Review of Enchanted (2007) by Chads. — 16 Dec 2007

At the ball, Giselle(Amy Adams) is finally able to differentiate real love from storybook love when Robert(Patrick Dempsey) meets her gaze, and it's such a perfect moment, ironic, too, because a crystalline moment that pure and unadulterated is indeed storybook in nature.

"Enchanted" enchants, finally. Before the swoon, however, this near-miss movie is hampered by lazy writing. "Enchanted" doesn't properly address the shock an animated character would experience upon entrance into the real world.

For example, when Giselle falls from some scaffolding, the film fails to acknowledge that a cartoon figure would never experience physical pain in their animated realm. In Wim Wenders' "Faraway So Close"(the sequel to "Wings of Desire"), an angel sees his blood for the first time.

"Enchanted" would be far better if Giselle was just a tad more existential, and inquistive about the differences between both worlds. The real world doesn't acknowledge the existence of animated films.

When Prince Edward(James Marsden) uses the television remote, he never encounters the world of his previous incarnation as an animated figure. "Enchanted" doesn't want to get too complicated, which is an insult of sorts, because this film is obviously for young girls.

There's also an insidious anti-feminist ideology at work, too. Rather than be a smart woman like Mata Hari, or a strong woman like Rosa Parks(from a book Robert gives Rachel(Morgan Phillip) on her birthday), the young girl is confronted with a princess as her primary role model.

Well, I'll shut the hell up now. "Enchanted" is redeemed by an ultra-romantic ending.