Enchanted

The most recent hybrid film, Enchanted was released in 2007, directed by Kevin Lima. Starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, and Susan Sarandon, the film grossed $340.5 million. It also won the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards for Best Family Film and the Saturn Award for the Best Fantasy Film.

In the animated land of Andalasia, Giselle (Adams) falls in love with Prince Edward (Marsden) and are to be wed the next day. But Queen Narissa (Sarandon) doesn’t want to surrender the thrown and throws Giselle down a portal to live action New York City.

Enchanted is quite an interesting film, especially where it makes fun of and deconstructs many of the tropes found in the princess genre. Calling all the native animals to help clean the apartment comes to mind. No one seems to mind when it’s birds, rabbits and cute mice helping you out. But when it’s hamsters, rats, and cockroaches, there’s a bit of a problem there. It also deconstructed true love far before Frozen ever did too, noting just how absurd falling in love in a matter of seconds is.

But there’s more than just parody, there’s clever nods to other movies. When Giselle is looking at a fish tank in Robert’s office, his secretary is played by Jodi Benson. Edward watches a soap opera staring Paige O’Hara. The Italian restaurant Giselle and Robert eat at is La Bella Notte. Narissa.

But the biggest issue with this film is Giselle’s character. She’s far too… happy. So happy that it’s kind of nauseating. And she doesn’t execute the “fish out of water” trope well. But whenever the scene isn’t focused on her, the film is really good.

#59, narrowly avoiding the Edge of Satisfaction. Thanks Giselle.