Family Entertainment
DVD Corner: Enchanted
Danielle Turchiano |
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 Little girls today don’t believe in fairytales the way they did a decade ago: they see much more commonly now that the women in their own lives closer resemble the women from “Lipstick Jungle“--struggling to balance work, family, friends and romance--rather than the princesses staring out their castle windows, dreaming of the prince who will come save them from a life of gold-collar imprisonment. Nothing seems like it could ever be as picture-perfect as those brightly colored cels we remember so well from our childhood, but director Kevin Lima tries his hardest with Enchanted, creating one part traditional fairytale (for the kids) and one part slightly sardonic chick flick (for the moms and big sisters). For both, though, Enchanted incorporates modern-day feminist theory to challenge traditional roles for princesses and real-world women alike.
Living in the fictional storybook fairyland of Andalasia, Enchanted opens with Giselle (Amy Adams) throwing open her cottage window and singing alongside the birds and other woodland critters about finding her “True Love’s Kiss”…all without an ounce of cynicism in her tone. Moments later, she is rescued by Prince Edward (James Marsden) and is all set to marry him until his mother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), concocts a plan to send Giselle plummeting down a dark well to “a place where there is no happily ever after”--read: New York City.
While that is an example of one of the jokes that had adult audiences chuckling when Enchanted was in theaters but more than likely soared over the younger counterpart’s heads, Lima’s Disney-fied version of New York is not nearly gritty enough to hold up to such a label. The color palette is as bright, pristine and chipper as Giselle herself, even in human form, where Adams’ long, wavy hair and big bright eyes all scream cartoonish innocence--in the daintiest way possible, of course. Lima creates a fantasy even in a supposed reality, especially upon meeting Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a New York lawyer so surprisingly unjaded, he allows this strange and seemingly troubled young woman into his home even though his young daughter (Rachel Covey) is sleeping in the next room. It is hard not to get lost in the magical fantasy Enchanted offers as an escape from the jaded tedium of our real world.
 Enchanted is cute movie that elicits quite a few chuckles, but it does bite off a little more of the apple than it can chew (to use one of the many allegorical references to past fairytales the film employs) when it tries to marry (pun intended) the characters from the two worlds. Suddenly Lima seems to rely on the pure hope that his core demographic will be too young to question his fuzzy logic of how some characters mature and evolve (such as Giselle learning what real dating is and questioning what she wants for her life) and others do exactly the opposite, ultimately throwing away everything they have ever worked for (like the underused Idina Menzel as Robert’s soon-to-be fiancée, Nancy) and muddling the attempt at the female empowerment message.
Years ago, true love would have been enough to defeat the queen’s nefarious plans, but today’s audiences tend to look for additional twists as they near the end of a film. Lima delivers on such expectations with a rushed remembrance of what makes Disney villains so classic: they scare children to the point of closing their eyes. Enchanted is so focused on Giselle’s journey and the romantic-comedy aspect of the story that Narissa only pops up occasionally in makeshift mirror reflections. In order to suddenly blow her persona up to larger-than-life status, Lima does so quite literally with a CGI creature that, unfortunately, is much lamer than what today’s youth is used to seeing. It’s an admirable attempt, but if anyone closes their eyes at that sight, it’s simply out of embarrassment.
Some may remember the very early trailer for Enchanted that played before Disney’s summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End: it featured a brief but more sinister glimpse of Menzel’s Nancy, as if alluding to a subplot and subsequent underlying message that if Robert actually went through with the marriage, she, too, would turn into an evil stepmother. When Enchanted was released theatrically in November 2007, though, Menzel’s role seemed considerably scaled down, as she barely appears as a supporting player--wasting her classic theater talent in a musical that doesn’t even allow her to sing. The hope was that the DVD would offer deleted scenes that showcased Menzel’s powerhouse vocals…but it looks like in order to get any of those scenes (if they even do exist), audiences will have to wait for the obligatory two-disc collector’s edition that Disney releases from its fictional vaults to mark its films’ anniversaries.
 In fact, the studio must be waiting for an anniversary edition to give fans the goods because Enchanted’s single-disc release (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, MSRP: $29.99) meagerly offers six deleted scenes, introduced by Lima, including an extended opening done in storyboard form because the idea was scrapped long before the crew started animating. “Fantasy Comes to Life” is your standard making-of featurette about the musical numbers (namely “Happy Working Song,” “That’s How You Know” and “A Blast at the Ball”) and what went into putting them together. There is also a quick blooper reel and an interactive game featuring Andalasia’s (and subsequently New York’s) unofficial mascot Pip titled “Pip’s Predicament: A Pop-Up Adventure.” The game is a little sophomoric even for Enchanted’s younger fans, especially considering the movie asks for a savvier, slightly more mature audience. If you buy the Blu-ray version, though, there is an extra bonus featurette that looks at the movie’s subtle (and some not-so) references to past Disney films, including cameos by the actresses behind Ariel, Belle and Pocahontas.
Enchanted is one of those movies that will be enjoyed by both kids and adults--perhaps on different levels and for different reasons--but the movie really seems to be made for the generation that grew up with such classic Disney fairytales as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast--a generation that is now decades more mature and therefore able to poke fun at the very idealistic, very naive beliefs of their childhood…all while still managing to hold onto a little bit of those optimistic hopes.
Enchanted is now available on DVD.
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