by The Film Blogger

Created on: September 06, 2009   Last Updated: September 07, 2009

Enchanted's opening moments serve as a wonderful hark back to the classic animation of yesteryear, and even as someone not terribly fond of grand musical interludes, I was frankly taken aback and very much, dare I say, enchanted by this film.

The premise is such - Giselle (Amy Adams), soon to be Princess, is on the lookout for love in Prince Edward (James Marsden), whilst the evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) wishes to foil this plan to retain her prestige. The setup for Enchanted is unoriginal, but it has been so long since we have seen this dynamic in any sort of animated form that it is an instant win for director Kevin Lima.

Whilst the opening animated sequence borrows from Snow White (among other Disney classics) in many ways, the meat of the film is unlike anything else that Disney have cooked up over the years. Through the Queen's meticulous scheme, Giselle becomes banished to a world where there are no happy endings - the real world.

As the film transforms from animation to live action, enter the gloriously dolled-up Amy Adams, traipsing around New York City in a gigantic white dress, entirely oblivious to what is going on around her. Enchanted is a classic out of towner in the big city story with a fantastical twist. The real world is a colossal culture shock to Giselle, as she learns upon being mugged (in hilarious fashion) by a homeless man.

Soon enough, she meets Robert, played by Patrick Dempsey, who, along with the majority of the cast of the horrendous Grey's Anatomy, I had near enough written off. Nonetheless, Giselle, who is simply looking to find her way home, becomes embroiled in Robert's life, and frankly, with her high-pitched voice and snazzy dress sense, who could blame Robert for thinking that she had escaped from the local asylum?

In perhaps one of the film's few weak points of development, Robert allows Giselle to sleep at his place despite his previous trepidation, although this is very much his character all over he buckles to her charms, and says more about Robert as a character than any sort of weak scriptwriting.

From this point, Prince Edward and his trusty chipmunk sidekick arrive on the scene to rescue Giselle. It becomes evident from James Marsden's first live-action scene in this film that he had great fun with this role, hurling himself into it completely with a rare energy seen nowadays. As with his memorable turn in this year's Hairspray, Marsden shows his knack for these melodramatic, charismatic roles, and moreover, who

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