Disney's 'Enchanted' (Official Thread, possible spoilers within)

[Chris]

This is the official thread for discussing Disney's latest film, "Enchanted"

It's currently sitting at 87% on Rottentomatoes.com

[ah92us]

Well, according to the front page of Yahoo!, it's saying that "Enchanted" is pretty good for families and is a great family movie!

[kairamoon]

Possible spoilers but nothing that ruins the movie!!!



I just got back from seeing Enchanted and I just have to say Wow. It was really cute and perfect for adults and kids. The theater when I went (which was a 3 pm showing) had a lot of teens and adults that weren't with kids at all. The movie was full of songs that are cute and very catching (and I would have them stuck in my head if I didn't listen to Christmas music on the way home which is of course what's stuck in my head now). It combined the best parts of our favorite movies like poisoned apples with fun twists like a poisoned apple being turned into an apple martini.

The costumes in the movie are fun and colorful and the acting is superb. From the always hopeful and cheery Gizelle to the dumb but handsome Prince Edward. There is also the jealous and evil Queen Narcissa, the doubting and slightly cynical Robert and the innocent and sweet daughter Morgan. Although I really have to say that it was James Marsden as Prince Edward that really stole the scene with his perfect portrayal of the Prince that is clearly not revered for his brains.

This movie was perfect for being the funny, charming and slightly cheesy Disney that we've come to know and love. With a very nice twist at the end that changes the "classical" Disney Princess movies. It is definitely a family movie that everyone will love. Five stars!

[rodolfo2007]

I saw it this morning at eleven with a friend, and it was really good. It was fun to hear or see different references from the other princess movies like a whole new world.

[Chris]

I saw it at a 4:00PM screening today. Fantastic film and perfect for the holiday weekend (nothing thats going to offend Grandma or be "too girly" for boys). A very smart script with lots of references (for instance, listen for familiar Disney tunes disguised as "elevator music", etc). There's a wonderful big broadway-style production number in Central Park. I am rarely "smitten" with Hollywood actresses, but Amy Adams will steal your heart. She's just so darn cute.

Funny and witty performances throughout.

By the way, its crept back up to 92% on Rottentomatoes with 77 reviews. Go see it this weekend and support it's opening Box Office!

-Chris

[monkey4057]

I must echo everyone here that the film was a winner

I had been skeptical when hearing about this film at first due to the live-action element but eventually warmed up to the film, and it's a good thing I did

Another reference is the name of the Italian restaurant (Hint: This is the night)

[xfkirsten]

Another superb report from me, as well! Just got back from it, and absolutely fell in love with it. Comedy, romance, and Disney magic, in just the right combination. Giselle is definitely by favorite Disney princess now - she was just fascinating to watch.

And there's some serious Disney!geek references in there...
Pay very close attention to the names of minor characters!
And on a more obvious one... watch out for the faces behind familiar voices. There are musical hints for a couple of them. ;)

[disney_fanatic]

I saw this movie last night and I loved it. it was cute and funny, as well has tieing in stuff together both in our world and the cartoon one. I bet the cast had fun making this movie.

[lpetiti]

I saw it yesterday and being the Disney geek that I am, started crying the moment they opened the storybook and Julie Andrews started narrating.

[perfectpixie1990]

I saw it yesterday and being the Disney geek that I am, started crying the moment they opened the storybook and Julie Andrews started narrating.

Same... I pretty much cried off and on the entire time.

[toratorakisa]

When my friend and I heard Julie Andrews' voice, we were SO excited.

SPOILER: I loved the movie, although I feel bad for James Marsden because he never gets the girl... he got a girl but not THE girl. HAHA. >.<;;

Amy Adams was so wonderful in this movie. I think that she did an outstanding job as Giselle.

[Brer Rabbit]

Just got back from seeing it, and I loved it! Very cute, fun film. Applause, Applause!
I also loved all the little references throughout it, heh.:biggrin:

[inherprime]

I waited so long for this film, Disney pulled off a fantastic film for everyone to enjoy!!! (I Luv Amy Adams)

[goofydave]

How about Alan Menken and Steven Schwartz on that music? I love both of those guys, and think they did inspired work here. The central park song-and-dance scenes were vintage Disney.

[TopCat8]

I just got back from seeing it, and I was very impressed! Disney has steadily been making good movies all year (Bridge to Terabithia, Meet The Robinsons, Pirates 3) and this film is no exception. I noticed so many little Disney references throughout, but I don't want to give anything away. Everyone should go see it.

[California Dreamin']

Saw it last night. Loved it! It was sooooo cute. I loved the Disney cheesiness of it. And of course, Idina Menzel kicked butt in it! I knew she was in it but forgot until her first appearence. I was like "AHHHH!!! IDINA!" But it was very well done.

[TaylorChandler]

Enchanted was a great movie. It was funny and like an old Disney movie. I give it an A+

[Palm Desert Babe]

^I agree! Definately A+. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny. Idina Menzel was so really good. I didn't know she was going to come in like that.......(didn't want to spoil it;) Go c it! It's amazing!

[Katie M]

I love love love love loved it!! It was fabulous! Even my male cousin (he is into things like Halo and Nerf Gun Wars) liked it. It was wonderful!

[Ezra]

I enjoyed this movie. I have to say that there are so many ways this movie could have gone wrong, but didn't. All the former cartoon characters are played with complete ernestness, lacking any sort of irony or knowing sarcasm. There's no nudge-nudge, winking at the camera stuff. Prince Edward seems narcisistic at first, until you realize that cartoon characters don't have "self esteem issues". Natahaniel begins to have self-doubts after watching television...

Amy Adam's Giselle is na?ve, but not stupid. She adjusts to the new surrounding intead of being a 2-dimensional clich? and was played as much for sympathy as for laughs. It's all very respectful to the source material, and very well thought-out. There's none of the wink-at-the-camera type stuff you find in the Shreck movies. (Not that that's a knock... I enjoy the Shreck movies alot, but this is different.)

The only cartoon character that displays any sort of sarcasm from the get-go is Queen Narissa ? it's part of what makes her character evil: She's the only dupicitous character in her world. It would have been nice to see a little more of Susan Sarandon in live-action.

There weren't many contrived plot-points among the real world characters. Hardly any in real life people would never do that moments. Those were all reserved for the former 'toons. Patrick Dempsey played his role with an understated ernestness, never overplaying his reactions to the bizarre situations. The little girl playing his daughter was good, too.

James Baxters' animation at the begining and end are a colorful tribute to old-school moviemaking. The seemed particulary flat, though, too flat to sustain a full length feature. I think this is on purpose: It provides more contrast with the live action that way, so I have no complaints in that regard. In the audience I was with, when Edward says to Giselle, whom he'd just met, "We'll be maried in the morning" the audience just roared with laughter. So I"m sure the lack of subtlety is intentional.

It does look more like post-Disney Don Bluth than Disney classic, so if I have a criticism of Baxter's work, that would be it. I'm not in the camp of appauding "Disney's triumphant return to traditional 2-D animation"... I'll wait and see how The Princess and the Frog looks before I do that.

The only real negative crticism I have is about the visual look of the film. Too many close-in shots gives it a made-for-television look. It's almost as though the director and cinematographer thought they were working on a direct-to-DVD feature instead of a theatrical film. Enchanted is being compared to Mary Poppins, and I think the cinematographer could have benefitted from a closer study of that film. Enchanted doesn't visually have the broad scope that that film has.

Also, I wish the dragon were a bit more closely modeled after the dragon in Sleeping Beauty. This dragon was a little too cute to be menacing. Again, this looks like it will play better on TV then it did on the big screen.

All-in-all, a very enjoyable film.

[xfkirsten]

Just saw it again last night, and it was just as awesome the second time.

I'm totally fangirling Amy Adams now. Such an amazing job!

And I went out today and found a pattern to use to make a Giselle costume... :biggrin:

[ah92us]

People at my HIGH SCHOOL are lovin' this movie! A+!

[echoscot]

Okay, I'm going to throw a loop here. Don't flame me, just my opinion.

What I liked:

The music was wonderful. Amy Adams was fantastic, she didn't try to be funny it appeared natural. Patrick Dempsey really did a great job underplaying his role. And Susan Sarandon did a magnificent job(THis from a conservative giving a head nod to a liberal LOL). Being a Disney geek I loved all the references and have read through other blogs to find the ones I missed.

The problems I saw:

I disagree with Chris, this was a chick flick, most definitely. I took my two nephews and niece. Jon, the middle one at 8, was BORED. At the end he told me he didn't like it "'caus there wasn't enough boy stuff." I asked "what about the dragon?", he said "Yeah but that was a girly dragon too". Jared was polite, and Jenny enjoyed it. None of them raved over it. I was surprised about Jenny because she is a "Disney Princess" girl.

So enough of the "kid test", I'm sure others had a different experience.

The one thing they did, though, that brought the film down a notch for me was the couple of moments of "potty humor"

SPOILER: For clarification, I am NOT talking about the "Happy Working Song" that was cute. I am talking about seeing a chipmunk "being startled" (if you have seen the movie you know what I am talking about) on the screen in a closeup and seeing the dog pee on the prince's boots. Unnecessary in my opinion and degraded an otherwise delightful movie.

For that reason, I would only give it 3 stars. And was surprised to find that I was in line with the critics.

[kairamoon]

Well as I always like to point out critics are not real people lol. They never really seem to like what the general audience does, maybe it's because they're too smart or something I don't know. But they HATED Titanic and look at what a hit that turned out to be :smile: Not putting you down or anything just saying how critics are bad at finding hits lol.

[echoscot]

Titanic was another movie that I saw once. I actually enjoyed Enchanted a LOT more than Titanic.

I didn't hate Enchanted, I found it to be very fun, and the songs are catchy and I just think there were some things that kept it from being a "Time-honored Classic" type of film.

Oh, I also thought the animation was not the best that Disney has produced. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio and others all were superior to this. It reminded me a bit of a Saturday morning cartoon.

I did like the Shrek knock off with the Troll. The Prince always takes him down but never really hurts him. Showing a sense of healthy competition between the companies. That was cute.

[Chris]

I disagree with Chris, this was a chick flick, most definitely. I took my two nephews and niece. Jon, the middle one at 8, was BORED. At the end he told me he didn't like it "'caus there wasn't enough boy stuff." I asked "what about the dragon?", he said "Yeah but that was a girly dragon too". Jared was polite, and Jenny enjoyed it. None of them raved over it. I was surprised about Jenny because she is a "Disney Princess" girl.

So enough of the "kid test", I'm sure others had a different experience.


Sorry to hear your niece and nephews didn't enjoy it. While I still don't believe it's a 'chick flick', its definitely a "Disney" flick in every sense of the word. Some people go for it, some don't. A lot of the jokes were aimed at adults with knowledge of previous Disney classics (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc).


I'm with you on the potty humor. It wasn't needed but it seems to be put in just about any popular children's programming, TV or otherwise. Remember that even the Pixar films have some mild potty humor:


1. Monsters Inc - Boo pretending to fall in the toilet, etc, "Snow Cone", etc.

2. Finding Nemo: Butt! Flushed down the toilet, "you made me ink", etc.

3. Cars: Rust-Eez (joke about 'ointment')

I'm sure there are other examples, as well.

What I'm trying to say here, it's very rare for a film geared towards families to NOT include potty humor. For every 20 Shreks, there's one Ratatouille.

[richboi117]

I saw it last wednesday. I thought the first half was excellent, then after the song in the park, it just kinda lost it's cool. Especially with the lame pop ballads at towards the end. But I wouldn't pass up the chance to see it again.

[Maleficent's Lover]

So I watched it for the second time last night. Did anyone else notice the Disney character plush dolls in the background of the daughters room? There are several Belle dolls and even an Old Hag!

[echoscot]

Oh I definitely would see it again. And yes, it is definitely a Disney film. But it is also more heavy on the romance and stuff while being light on the adventure side. The comedy is good. Some was over the heads of the kids I was with so that may have part of the problem with them. I think kids under 10 might have some trouble with that, too old for them I guess.

I reiterate, I enjoyed the movie, but just a couple of things keep it from notching up that level.

[xfkirsten]

Okay, question for everyone:

Were you disappointed at who Giselle ended up with? Do you feel like she should have gone with Edward?

I ask because I've seen several fans complain about her decision to stay with Robert. It just seems very odd to me that people would be upset that she didn't go with a man she doesn't love, regardless of whether or not he's a prince. That certainly wouldn't have been a happy ending (although, IMHO, it's fodder for a fascinating AU fanfic ;)). I even saw one person complaining that the movie shows it's okay to dump your fiancee for another man because of that. I'm just curious what everyone else here thinks on the subject!

[echoscot]

Okay, that's odd....That people would encourage someone to marry someone they are NOT in love with.

To some people though, engagement is as sacred as marriage, and they believe nothing short of infidelity should break that.

It was actually Jewish custom as well, centuries ago, that the only way to break a betrothal was through divorce type proceedings.

[mowben]

I seen it and thought it was sooooooooooooooooooooo great!!!!! I thought that the beginning, when they started with the cartoon world first, when all too fast. They could have included 5 to 10 more minutes in the animated world, but I do understand that they where skipping to the point 1. Many people who see this film would most likely get the point straight on since they have heard/seen all other Classic Disney films. 2. The main twist to this tale is Disney animation meets the real world and they just wanted to into the animated characters, then give the film it's twist.

I don't expect Gislle to end up with Robert, but had a lil felling that Gislle was no longer intersted in Edward once he foud her. I do, however, understand that this was a part of the twist. I've seen Cinderria III, I thought Enchanted was more twisted than that!!!! I only figured that Gislle would end up with Robert when Edward kisses Gislle only to find that she does'nt wake. It's was even more twisted when Gislle had to save Robert from Dragon Narissa. I thought "Uh-oh Dis. got Gislle to go all Princess Peach on her".(Princess Peach fighting bad guy like in: Super Princess Peach, Super Smash Bros., etc.) I definitely think that Enchanted is an excellent film 4 anyone, especially 4 Disney geeks/fans like u and I. Before I saw it, I did hear about and wanted to see it, I thought "What if Gislle was sent to Dis. World/land?" That would be the best place she would fit in, but would'nt see the reality of it. So once again, I understand why they did New York. I have to say that my favorite part was probably when Prince Edward mistaked a bus as a beast of some sort(Prince Edward on top of a bus:"YOU'VE MEET YOUR MACTH FOUL BEAST, HA HA HA HA!!" Edward stabs the bus almost hitting an old lady. Edward with his head in the open door of the bus:"Gislle?, The steel beast is dead peasants, I set you all free." Bus driver:"COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!!, NOBODY STABS MY BUS!!!!!" Edward runnig away. Bus driver:"DON'T YOU RUN AWAY FROM ME, CRAZY TIGHT WEARER!!!!!!") lol lol. I give this movie: ☆☆☆☆☆
Did anyone notice the hotel/inn Prince Edward and Nathanel were staying in? The Grand Duke, as in the guy with the monocle in Cinderrila. For anyone whos seen it and is a Harry Potter fan, do you catch that the guy who played Nathanel also plays Petter Pettigrew?

[echoscot]

I didn't notice the Grand Duke...That was a good catch.

[uLuckyGuyu]

... OMG. I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!! Disney has done it again, who would've known a fairy tale movie could still work at this day and age.Applause, Applause!

[richboi117]

Did anyone notice the hotel/inn Prince Edward and Nathanel were staying in? The Grand Duke, as in the guy with the monocle in Cinderrila. For anyone whos seen it and is a Harry Potter fan, do you catch that the guy who played Nathanel also plays Petter Pettigrew?


I noticed the Grand Duke and I was the only one who laughed. I also noticed that the song Pink Elephants on Parade was played on one of the channels Edward flipped thru on the tv, and Part of Your World was playing while Giselle was crying in the office.

[Katie M]

there's an entire list of Disney references in Enchanted on Wikipedia. You guys should check it out!

[TsWade2]

I saw it with one of my friends and we loved it! That was the best Disney movie this year of 2007. I can't wait to see it again on a DVD. The live action version of Pip the chipmunk cracked me up. The way he's imitating Nathaniel and Giselle which is so funny. And best of all, Idina Menzel is in that movie. I knew it's a box office hit. Now, they work on The Princess & the Frog. YAY!

[debijeanm]

LOVED IT! I've already set up three more theater dates to take friends or family, and I rarely watch movies in theaters anymore (and never more than once.) The acting was terrific and the writing very clever. The more you know Disney the funnier it is (one word - aquarium). I predict three song Oscar nominations - "True Love's Kiss", "Happy Working Song" and "So Close." And I'll put my money down now - "So Close" will win the Oscar for best song this year. The music alone brought to mind every broken dream I've ever had, and the lyrics are very cleverly done.

[xfkirsten]

"So Close" was such an amazingly beautiful song. It captured the moment so well, and even stands wonderfully on its own. That one's been on repeat a lot on my car. :smile:

[kodiak]

I saw it last night. Disney... has done it again. They have given us another taste of greatness by doing what they do best. After the show, I was at Walmart with my friend and my wife and as we perused the dvds... I observed that they were selling "It's a Wonderful Life". I remarked at how in 50 years, so many of these new releases would be obsolete and nobody would be able to really relate to them anymore, but that the Jimmy Stewart classic had endured. We reached the Disney section and my we all noted... that Disney is really the only company that we could think of that has consistently given us films that stand the test of time and traverse the generational gaps and barriers. Enchanted is no different.
Reading some reviews from some clearly out of touch critics, I was prepared for a film that would satire and dash classic Disney premises and concepts. Down with fantasy. Down with true love. No such thing as happily ever after. And while it did poke fun of clichees and had numerous homages to classic Disney film, It ended up affirming what has kept Disney at the very top for.... well... we are approaching a century now, arent we? Happily ever after. That magic and fantasy are important parts of our lives and give meaning and beauty to our world. That those that choose not to see it can lead dismal lives. It ends with a special kind of ballance in which everybody gets their happy ending. And that wonderful. no.... even better.... enchanting.

[_potc_and_dland_rule_]

I can only say that I was speechless. It is an amazing movie. I saw it on November 21st at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood and did the 'Enchanted Experience' after the show. I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I already know that, in twenty years, this movie can and will be considered a classic. It's Disney rolled up with Disney thrown in for crying out loud! :D Absolutely wonderful movie, and I am offcially obessessed with the song 'That's How You Know.'

[mickeymexica]

First time in a long time that a post- 1996 Disney movie leaves me with a "happy, fuzzy feeling" after watching it. It's also the first time since Hunchback (1996) that the songs stick to my head... although to be fair, we haven't had many musicals since then.
anyways, truly "enchanting" and surprisingly not lame (the plot had me a little nervous, but somehow it all worked!!) Amy Adams really managed to portray a Disney Princess in real life, which is harder than it seems without seeming annoying or sappy. Plus any DIsney Fan will find him/ herself in a constant state of deja vu/ chuckling from all the allusions and meshing of different disney films into one workable, sweet story.

[tinytim603]

I just saw it last night 12/15/07 and I liked it. I want that chipmonk. lol