Kevin Lima
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Connections, in both directions
But this movie is just as inspired by fish-out-of-water high-concept family comedies like Enchanted and Elf, both of which are a) not streaming on Disney+ and b) much, much, much funnier, smarter, and more heartwarming.
While it subtly reminds me of Enchanted , it has a flair all its own.
Now streaming on Disney+, the film recalls the studio’s once-upon-a-time hit, “Enchanted,” although here, the conceit loses much of its charm.
Since the film is set around the Christmas holiday, elements from Hallmark Channel holiday movies feel like inspiration, and it is hard to watch all of this and not envision Amy Adams’ fantastic performance in 2007’s Enchanted , a notable and beloved Disney film.
Capturing the fairytale quality that will remind many of Enchanted , the film takes us through familiar notes for its characters to overcome before landing on its lesson.
In the same vein as Elf or Enchanted , whimsical Eleanor barges into the dull, downtrodden life of Mackenzie, her daughters (Jillian Shea Spaeder, Willa Skye) and her helpful sister (Mary Elizabeth Ellis).
She played the pregnant hometown girl in "Junebug," as well as the nurse with the braces in "Catch Me If You Can," and the way she combines irrepressible high spirits with slyly subversive comic wiles in "Enchanted," she's every Disney princess in one ebullient package.
"Enchanted" squeaks by on the charm of its performers, particularly Adams, who played another version of the daffy Giselle in "Junebug," for which she earned an Oscar nomination.
While Oscar nominated for her turn in Junebug (how many remember her…or the film?), she is simply astounding here.
Enchanted's most obvious asset is Amy Adams, who is probably best known for her scene-stealing work in Junebug .
Adams received a great deal of wholly deserved attention for the film Junebug in 2005, but that film simply didn't have the impact necessary to make her any kind of star.
In "Enchanted," Amy Adams ("Junebug") plays Giselle, a pen-and-ink fairy tale princess banished to live-action New York City, where she stumbles into the protective arms of a hunky single-dad (Patrick Dempsey) in the city's seedy Bowery district.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Directed by David Hand
influenced Enchanted (2007)
Themes Plot Visuals
Director Kevin Lima ("102 Dalmations") and screenwriter Bill Kelly reference half the Disney canon in "Enchanted," from "Sleeping Beauty" to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
It's a clever, high-spirited romp spoofing fairy tales and the animated, musical versions of them that have been around since 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
From "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," it borrows the helpful woodland creatures and a poisoned apple.
The film begins with 12 minutes of 2-D animation, the classic Disney cartoon style of Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
It mocks such sacred masterpieces as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Cinderella," while spinning a lovable fable of its own.
The other, of course, is Cruella de Vil, played by Emma Stone with enough seething, over the top vengefulness to almost make one forget Glenn Close’s memorable Cruella in “101 Dalmatians” (1996) and “102 Dalmatians” (2000), both live-action sequels to Disney’s beloved 1961 animated classic, which is paid brief homage at the end of the new film.
In all fairness it should be flagged that the tone of Streep’s performance owes a lot to Glenn Close’s portrayal of Cruella in the 1996 remake of 101 Dalmatians and its 2000 sequel 102 Dalmatians .
That in turn spawned “102 Dalmatians,” in 2000.
The wide theatrical and streaming release is a spinoff/prequel to both 1961’s animated “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” and 1996’s live-action “101 Dalmatians” (which had its sequel, “102 Dalmatians,” over twenty years ago).
Close also showed up in the inferior 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians .
And the five new songs by Stephen Schwartz (“Pocahontas”) and Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast”) ride a similarly fine line between parody and celebration.
The woodland cottage where Giselle lives is a dead-ringer for Aurora's hiding place in Sleeping Beauty, and the rest of the design freely blends elements of Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast .
Songs from multiple Oscar winners Alan Menken ("The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin") and Stephen Schwartz ("Pocahontas," "The Prince of Egypt") and splashy, polished dance numbers complete the package.
His animation background taught him to think out gags visually: There's a thigh-slapper where Giselle runs up a hill in Central Park, arms outstretched, in an echo of the famous shots in "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Sound of Music."
Although the fish-out-of-water Enchanted parodies nearly every Disney movie and many of their songs, it's still unique and really entertaining, especially with music and lyrics by Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast") and Stephen Schwartz.
Lima worked on Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, three of the better Disney animations, and his live-action resumé includes 102 Dalmations and Eloise at the Plaza.
Isn't It Romantic (2019)
Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson
influenced by Enchanted (2007)
Plot Themes
Writers Erin Cardillo and “How To Be Single’s” Dana Fox and Katie Silberman have fashioned a high concept romantic comedy that replaces the naive optimist of “Enchanted” in real world New York City with a cynic plunked into its glossiest Hollywood version.
Isn’t it Romantic es para la comedia romántica lo que la película Enchanted (2007) es para las películas sobre los cuentos de hadas y princesas de Disney.
The film has much in common with 1991’s Delirious , which saw a jaded writer get hit on the head, then wake up inside his soap opera, and Enchanted which winked at the romantic tropes of Disney movies and then subverted them.
Best-case scenario, “Isn’t It Romantic” would have been the reverse of “Enchanted,” wherein a Disney princess tried to adapt to the harsh reality of New York City — only here, a hardened cynic tries to wrap her head around a flash-sanitized version of the Big Apple, where someone has magically erased Manhattan’s distinctive rotting-garbage stench, and replaced the liquor stores and check-cashing joints in her neighborhood with cupcake cafés and bridal shops.
It may not break much new ground — its premise is another version of Amy Schumer’s “I Feel Pretty” (2018) with the magical realism of “Enchanted” (2007) — but it’s still an undeniably cute date movie.
Somewhere deep in the movie's genetic structure is a chromosome or two of Rocky and Bullwinkle's bi-level wit mixed in with the DNA of Mary Poppins.
Andrews, of course, played the title nanny in the studio's Mary Poppins, which contains the famous phrase "practically perfect in every way."
As far back as 1964, Mary Poppins and its charismatic star Julie Andrews bridged the animation/reality divide with a musical that truly was magical.
"Mary Poppins": The voice of the narrator is that of Julie Andrews, who played the title role in the 1964 classic.
“Enchanted” is more on the order of “Mary Poppins”: magical, endearing, funny to both kids and adults, and featuring a star-making performance.
Pop culture references and riffs help to incessantly poke fun at itself, generating a self-aware sense of humor that maintains an aloof strangeness; unlike in the similarly patterned “Enchanted,” the merger of fantasy and reality here provides uncomfortable revelations about toxic masculinity, consumerism, a warped sense of body image due to unachievable dimensions, self-esteem issues, objectification, and identity crises, among other serious subjects.
What follows next when these two doll figures arrive in LA is not so different from what Amy Adams’ fairy tale princess character experiences in “Enchanted” (2007).
This fish-out-of-water premise calls to mind Ferrell’s Elf , not to mention Enchanted .
The list includes Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Snow White & The Huntsman, Red Riding Hood, Enchanted, Alice In Wonderland, Mirror Mirror and Jack The Giant Slayer.
Far from being ridiculous and preening (like the princes in Enchanted and The Princess and the Frog , among others), he’s humble .
Though it doesn't have the catchy songs of Enchanted or the witty dialogue of The Princess Bride, Cinderella enthralls with its ravishing style and timeless message of resilience, decency and kindness triumphing over evil.
The comical meta twists of “Tangled,” “Enchanted” and “Frozen” are gone.
We don't expect a rollicking fairy tale spoof like Enchanted or an abomination like Snow White and the Huntsman.
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
Directed by Rich Moore
influenced by Enchanted (2007)
Visuals Themes
To be sure, it’s a wickedly clever sequence, if not as good-humored or surreally inspired as the “Happy Working Song” number from “Enchanted” (2007), probably the last picture in which Disney skewered itself so audaciously.
If you like the humor in Enchanted or Elf you will really enjoy this.
To be frank, I’m sick to death of Disney lampshading the princess tropes, especially since they continue to profit off of them, and because they haven’t crafted a joke better than the ones in Enchanted 12 years ago.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
Directed by James Bobin
influenced by Enchanted (2007)
Characters
While Dora and the Lost City of Gold doesn’t reach the fourth-wall breaking heights of Deadpool, Enchanted, or even the underrated and to-this-day misunderstood Josie and the Pussycats movie, the tone fits this version of the character well.
Pulling off this tricky feat at the center of it all is the actress playing Dora herself, the magnetic Isabela Moner, whose performance is reminiscent of Amy Adams’ thoroughly delightful work in “Enchanted.”
The result is a cross between Donkey from the Shrek series and Amy Adams’ Giselle in Enchanted .
A less consistently witty but still pleasing take-off of 2007's " Enchanted ," also about fairy tale characters ending up in modern-day Manhattan, the film's plot is simple and straightforward, its pacing unassumingly nimble for running a lengthy 103 minutes.
Unlike "Enchanted," which also saw cartoon characters enter New York City through a portal, the Smurfs are still their CGI-animated selves in both worlds, pursued in both worlds by a live-action Gargamel (Hank Azaria, "The Simpsons") and his live-action (but CGI enhanced) cat.
They have been expelled, a la Disney’s Enchanted , from their native forest by their nemesis, evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria), and through a convenient portal.
It clearly takes it cues from flicks like "Enchanted" and "Stuart Little" in transporting these fantasy characters from their enchanted land and into modern-day Manhattan where they interact with all us live-action folk.
No, Raja Gosnell's movie is an uninspired rip-off of Disney's Enchanted.
This Enchanted-style fish-out-of-water scenario is mined for interminable product placement gags (Blue Man Group!) and dreary fantasy-meets-modernity scenarios (Gargamel gets Tasered by the NYPD!).
Adapted – and very heavily sanitised – from the 1986 stage hit by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine (the latter provides the new screenplay), Rob Marshall’s revisionist fairytale mash-up comes on like Neil Jordan’s Company of Wolves with songs by Eric Idle, leaving you longing for the musical wit of Enchanted , and making you wonder whether you’d been a bit harsh on Tangled .
There’s also the live-action side, including Tim Burton’s “ Sleepy Hollow ” (1999) and “Alice in Wonderland” (2010), the lovely “ Enchanted ” (2007), and this year’s “Maleficent.”
During that time, “Woods” was revived twice on the New York stage (including director Timothy Sheader’s brilliant open-air production in Central Park in 2012) and could be felt as an influence on the “Shrek” movies and (especially) Disney’s “Enchanted.”
The character design, meanwhile, takes the distinctive colors and costumes of the older films and re-renders them in the distinctive Disney house style developed in the '70s and perfected in The Little Mermaid : slightly angular faces, just-too-large eyes and little crinkly noses.
Songs from multiple Oscar winners Alan Menken ("The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin") and Stephen Schwartz ("Pocahontas," "The Prince of Egypt") and splashy, polished dance numbers complete the package.
Lima worked on Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, three of the better Disney animations, and his live-action resumé includes 102 Dalmations and Eloise at the Plaza.
And although Oscar-winning composer Alan Menkin's songs might not come off as crisp as his contributions to such classic Disney fare as "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin," the song "That's How You Know" -- which, judging by the size of the production number built around it, Disney will likely push for Oscar consideration -- has a certain stick-in-your-headness about it that's not at all unpleasant.
The curiously enervating Dempsey does his best to sap the energy of the curiously enlivening Adams, and Enchanted meanwhile resurrects the calypso themes of The Little Mermaid without delving any further into its racial implications in a film every bit as vanilla and Wonder Bread as the rest of Disney's cavalcade of schlock.
And the five new songs by Stephen Schwartz (“Pocahontas”) and Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast”) ride a similarly fine line between parody and celebration.
The songs by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (the team behind Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame , Menken's much better writing partner Howard Ashman stubbornly remaining long-dead) are effective enough in the moment - and lead to the film's most transcendent scene, a Freed-style musical extravaganza in Central Park - but they're not all that memorable.
Songs from multiple Oscar winners Alan Menken ("The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin") and Stephen Schwartz ("Pocahontas," "The Prince of Egypt") and splashy, polished dance numbers complete the package.
"Pocahontas": Judy Kuhn, the singing voice of Pocahontas, plays a woman with kids for whom Prince Edward is "too late."
Speaking of excellence, the music is by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (the duo behind Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
But Disney deserves credit for half-pretending to undermine its foundational material and not just transpose it to the sea (The Little Mermaid) or onto non-white cultures (Pocahontas).
"Lady and the Tramp": Robert and Giselle have lunch at an Italian restaurant named Bella Notte, the title of a memorable song from the 1955 tale of puppy love.
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
Directed by Sam Raimi
influenced by Enchanted (2007)
Dialogue Themes
The banter is snappy and mischievous in the way it teases out their differing world views, echoing the 2007 Amy Adams vehicle Enchanted .
You watch them all and long for the funhouse purity of Enchanted, which had the starriness of Amy Adams, the starrishness of James Marsden, and a ripe target: the fairy-tale industrial complex.
Not since 1992’s Cool World has animated characters-turned-real people been so convincing.
In fact, the closest any previous film comes to this is Ron Howard’s hilarious Splash – and that fabled literal fish out of water tale had the late great John Candy around to keep things rib tickling.
Enchanted references everything from Snow White to The Lion King with both gentle satire (like "Happy Working Song" where real-life rats and pigeons help a cartoon princess clean a New York apartment) and sly references (pay attention to little details and character names).
She emerges through a manhole cover in Times Square, but a more appropriate site would have been the basement of a theater playing "The Lion King."
The era of classics like Beauty And The Beast and The Lion King, produced during Disney's seemingly unstoppable 1990s reign as kings of the animation market, now seems a very long time ago.