Enchanted

Dec 14 2007 by Gary Beckwith, Evening Chronicle

(PG, 107 mins) Family/Comedy/Romance. Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Rachel Covey, Timothy Spall, Susan Sarandon, Idina Menzel. Director: Kevin Lima.

EVERY Christmas, there are certain films which perfectly embody the festive spirit.

Whether it’s a small boy flying through the air with an animated snowman, Alastair Sim’s Scrooge realising the error of his ways, Bing Crosby dreaming of a White Christmas or Jimmy Stewart learning to value family life (with some prompting from an angel called Clarence), cinema has the power to create a warm, fuzzy glow to stave off the winter chill.

Now comes Kevin Lima’s smart and sassy tale of a storybook princess at large in New York City, which cleverly upholds and subverts fairy-tale conventions.

Combining animation and live action, Enchanted has all the ingredients of a modern classic: Great performances, rumbustious comic set pieces, a sprinkling of romance and enough heart-felt sentiment to draw a contented grin.

Screenwriter Bill Kelly affectionately pokes fun at Disney’s back catalogue of fables (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White et al), contrasting the idealism of the animated world with the cynicism and shattered dreams of 21st Century reality.

When the two collide, it’s hysterical.

Thus, when the vivacious heroine sings for some animal pals to help her clean a New York apartment, her call is answered by rats, cockroaches and pigeons.

In the colourful, hand-drawn kingdom she calls home, Giselle (voiced by Adams) is poised to marry her sweetheart, dashing Prince Edward (Marsden), except his scheming mother, Queen Nerissa (Sarandon), is dead set against the union.

In time-honoured tradition, Nerissa pushes poor Giselle down a well and transports the girl into the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple, where Giselle (now flesh and blood, and still played by Adams) meets dishy divorce lawyer Robert (Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan (Covey).

Meanwhile, Prince Edward follows Giselle into the real world, unaware that the Queen’s henchman Nathaniel (Spall) is at large in the city, armed with poisoned apples.

Enchanted is an absolute delight, with laughs and tears aplenty for audiences of all ages, and a couple of fantastically overblown musical numbers including a spectacular in Central Park. Adams plays her role with boundless charm, immune to the rage or despair which seems to blight New York City and its loveless denizens. Dempsey is the perfect love interest and Spall and Sarandon ramp up the hiss-boo factor as panto villains. Enchanted you certainly will be.

NO SWEARING; NO SEX; NO VIOLENCE