Enchanted

Half of the world's population, give or take a few million, should have watched at least one Disney movie in their lifetime. A lot of those can even say that they grew up with them, with those ever-present talking animals and singing protagonists taking up most of VHS movie shelves of their childhood. Walt Disney and his cohorts have made kids-at-heart laugh, cry, and ponder over their wonderful animated films, with good triumphing over evil.

In today's world, we don't often see that kind of innocence and sincerity in movies anymore, even ones made for children. There always seems to be sexual innuendo, violence, and foul language, or all of the above, even if they are merely implied. Sure, we may be amused at these things and think of them as part of the entertainment that sells, but deep inside us perhaps we've been longing for good old Disney to bring smiles to our faces once more.

And voila! One trip to the cinema and a peek at trailers reveals the coming of Enchanted, another Disney princess movie promising a honest-to-goodness storyline, musical numbers, that light feeling after watching a well-made film, and above all, mixing animation with live action. Surely it has been more than anticipated by several thousand Disney fans, and when it finally started showing, they flocked to the cinemas with popcorn in their hands and eagerness in their eyes.

Enchanted begins as an animated movie, with a maiden named Giselle singing to her animal friends about her wish for true love's kiss. The creatures promptly reply in tune too, and cue a little troll dilemma and Giselle ends up being rescued by Prince Edward, who declares that they should be married the following morning.

On the wedding day, Edward's stepmother, Queen Narissa, is revealed to have an evil plan to get rid of Giselle. Why? Because if her stepson married, his bride would take over her throne. How? By tricking her into looking at a wishing fountain, which turns out to be a portal to a New York sewer. Now comes the live action part.

Poor Giselle lands in the middle of a cruel, unforgiving city, with meanness radiating off everyone, and, in short, gets to have the mother of all bad days. She tries in vain to look for Edward's castle and instead meets Robert, a divorce lawyer who is the epitome of practicality. The following scenes show that he instead may just be her real prince, but there are two things everyone seems to be forgetting: Nancy, Robert's fiance, and two, the fact that Edward went to New York in his search-and-rescue mission for Giselle. And that Narissa is still after Giselle's throat.

Without giving away too much spoilers, amidst all the cheesy yet undeniably lovable drama, the sudden song-and-dance numbers that are relentlessly entertaining, adults that think like children and countless Disney spoofs, parodies and cameos and hints of the company poking fun at itself, Enchanted delivers a happy ending that's both cliche and satisfying.

With an artfully picked cast that delivers their characters nothing short of perfect, a soundtrack that would stay in your head long after you finish the movie, and a plot that seems to be suspenseful and predictable at the same time, Enchanted has an endearing quality that makes it stand out as a happy little speck in our often joyless world.