Stone", "The Black Cauldron", "Peter Pan", "Mary Poppins", "Bedknobs and Broomsticks", and, well, anything Disney really, my favorite film of all time, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", and coming soon from Disney, "The Princess and the Frog" and "Rapunzel"! I also recommend the Cannon Movie Tales, "Ever After", "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" (not for kids), "The Slipper and the Rose", "Ella Enchanted" (I haven't really seen it and it looks a bit goofy, but you might like it), "The Wizard of Oz", "Return to Oz", "The Wiz", the Shrek film series, and Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre. Now, I'm sure I forgot some... There are also some Disney direct-to-video sequels that are not bad, believe it or not, like Cinderella 3, and I, for one, am highly anticipating the upcoming TinkerBell movie and Little Mermaid prequel. They are my two favorite Disney girls, after all, though I adore Giselle almost as much!
Customer Rating:      Summary: Not quite Disney best Comment: I'm not sure what, but something could have been done to make it more 'Disney-like"
Customer Rating:      Summary: awesome movie Comment: this has become my favorite movie of the year. it is such an awesome naive fairytale. best part is when she makes her dresses :)
Customer Rating:      Summary: Great birthday present Comment: Along with "Stargate: The Ark of Truth," this was a present for my wife's birthday. She loved both (and so did I). Both of us grew up on Disney movies, so to see a loving, light-hearted spoof of that genre (by Disney, no less) was a real treat. Amy Adams constitutes the best honest realization of a total fantasy person since Christopher Reeve in the first Superman movie. She is a delight, and her singing is truly magical. The rest of the cast supported her admirably. I heartily recommend this movie!
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