Enchanted

We went to go see Enchanted with the kids soon after Thanksgiving. From the trailers and ads, I was looking forward to this spoof on classic Disney films through the years, from Disney, no less!

As anyone reading this probably already knows, the premise of the film is typical Disney fare: a beautiful princess gets gyped out of her marriage to a handsome prince by a wicked queen, who is actually a powerful witch. She banishes the princess to frightful and dangerous realm: ours, in New York City. At this point, for the princess, the film switches from 2D to live action.

The princess, still garbed in her wedding dress, tries to navigate the streets of New York City with predictable results. While what happens here is not all the surprising, it's fun to watch how Amy Adams handles the part: I could actually believe she was straight from a 2D fairy tale. The way she acted and carried herself really mirrored the manner and attitude of any Disney princess in 2D.

The film switches several times from 2D to live action, since this story is actually takes place in both realms. I won't say anymore about the story except that even while in our realm, the fairy tale characters are able to do some things that aren't really possible. They seemed to carry their magic with them.

One bonus from seeing this movie is that I regained a new respect for James Marsden as an actor. I loved him as Cyclops in the recent X-Men films, but felt his character in Superman Returns was rather flat and unoriginal. I thought perhaps it was just the cool visor he wore in the X-Men movie that made me admire him. But in this movie, as the charming and handsome prince, he does a great job. A comic character who is a caricature of all the handsome princes of many a Disney film, as Adams is of the heroines, Marsden nails the part while still managing to be a very likable character.

My overall take on the film was positive. The predictable plot can be dismissed as simply a frame story for the comic performances. And even though the overall plot is predictable, there are still some surprises that make it worth watching. My only beef with the film was the over-the-top climax. My willing suspension of disbelief shattered right there, but it still didn't prevent me from enjoying the film overall.

Interesting side note: the beautiful 2D animation in the film wasn't done by Disney. Disney can't do 2D animation anymore; they fired all their 2D animators when 3D features started killing 2D ones. Disney hired an outside shop to do the 2D work, an outfit started by an ex-Disney animator. James Baxter Animation did all of the 14 minutes of cel animation.