Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Movie review: Enchanted

Twenty minutes in, and all I can say so far is that Amy Adams' squeaky little princess voice is making me want to break something. Well, and James Marsden is pretty hilarious as the overblown Prince Edward.

The movie starts out with a cartoon sequence, where Giselle is singing along with her little forest friends about "true love's kiss". Then she meets Prince Edward, they plan to get married the next day, and instead his evil stepmother shoves her down a well that pops her out a manhole in Times Square. Soon Edward, a sarcastic chipmunk, and the evil stepmother's henchman follow.

Giselle meets Robert, an uptight single father planning on proposing to his girlfriend. Instead he ends up having his girlfriend think he's cheating with Giselle, his divorcing clients think he's messing with them, and then going on a fairy-tale singalong trip through Central Park.

Most of the humor comes from the consequences of fairy tale actions in the big city--like when Giselle uses her magical princess singing powers to summon birds, rats, and cockroaches to clean Robert's apartment. Sometimes the juxtaposition of cheesy cartoonish antics against real life is a little cringe-inducing, and there are few surprises in the plot. But it's a good, fun family movie.

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