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Film Review
Simply 'Enchanted'
Disney’s latest revives 'true love'
Although some of the most jaded may have given up on true love and living “happily ever after,” Walt Disney Pictures has not.
The creators of animated features put a new spin on an old story in “Enchanted” — a film that sticks a princess in New York City for an entertaining play on the fairy tale genre.
By playing with the notion of living “happily ever after,” the writers actually convey strong family values and real emotions about the integrity of the family in the modern world.
“Enchanted” tells of Princess Giselle, perfectly played by Amy Adams, from an animated fairy tale land. On the way to her wedding she is pushed into a magical passageway by her one true love’s stepmother, played by Susan Sarandon. The princess emerges in New York City — the place where “happy endings don’t exist,” according to the stepmother.
Robert Philip, a divorce lawyer played by Patrick Dempsey, and his daughter take in Giselle.
Trying to live out a fairy tale life in the real world proves nothing less than hilarious as Giselle tries to get pigeons, rats and water bugs to help her clean up the house. When she goes to work with Philip, she sobs over divorces. She has all of Central Park dancing and singing her song about the importance telling a woman you love her.
Every fairytale cliché is played out in “Enchanted” and each one is as entertaining to watch as the next. Predictable to be sure — after all, it is a fairytale, modern or not — the film’s charm comes in the unique intersection of fairytale expectations and the real world.
The greatest strength of “Enchanted” is the over-the-top performance by relative newcomer Amy Adams as Giselle. Her joy and naiveté in the face of all obstacles is entirely believable.
She even makes the transformation of the divorce lawyer believable with her vivacious character’s charm. Sarandon plays a perfect foil as the evil witch and the supporting cast of characters brings a formerly flat genre to life.
The silver lining of “Enchanted” arrives in the form of a Christian teaching of love and marriage. Although Giselle eagerly admits she is ready to marry her “true love” just one day after meeting him, the film focuses on the transforming effect true love has on the beloved.
Philip has a very pragmatic and removed view of marriage —where partners do not love too deeply and are constantly prepared for the end of the union. Giselle teaches him the value of a love that is “stronger than anything.”
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The Lord himself shows that [marriage] signifies an unbreakable union of [a couple’s] two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been ‘in the beginning.’ ‘So they are no longer two, but one flesh,’” (1605).
The couple in “Enchanted” is not a perfect example of this, but they are closer than most silver screen pairings.
Giselle defends finding a person to love “happily ever after.” Her life is filled with joy and the innocent relationship that develops between the two main characters is refreshingly sweet.
“Enchanted” is a film moms and daughters will love, but sons and fathers will still enjoy. There are enough laughs for any group, but the film is clearly meant for children. Disney has turned the genre it invented on its head and it is a welcome makeover for all audiences.
Rebecca Bostic is a regular contributor to The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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