MOVIE REVIEW - 'Enchanted'? Absolutely - Amy Adams brings an animated princess to life -- and then some.
It's obvious but inescapable: "Enchanted" is as good as its name. An adroit combination of wised-up and happily-ever-after, its story of an animation princess thrust into New York's gritty reality gently mocks the mighty Disney fantasy machine without losing the core of the franchise's family appeal.
Perhaps because even mild self-mockery has never been the Disney way, this romantic comedy with music spent more than a decade locked away in development hell. Although one wouldn't wish that on anyone, those 10 years led to several positive developments, including the return to Bill Kelly's much rewritten script.
And though that decade did contribute to "Enchanted's" only misstep, a finale uncharacteristically weighted toward reliance on CGI effects, it also put Kevin Lima, a live action filmmaker with a natural feel for animation (he co-directed Disney's 1999 "Tarzan"), in the director's seat.
Best of all, that time period allowed the casting of the wonderful Amy Adams as Giselle, a princess in the animated kingdom of Andalasia who gets the rudest of awakenings when she finds herself pushed out of a Times Square manhole cover and into Manhattan street life.
Adams, who was Oscar-nominated for her breakout role in "Junebug," is equally splendid here as the ultimate Disney princess whose every step echoes "Snow White," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Cinderella." Playing perky and gee-whiz, Adams never overdoes the earnestness or even hints at condescending to the role, and it is impossible to think of "Enchanted" without her.
It is also difficult to imagine this film without the decades of Disney animated features that have come before it, appealing to audiences for generations because they've created an alternate universe that bans nasty reality from the premises.
"Enchanted's" Andalasia, in the 10-minute animated glimpse of it we have as the film begins, is such a place. Giselle, surrounded by helpful animals, and the dashing Prince Edward (James Marsden, Cyclops in the "X-Men" movies) know they are destined to be united by "true love's kiss," but evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) and her henchman, Nathaniel (Timothy Spall), manage to keep them apart.
Worse than that, once the pair meet and plan to wed in the morning, Narissa pushes Giselle down a seemingly bottomless well. Where are you sending her?, squeaks Nathaniel. "To a place where there are no happily-ever-afters," booms the queen. Enter, on cue, New York City.
