I miss the Disney musicals of my youth.  It’s not just nostalgia as the revisiting of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin showcases all of these films as charming, morally decent, and musically fun gems of animated films.  But if we brought these characters, complete with their one-dimensional prince charmings and talking forest creatures into the real world, they could only be the subject of intense mockery and derision.  But instead of heaping scorn upon our cherished childhood films in exchange for a cynical laugh, Enchanted helps us to remember everything we loved about these films and why their return is long-overdue.

Giselle (Amy Adams) is looking for the man with whom she can share true love’s kiss.  That man is the dashing and empty headed Prince Edward (James Marsden) who unfortunately happens to be the step-son of the evil sorceress Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon).  Narissa pushes Giselle into our world where she’s pathetically hapless until she meets jaded single-dad Robert (Patrick Dempsey).  From their meeting, Giselle casts her fairy-tale princess magic over New York City while in turn Robert and the city transform the recently 3-D Giselle into a three-dimensional person.

Enchanted is enchanting without conjuring a veil of nostalgia or going for any joke that would be heinously inappropriate in any of the films mentioned in the intro to this review.  It’s genuinely charming and Marsden, Adams, and Demspey all deserve special notice for their performances.  The only time the film falters is at the very end with a protracted and grating post-modern deconstruction during the climactic battle.  But even that misstep is quickly righted by an epilogue that will have you leaving the theatre with a grin from ear to ear. 

We need Disney musicals back in our yearly repertoire of family films, but Enchanted proves that as long as these musicals have the heart and enthusiasm of their predecessors, then cel-shading isn’t required.

--- A minus