ENCHANTED

Written by Hombre Divertido

Though poorly marketed, Disney proved with Meet the Robinsons that they could still make a movie that would be enjoyable for children, and entertaining for adults.

Like a bright shiny new toy, Enchanted is sure to keep children busy for the one hour and forty-seven minutes it is on the screen, but adults will get bored with it quite quickly. At its core, Enchanted is nothing more than a poorly explored "fish out of water" concept. The story lacks depth and continuity and most of the performances are one-dimensional.

The Disney fairytale meets romantic comedy written by Bill Kelly and directed by Kevin Lima features Amy Adams and James Marsden as a Princess and Prince who find themselves transported from their perfect animated lives to the live action of New York City. Adams hits all right beats as Giselle, and though she is sure to join the Disney Princess club, it takes far too long for the character of Giselle to get where we all know she is going. Marsden manages to give the best performance and generates the most laughs.

The biggest disappointment has to be the performance of Patrick Dempsey as the divorce lawyer who comes to the aid of Giselle. Dempsey shows no range and the audience is left to count the amount of times his hairstyle changes within each scene.

Also in the cast is Susan Sarandon who is horribly underutilized as the evil queen. Though her motivation is muddled, her performance is fun, and the film needed more of her and less of Timothy Spall, who, though he looks the part of the queen’s flunky, gives a forced performance.

This film had a great opening weekend, and it will always play well to the young, but the plot will leave adults asking far too many questions, and fundamentally this new toy is not as bright and shiny as it should be. The animated sequences are not as vibrant as they should be, and the live action sequences are visually awkward and seem thrown together.

Disney created a fun movie for kids, but they could have easily filled out the story and utilized more opportunities presented by the concept, and created a more well-rounded film.

Recommendation: There are just too many unanswered questions and unexplored opportunities here. Take the kids and leave your brain in the car, or just wait for the DVD and head for the other room when the kids cue it up.