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Enchanted (2007)
Director: Kevin Lima
Movie review
From Time Out New York
We’ve seen this before: A lovely cartoon maiden, straight from Don Bluth’s sketch pads, sings while friendly animals scurry about. A dashing prince appears on the scene (“We shall be married in the morning!”), then the film’s villainess transports the lass to a place “where there are no happily-ever-afters.” Any Middle American will tell you that means New York, and our formerly animated young lady (Adams) is plunged into a live-action Horror City. When she calls for furry friends to help clean an apartment, it’s CGI rats and roaches that whistle while they work. For a split second, you wonder if someone slipped a Mickey into the House of Mouse’s water supply and made some joyously subversive gem while the brass was asleep.
No such luck. Despite the benign No-Tomorrowland Gotham our goody-two-shoes heroine has been thrust into, it’s still just Disney business as usual. Her pure, romantic demeanor wins over a cynical McDreamy lawyer (Dempsey). The clueless prince (Marsden) attacks midtown buses. Naturally, the movie’s evil stepmom (Sarandon)—apparently auditioning for a Broadway adaptation of Aelita: Queen of Mars—comes brandishing the requisite poison apples. And while no one expects the studio to slaughter its own cash cows by actually deconstructing fairy-tale mythology, this bland bedtime story doesn’t even offer an entertaining post-Shrek take on the original. Even Adams, gamely attacking her archetypal role with glee, can’t fight back the saccharine tide. For a movie filled with magical occurences, Enchanted commits a cardinal sin: It forgets to cast a spell on the audience.
Author: David Fear
Time Out New York Issue 634: November 22-28, 2007
User reviews of this film
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- Il Était Une Fois said...
- Posted on Jun 14 2008 21:01 David Fear sure spurts rubbish out a lot when he wants to explain something. I mean, even if he didn't like the film, he could've said it straight forward without twisting his words and pretending he knows better than kevin lima. Admit it, we all know the ending lacked something but in contrast to the poor manner and the pain david fear took to go bombastic in his review, i would say enchanted is way, way much better.
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- john said...
- Posted on May 29 2008 01:50 This was a great send off to a era of Disney Fairytales with brilliant allusions, especially with the arrival of CGI and pixar. On a closing note may god bless Rachael Adams for stealing my heart.
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- Tomas said...
- Posted on May 04 2008 11:05 The movie was 100% great!!! U stupid critics have nothing better to do!
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- Enchanted said...
- Posted on Apr 10 2008 02:27 Clearly, Mr. Fear lacks the intellect necessary to understand the motivation behind the film.
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- Tamatha said...
- Posted on Apr 01 2008 17:41 I know that a lot of people enjoyed this movie but i absolutly hated it. The only reason I could find to finish the movie was the fact that my professor was grading on it. The ending left somthing missed and the begging was dismal. I expect a certain level of class from disney, but this was pathetic. Come on guys give me something I will love!
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- Hot Little Tot said...
- Posted on Mar 21 2008 16:57 Enchanted Was a good movie but the ending sucked I was left in the dust wanting to see more!!
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- daddy's little girl said...
- Posted on Mar 21 2008 16:56 I think your right but you don't need to do some long as* review just say it loud pround and SIMPLE!!
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- Leonidas said...
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Posted on Jan 24 2008 18:55
I think David Fear must calibrate his critics ability for good sake,
for given this lovely movie only 2 stars and such a critic of his. - Report as inappropriate
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- baby girl said...
- Posted on Dec 17 2007 16:21 ded good u hav to go it is amazin the lad is ded fit
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Cast & crew
Director: Kevin Lima
Producer: Barry Josephson, Barry Sonnenfeld
Cast: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, Rachel Covey full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure, Children's, Comedy, Fantasy
Rated: PG
Duration: 107 mins
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