Enchant this!

Okay, okay... so I watched "Enchanted". Truth is, I knew very little about it going in and I wasn't expecting much. I was mainly hoping it would be somewhat entertaining, but I mostly feared I would feel pretty silly. Why did I watch it, you ask? Because my wife and I were wanting to grab a meal and watch a movie with some friends. Our friends wanted to watch "Enchanted" and being as it was the theatre was showing "Hitman", "This Holiday", "Fred Claus" and "Enchanted" I didn't really have any better suggestions.

All that said... boy, was I wrong. I was very much entertained. The opening sequence alone had me laughing pretty good, as it was an animated sequence that pretty much made fun of all things Disney. Were there cheesy moments? Yes. Did it have some cheesy elements? Yes. But with what little cheesy stuff it did, it was so much fun and genuinely funny. Dare I say, "Good, clean fun?" I dare.First things first, the animated parts were (in my opinion) a lot of fun, because they channeled the old school Disney animation. The film even started with the "opening of the book" and narration. Yes, in true classic Disney fashion. However, my personal favorite element was Amy Adams. Amy Adams plays the lead female, Giselle, who is about to marry her Prince Charming in the animated world, but the stepmother has other plans in mind and so sends her to a world where there are no happy endings or something... of course, this would be normal, non-animated world. You know, the one we live in. The one with accountability and consequence. I'm sure you've heard of it. Alas, I digress. Her portrayal of the "once animated", happy-go-lucky, naive girl and princess-to-be was priceless. There was even a touch of the Jane Fonda quality from the "Barefoot in the Park" days about her. Her ridiculous innocence contrasted with her new male counterpart (Patrick Dempsey) in the "real world" (no, not a VH1 show... or MTV or whatever), because he was dead stuck on the "reality of life." For example, like buying his young daughter a book of "the most important people in the world" or something instead of "that fantasy book" she wanted. And as it is when I find something extremely funny I go into cackling laugher (a genetic defect, I'm afraid), I often found myself cackling out loud in our not-so-crowded crowd. Truly, one of the prime examples of this hilarious contrast between the two characters was when Giselle starts to sing a song in Central Park while he tries desperately to get her to stop (because in "real world", it ain't no musical, Fool). Unfortunately, for him, but fortunately for us some other local park musicians join in with her and before you know it we have a full-blown musical production number in Central Park. The scene was nicely done and reminded me of Gene Kelly's adaptation of "Hello Dolly".

The short and skinny of this review, is that "Enchanted" is absolutely delightful and funny. And not too adult for the kids. And besides, what could be more entertaining than a very eccentric Susan Sarandon? So, I say: If you need a laugh and some delightful entertainment, go watch "Enchanted". After all, it may be one of the most original things Disney has done in the past 10 years or so. But, I make a prediction... since it seems to be a success, I'm sure Disney will try to cash in on it for as much as they can. I'm predicting right now that they will make an "Enchanted 2" that has the realistic male counterpart traveling into the animated world, for the opposite effect. If they do, you owe me. I truly do not understand why Disney can't just let a good thing be. Seriously, wouldn't we all had been appalled if Orson Welles tried to cash in by directing "Citizen Kane 2: Kane's Revenge"? If you make something good, leave it be. That's all I'm saying.