Enchanted DVD > Reviews > Once Upon A Time

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	great plot, original
Disadvantages:	-

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Being in my twenties, I have not really watched a Disney film in a long time, well apart from High School Musical films but I mean animated. There hasn't been a lot of good animated films to make me want to go see it so that is part of the reason why I have turned to liking action films and romantic comedies and the odd horror film. Lately, I have been thinking to myself though that it's sad that films are sometimes not what they used to be, as much as special effects can make a film they can also ruin a film and a lot of films these days are about how much money and effects can be put on them rather than a pure great plot. This is why I was very surprised with Enchanted, being a Disney film I was thinking it might be cheesy but I was proved wrong.

The film begins with us seeing a forest and a princess living in it, her name is Giselle (Amy Adams) and the land is Andalasia which is a fairytale land. She is meant to represent a typical princess but reminds me of Snow White and Cinderella; she talks to the animals and sings about meeting her true love who she has built a statue of in hopes of one day meeting him. As she sings, somewhere in the forest a Prince Edward (James Marsden) hears this song and has to find who is singing this same song he was. Once they meet they fall in love and are engaged to be married the next day. However, not all goes to plan as Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), doesn't want Giselle to marry her son so she can remain Queen so sends Giselle through a portal to a land where there are no happily ever afters which ends up being New York City.

As Giselle arrives out of a hole in the middle of Times Square she is a bit in shock of where she is as she has never seen anything like it and she is still in her big wedding dress while people are pushing her about. Giselle soon meets Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter while she is trying to get into a palace which is the signage on a building. He is a divorce lawyer and is seeing a woman but has not proposed yet. He cannot believe Giselle at first he thinks she isn't right in the head but his daughter really believes she is a princess and she sees her getting all of New York's animals to help her clean the apartment too. As the film goes on Giselle tries to adapt what she has learned from Andalasia to New York life while she waits for Edward to arrive and rescue her.

The film is very cleverly done how animated is mixed with real life in the same scenes. What I really like about this film is it is such a feel good film and is one of those scenarios which is odd but what if a Disney character did come to the real world and it is all answered very cleverly. The songs and dance routines are all very well put together and happy with that Disney sound to it but make you want to sing along. The way Giselle makes her outfits out of any fabrics in Robert's house is really funny and how she doesn't understand love in the real world because she just assumes everything is happy all of the time and doesn't even know what dating is.

The people chosen to act in this film were very well picked. Amy Adams who plays Giselle is just perfect as she has that way of fitting into what you'd expect a real life Disney princess to be and she does the voice so well and her mannerisms. Also half of the time she was acting to things that weren't there which was very believable and she was just such a likeable character who really makes the film. Patrick Dempsey as the character of Robert I also liked he was just a divorce lawyer at first who thought his life was god until he meets Giselle and learns so much from her and they both help each other out making a great friendship which is nice.

Susan Sarandon is great in the part of Queen Narissa, so much so that I didn't even recognise it was her until I watched the special features. She is evil and is very good at playing this part and is a typical Disney Queen but again reminds me just like the one in Snow White which she is definitely based on. I had no idea James Marsden played Prince Edward and thought he was good in the part, he wore the prince outfit well and with the floppy hair fit the part and it was good to see him in this different role and he was funny in it. He definitely chose an unusual role but pulled it off and again was a great character here.

This film was brilliant and one for the family and people of any ages. I hadn't purchased the DVD but watched this at a friend's house and would definitely buy the DVD now as it passed so quickly and tied everything up well and I just felt it was such a breath of fresh air for a plot and nice to see something different.

The film lasts approximately 107 minutes and is a PG certificate. It can be purchased on Amazon for £11.98 or Play.com for £11.99 with free delivery.

The special features on the DVD are really good. I watched the Fantasy Comes to Life one which is basically when the behind the scenes workers talk about the music on the film and how it was thought up. It also has the cast members speaking about how they did the scenes when things weren't really there like the New York views or the animals in the apartment and how they tackled these obstacles. It was very interesting and made me realise just how much work had gone into the film.

The Bloopers is self explanatory it was very short though but was just a few mistakes from filming this movie which were quite good.

One other feature is the music video by Carrie Underwood of the song 'Ever Ever After'.

Of course there are also the Deleted Scenes but I didn't watch these.

The official website for the film to view the trailer is http://www2.disney.co.uk/DisneyMovies/enchanted/ where there are also games, videos and downloads and much more.