EDBP: Movie Review - Enchanted

(I've been dreaming of spoilers. That's how you know to watch out.)

Enchanted is the story of your typical fairy tale princess/heroine/maiden who falls in love at first sight with a handsome prince. At least, that's how the story starts. Unlike most fairy tales, the prince and fair maiden don't get their happily ever after in a fairytale cartoon castle. Nope. For just as soon as they are to be married, a wicked queen steps in between them and sends the fair maiden away to...

New York City?

Yep. 

That's when it switches to real person. All the fairytale stuff happens in cartoon. 

So, let's put some names into this review. This is Giselle, the fair maiden living in the lovely kingdom of Andalasia. She's not technically a princess, but she wants to become one by marrying Prince Edward and living happily ever after with true love's kiss. That's her dream. She's everything you'd expect of a Disney princess: simple, sweet, and she sings. Actually, there's a lot in this movie that borrows from the iconic Disney princesses. Including some of the “Avert your eyes to the heavens!” clothes. Ugh... But I'll say that she's got some pretty skirts. :)

What's not to like about Prince Edward? Just so you know, I'm quoting here. Sure, he's a great guy, but he's more of a goofball than anything else. He has the same dream as Giselle and he's just like the iconic Disney princes. Except for the fact that he talks more. And he's got just about the best outfit in the whole movie. What's not to like about those sleeves? Anne Shirley would die for sleeves like that! Anywho...

Meet our villainess! Queen Narissa, Prince Edward's stepmother, queen of Andalasia. To make sure that her stepson never marries and takes her throne, she keeps him busy hunting trolls so that he'll never meet a girl. Unfortunately, we all know that didn't work out as Edward obviously met Giselle and they were going to be married.

By the way, just as a side note (please read the following statement in a slightly sarcastic tone), I love Edward's proposal. Really. Why? Here it is in its entirety:

Giselle (after falling out of a tree and landing directly on Edward's horse): Oh, it's you!

Edward: Yes, it's me. And you are?

Giselle: Giselle.

Edward: Oh, Giselle! We shall be married in the morning!

Marvelous, ain't it? Please laugh politely, and let's keep moving on...

On their wedding day, Narissa arrives disguised as an old beggar woman (Snow White, anyone?) and pushes Giselle down a wishing well, sending her to New York City. Now, I'm sure we all know how vastly different New York City is, or would be, from the fairytale land of Andalasia. And it's not that hard to guess how Giselle would react to it all. Yes, her reactions are hilarious.

Meanwhile, Robert is a single father bringing up his adorable little daughter in an apartment building on 116^th and Broadway. He's a divorce lawyer and doesn't believe in happily ever afters. At all. He thinks marriage should be “built like a bridge” and he and his fiancé, Nancy, have taken the time to really know each other before deciding on marriage. When Giselle falls off a billboard (I won't tell you why she was up there; no sense in giving away ALL the spoilers), Robert catches her (she falls off a lot of stuff), and then at Morgan's insistence, he reluctantly allows the heartbroken and homeless Giselle to stay at their apartment. At first he thinks Giselle a nuisance, but he gradually grows to feel a sort of protector to her. Even though he's portrayed as the hero kind of person in the movie, I really didn't care that much for Robert. He's too serious. You got all these colorful characters smiling all the time with these great lines, and then there's Robert in a business suit, his face nonchalant, and saying nonchalant things.

Morgan's adorable. She loves all things princess and fairytale and absolutely loves Giselle right from the start. And there's not much more I can say about her than that.

Let's add some sidekicks, shall we? Pip is absolutely the best character in the entire movie. End of story. He's Giselle's best friend, and yes, he's a talking chipmunk. He wants Giselle to have her happily ever after, and after Narissa cruelly sends her away from Andalasia, Pip goes to tell Prince Edward of Giselle's misfortunes. Of course, like the true prince that he is, Edward goes to New York City to rescue the fair maiden and Pip accompanies him. The real world isn't like the fairytale world, and Pip soon discovers that he cannot speak to humans in New York. But he does his best to communicate by acting out what he means to say. However, Edward isn't the best at interpretation.

Here's the second sidekick. Nathaniel. Narissa isn't pleased that Edward went to New York to go after Giselle, so she sends her right hand man, Nathaniel, after Edward to keep him from finding Giselle. Nathaniel is devoted to Narissa and would do anything for his queen. He and Pip don't get along well at all, and with both of them helping Edward find Giselle in their own ways, you can imagine what happens.

Nancy Tremaine (I don't think you'd necessarily call her a sidekick; she's more of a side character, but still important; and sorry - no pic) is Robert's aforementioned finacé, and she runs a boutique business. Although she's not much in the movie itself, but you kinda learn she's more of the romantic type of girl and looking for her own type of happily ever after. She doesn't like Giselle at first, as she views this girl as a competitor for Robert's affections. But of course, Nancy and Giselle both get their happily ever afters, and though I won't say how happily the afters were, or what kind of afters they were, I do like how they gave Nancy her own happily ever after. Nancy began the movie out on the annoying side for me, and I'm not a huge fan of her voice. And just as a side note, my sisters and I all burst out laughing when Morgan opened the apartment door, and Nancy was standing there, smiling and saying, “Hey, girlfrenn.” I think I would have responded the same way Morgan did, in a shaky voice, “Hi, Nancy...” even if I hadn't just seen a pigeon fly behind Nancy down the hallway.

Well, I think that's enough of the story itself. There's a bunch of music in this movie and so I feel the need to write about it now.

The first song Giselle sings at the beginning of the movie is titled “True Love's Kiss.” While I don't agree with the message of this song, it's got a beautiful tune, and I really enjoyed hearing Giselle sing it. Her voice isn't nearly as annoying as Snow White's. She sings this with a bunch of animals at her side (uh, Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora?) while building her dream prince out of random objects. Allow me to say, one of the bests parts in this song is when the troll starts singing... “Truue luuv's kizz...” :)

When Giselle is in New York and staying a Robert's and Morgan's apartment, Giselle awakens after her New York experience to discover the apartment totally trashed. Let's just say that Robert and Morgan are not good housekeepers. So she calls some animal friends in to help her clean up. Instead of the cute bunnies and squirrels we saw helping her in Andalasia, pigeons, rats, and cockroaches answer her call to clean. Cue “Happy Working Song.” This is probably my favorite song in the whole movie. Yeah, and Giselle cleaning alongside the animals is typical of, again, Snow White. Giselle is really like Snow White. There's really no way to get past it. Shame, really... Giselle's voice is so much prettier than Snow White's.

The last of the three big songs that Giselle sings is “That's How You Know.” The beat on this one gets a bit iffy, as it was written in a calypso style. It's a really fun song, but know that I really don't approve of the style in which it was performed. However, the lyrics of this song really give a new definition of love. How does a guy show a girl that he loves her? “He'll wear your favorite color, just so he can match your eyes. Plan a private picnic by the fire's glow.” The choreography to this song is pretty cool, and I love the big ending. The construction workers wearing blue... watch them. Just watch them. Epic.

“So Close”... that's just one of those songs where Beth Grace grabs the remote and hits the next button. “You lose!” In all truthfulness, I've never really heard this song, so I can't have an opinion on it. Not that I really want an opinion on it, anyway... and the same goes for the song that plays when the girls go shopping. Ugh.

There is some language in this film, so I would again suggest a filter. And in addition to that, I would draw your attention to one or two scenes that should be skipped/viewed with discretion. Let me just say, thank goodness for towels!

Final thoughts:

Rating out of 5 stars: 4 stars.

Did I enjoy Enchanted? Yep.

Would I watch it again? Yes.

Would I recommend it to other people? As always, use discretion. Very funny, very quotable, very clever... just be aware of certain things.