Enchanted, the Movie: Two Mama Thumbs Up! by JenB

First, I swear to you I never read any reviews of this movie. All I knew is that most of my mama friends and I were highly anticipating this movie’s release. So, this is my untainted view of my new favorite movie Enchanted. Ok I loved it, and now, I will tell you why.
I will admit that I am not usually a huge fan of Disney related princessy things. I worry about the whole obsession with beauty and teeny waists and full bosoms. My daughter, Charlotte hasn’t been exposed to any princess stuff. It isn’t really intentional, eventually I will get her some Disney movies, even ones with princesses. In the big scheme of things I don’t have a huge problem with fairy tales.
Enchanted is a satirical Disney princess story, farcical even. A large part of what makes this movie so fantastic is the exaggerated version of the princess Giselle, our heroine, played fantastically by Amy Adams. Snow White has nothing on this girl. Giselle doesn’t have just blue birds, she has the entire forest waiting to do her bidding. She is impossibly romantic and sure that she will soon meet her one true love and have love’s first kiss. It is saccharine, sweet, funny. She has a chipmunk with an accent right out of The Sopranos. It is princess with a kick. Her body is impossibly built, teeny waist, a perfect upright chest and long long bouncy flowing hair that swings with her chirpy romantic tunes. The audience laughs at this, knowing it is an overdone version of princess.
I made notes in the theater, in the dark dark theater and some of them don’t make sense. At first I was terrified of the singing. I don’t like singing in movies, or theaters, or television. It comes clear very quickly that this is meant to amuse and not entertain us with the actor’s singing acumen, which is actually really good! Prince Edward, also bigger than life, is played by James Marsden. Who is for one thing, tremendously handsome, a great princely figure. He has a huge acting range and seems underrated to me. I want more James Marsden! X-Men, Hairspray, Sugar and Spice (a personal favorite)! He is over the top and awesome in this movie, spoofing the typical puffy sleeved sword wielding hero.
Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey is hot, and no, you cannot dispute that. He manages to play sensitive pretty well, sort of similar in tone to his character in Grey’s Anatomy. He definitely is the straight man in this movie but shows us some good glimpses of a multi-dimensional cynical New York City guy who has never experienced True Love. Rachel Covey plays his daughter and is edible and adorable and a fine actress. We will see more of her. Susan Sarandon plays a good wicked witch, but honestly is not much of a stand out for me.
It is the story, the clashing of the idyllic animated world and the cynical New York City world. The movie is full of soft touch lessons about believing in fairy tales, true love, and happily ever. Forever and ever. This movie is rated PG and there was everyone there, baby to granny. In my movie theater the crowd was mostly women about 20-40 years old and only a handful of kids. Oh, and some bedraggled boyfriends, I have no idea how they felt, maybe someone will share. There were some quiet cheers and laughs and tears and there was no doubt that it was an outlandish and comic fairy tale enjoyed by everyone there. I cannot stop smiling and I know there was some damp tissues being carried out at the end.
The Canadian judge, me, gives it 5 Stars.

CommonSense Media review
You can follow Jen Brockington’s addiction to pop culture at JenandTonic.