Apr 26 2008
Enchanted (2007)
Starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and Susan Sarandon
Directed by Kevin Lima
Rated PG for some scary images and mild innuendo
1 hour 47 minutes
Enchanted starts out as pure Disney animation cheese: a princess singing with the animals of the forest waiting to find her true love. That’s funny enough if you’re in on the joke, but the real gold comes when the characters of fairy tale land get sent by the evil step-mother (Sarandon) to real-world New York City (a place where dreams never come true). Amy Adams is terrific as the incredibly sincere and optimistic princess who eventually wins over even the most cynical New Yorkers. The highlight of the film for me was a musical number in which average citizens join the princess in a perfectly choreographed routine to a catchy Alan Menken tune. Enchanted is by no means perfect (there are plenty of slow or overly sentimental scenes and the supporting cast isn’t nearly as strong as Adams), but there are enough magical moments to make it a pretty enchanting movie.
Grade: B
Update 8-2008: I just saw this movie for the second time with my kids and liked it more than the first time. I’m upgrading it to B+.
Check out the soudtrack on 
[...] Song Written for a Movie: John Mayer – Say (The Bucket List), Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz – That’s How You Know (Enchanted) [...]
[...] loved McDormand in Fargo and Adams in Enchanted, so I figured this romantic comedy might be worth a try. Nicely set in London in the [...]
[...] already rich character is both infectious and inspiring. Contrast that with Amy Adams’ (Enchanted) role as modern day Julie Powell, a pleasant but somewhat unremarkable woman who decides to find [...]
I just saw this one again with my kids. It might even be in the A- range. The ending is lame, but the rest is really good.