Giselle lives in a magical fairytale world where woodland creatures are her best friends and she is just waiting to be swept off her feet by her prince charming. But when Prince Edward appears, his wicked stepmother sees to it that they will never live happily ever after. Instead she casts a spell that sends Giselle to our world; modern-day Manhattan where she discovers that not everything is as sweet as she thinks. Here she meets cynical divorce lawyer Robert, who at first assumes her to be a nut before beginning to fall for her. But problems arise when Prince Edward comes looking for the girl that has been promised to her and the evil queen hasn't finished with her either…

The director clearly loves his characters and as a result the majority of the performances (particularly Amy Adams as Giselle) fizz with energy. Nothing can be too big or silly. The real-world interpretations of Giselle's actions lead to some decent comedy, such as a woman's cry of "It's trying to chew her face off!" when the princess is being nuzzled by her chipmunk friend Pip. You can also feel Robert's embarrassment as he is dragged through a musical theatre number. Lima's grasp of the absurd (everyone in Central Park joining in a song-and-dance number and the local vermin being employed as helpers, amongst other things) sells the comedy, as does his timing. He knows when to cut a gag off in its prime, which keeps the slapstick sharp and stops the characters from being too annoying. It makes for a snappy pace that makes the film feel shorter than a hundred-and-seven minutes. But this being a Disney movie, the director does over-egg the sentiment at times, making Giselle and Robert's romance a touch sickly and the happy ending a foregone conclusion. However, there's enough sugar to keep little girls sweet and the film is sufficiently subversive to keep adults engaged, making this an ideal family movie.

The characterisation is simplistic; Giselle is a complete innocent and an absolute romantic. Robert is a cynic trying to do the best for his daughter. Said little girl is of course smart and adorable. Robert's fiancée is ambitious but mismatched with him. Prince Edward is a buffoon, his stepmother Queen Narissa is evil and her lackey Nathaniel is a toadying weasel. The dialogue is sharper than you might expect from a family film and much of it can be played cheerfully tongue-in-cheek.

Patrick Dempsey is a good foil to Adams as divorce lawyer Robert. Obviously his performance is more rooted in reality and he comes across as tired, grumpy, stern and cynical. But he is human and has nice warm chemistry with his female co-star. This is in stark contrast to James Marsden's pantomime acting as the irredeemably cheesy Prince Edward - a condescending, stupid, egotistical, foppish buffoon. Marsden goes at the part with gusto and clearly isn't afraid of making a fool of himself. He also has a fine singing voice that is used to great comic effect.

Composer Alan Menken knows a thing or two about the conventions for music in Disney films, having written a fair few scores for the likes of "Beauty and the Beast", "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin". So it's nice to see he doesn't take himself too seriously with numbers like "Happy Little Working Song". It features the lyrics; "Singing as we fetch the detergent box, Or the smelly shirts and stinky socks" and refers to the rats and pigeons helping out "even though you're vermin…" But he isn't averse to being sappy with the likes of "That's How You Know" and completely cheesy in "True Love's Kiss". His incidental music tends towards the OTT, opening the film with overblown fairytale chorals and cheesy flutes and woodwinds. The wedding theme for Edward and Giselle's nuptial is dreadfully florid and her entrance to the real world is accompanied by big brass and chasing strings, before we get a huge ethereal chorus for Times Square. Almost every time Amy Adams appears, we hear another Disney theme. Edward warrants his own ludicrous heroic theme and Queen Narissa's entrance is preceded by a suitably evil chorus and big orchestral motifs. It works as a kitsch soundtrack, though I could have done without the dreadfully naff ballads that occasionally appear.