Sunday, March 30, 2008

Enchanted

It's a New York city, Disney Princess, Chestertonian fairy tale; what more can I say? Well I guess I can say a lot can't I?

Giselle is the classic Disney cartoon heroine. She sings, has many animal friends and is about to marry a prince. But then the evil stepmother sends her to "a place where there are no 'Happily Ever Afters'" namely New York City. Still dressed in her enormous wedding gown, Giselle wanders forlornly around the city, that is until she meets Robert, a very practical divorce attorney, and his daughter Morgan. She befriends them, and ends up staying in the living room of their apartment. Of course, her prince follows her, and he in turn is followed in close succession by Pip (a chipmunk friend of Giselle's), the stepmother's accomplice, and finally the stepmother herself. To top it off, the climax involves apples and the empire state building.

(GilbertGirl, I should have had you write this, I'm making a terrible hash of it)

Now that mishmash account of events, left you rather unenlightened as to the Chestertonian elements. Believe me, they are there. It defends Fairy Tales, it shows you the world through a pair of VERY childlike eyes and its preview begins "Of all the magical tales... there has never been anything like Enchanted. Because no other fairy tale has taken us to a world as stange as ours." (ahem, I quote from memory)

There are a few minor issues (the worst being low cut dresses) but on the whole the pros far outweighed the cons.

But all my multiple rambling paragraphs don't say it half as well as Barb Nicholosi did in a few words:

It is smart and at moments hilarious and consciously uncynical. And when
Disney is on the dock at the last judgment, they will just show this film and
say, "The defense rests."

1 comment:

gigi said...

Thy profound modesty ill becomes thee. To each her own fashion: though my style be more elaborate, I communicate a great deal less:)