Enchanted (film)

For the 1942 Czechoslovak drama film, see Okouzlená.
Enchanted

Theatrical release poster by John Alvin.
Directed by Kevin Lima
Produced by
Written by
Starring
Narrated by Julie Andrews
Music by Alan Menken
Cinematography Don Burgess
Edited by
Production
company
Walt Disney Pictures
Sonnenfeld Josephson Entertainment
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Release dates
  • October 20, 2007 (2007-10-20) (London Film Festival)
  • November 21, 2007 (2007-11-21) (United States)
Running time
 107 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $85 million[1]
Box office $340.5 million[2]

Enchanted is a 2007 American musical live-action/animated fantasy romantic comedy film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures with New York Academy Barry Sonnenfeld and Josephson Entertainment. Written by Bill Kelly and directed by Kevin Lima, the film stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, Rachel Covey, and Susan Sarandon. The plot focuses on Giselle, an archetypal Disney Princess, who is forced from her traditional animated world of Andalasia into the live-action world of New York City. Enchanted was the first Disney film to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, instead of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

The film is both an homage to, and a self-parody of, Disney's animated features, making numerous references to Disney's past and future works through the combination of live-action film-making, traditional animation and computer-generated imagery. It marks the return of traditional animation to a Disney feature film after the company's decision to move entirely to computer animation in 2004. Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who had written songs for previous Disney films, produced the songs of Enchanted, with Menken also composing its score.

The animation sequences were produced at James Baxter Animation in Pasadena. Filming of the live action segments took place around New York City. It premiered on October 20, 2007, at the London Film Festival before its wide release on November 21, 2007, in the United States. Enchanted was well-received critically, established Adams as a leading lady, and earned more than $340 million worldwide at the box office.[2] It won the 2007 Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Motion Picture, received two nominations at the 65th Golden Globe Awards and three Best Original Song nominations at the 80th Academy Awards.

Plot

In "Andalasia", an animated fairy tale world devoid of problems, in which there are talking animals and "happy endings", Queen Narissa frets that her stepson Prince Edward will soon find his true love, which means that Narissa's position on the throne would be taken over. One day, Edward and Nathaniel, Queen Narissa's henchman, successfully capture a troll, but Edward rides off to the cottage of a girl named Giselle after hearing her sing about "true love". Knowing Narissa's wishes, Nathaniel sets the troll free to get rid of Giselle, but Edward saves her just in time. When they meet, they instantly fall in love and plan to get married the following day.

However, Narissa had witnessed everything, so she meets Giselle while the peasant runs off to get wed to Edward. Narissa, disguised as an old hag, tricks Giselle and exiles her to the real world of Earth by falling through a portal that is under a sewer in New York City's Times Square. Meanwhile, a divorce lawyer named Robert prepares to propose to his longtime girlfriend Nancy, much to the dismay of Morgan, his young daughter. While Robert and Morgan are heading home, they see a confused Giselle trying to enter a brightly lit pink castle on a billboard which she has mistaken for the Andalasian palace. Luckily, Robert rescues her after she falls off, and he begrudgingly permits Giselle to stay at his apartment at the insistence of his daughter. At their apartment, Giselle sits on a couch just so she could go to sleep because she yawns.

Pip, Giselle's chipmunk friend from Andalasia, witnessed the events of Giselle's fall through the portal and alerts Edward to it, so they embark on a rescue mission. Edward chances upon Giselle's whereabouts via a TV news report of her being interviewed. However, he is unaware that Nathaniel, who had been dispatched to New York City by Narissa, is trying to eliminate Pip after the chipmunk discovered a poisoned-apple plot that Narissa and Nathaniel had concocted to kill Giselle. Meanwhile, Robert decides to keep Giselle close by, given her naivete and lack of means to survive on her own. Giselle questions the divorce lawyer about his relationship with Nancy, and decides to help the pair reconcile by sending flowers and tickets to the "King and Queen's Costume Ball". An angered Narissa, who has continued to spy on events, makes plans to come to New York City after Nathaniel failed twice to poison Giselle.

As they spend more time together, Giselle and Robert begin to develop feelings for each other while Edward continues to look for Giselle, eventually finding her at Robert's apartment. While Edward is eager to take Giselle home to Andalasia and finally marry, she insists that they should first go on a date, still conflicted about her feelings. Giselle promises to return to Andalasia after ending their date at the Kings and Queen's Ball, which Robert and Nancy are also attending. Narissa arrives in New York and learns that Giselle is at the Ball. Giselle and Robert finally dance as if they were the only couple in the room. From afar, Edward and Nancy sense the attraction between Giselle and Robert, and also discover a mutual attraction between themselves. At the climax of the ball, Narissa appears as the old hag and offers the last poisoned apple to Giselle, who is so bereft at the thought of leaving her true love behind that she takes a bite and falls to the floor unconscious.

Nathaniel, sick of being manipulated by Narissa, reveals their plot. Robert realizes that true love's kiss is the only force that will break the poison apple's spell before midnight. After Edward's kiss fails to wake Giselle, he prompts Robert to do so instead. When Robert kisses her, Giselle awakens as the clock strikes twelve, but Narissa uses this moment of distraction to break free from Nathaniel's grasp and transform into a giant blue dragon. When Robert shields Giselle after Narissa threatens to kill her, the evil queen takes Robert hostage instead. Giselle takes Edward's sword then follows Narissa out the window and up to the top of the Woolworth Building. With Pip's help, Giselle successfully defeats Narissa, who falls off of the Woolsworth Building and lands in the street, disappearing in sparkles as she dies. After almost falling off the roof themselves, Robert and Giselle share a passionate kiss and embrace, while Edward and Nancy, finding themselves in love, depart to Andalasia via manhole.

A montage of the protagonist's new life follows, showing Edward heading back home to Andalasia and he and Nancy marrying, Giselle running a successful fashion business and forming a happy family with Robert and Morgan, while Nathaniel becomes a best-selling author on Earth, as does Pip in Andalasia.

Cast

Several actresses who have played characters in Disney films have cameos:

Production

Development

The initial script of Enchanted, written by Bill Kelly, was bought by Disney's Touchstone Pictures and Sonnenfeld/Josephson Productions for a reported sum of $450,000 in September 1997.[14] However, it was thought to be unsuitable for Walt Disney Pictures because it was "a racier R-rated movie".[15] To the frustration of Kelly, the screenplay was rewritten several times, first by Rita Hsiao and then by Todd Alcott.[14] The film was initially scheduled to be released in 2002 with Rob Marshall as director but he withdrew due to "creative differences" between the producers and him.[16] In 2001, director Jon Turteltaub was set to direct the film but he left soon after, later working with Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer on the National Treasure franchise. Adam Shankman became the film's director in 2003, while Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle were hired by Disney to rewrite the script once again.[17] At the time, Disney considered offering the role of Giselle to Kate Hudson or Reese Witherspoon.[14] However, the project did not take off.

On May 25, 2005, Variety reported that Kevin Lima had been hired as director and Bill Kelly had returned to the project to write a new version of the script.[18] Lima worked with Kelly on the script to combine the main plot of Enchanted with the idea of a "loving homage" to Disney's heritage. He created visual storyboard printouts that covered the story of Enchanted from beginning to end, which filled an entire floor of a production building.[19] After Lima showed them to Dick Cook, the chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, he received the green light for the project and a budget of $85 million.[1][13] Lima began designing the world of Andalasia and storyboarding the movie before a cast was chosen to play the characters. After the actors were hired, he was involved in making the final design of the movie, which made sure the animated characters look like their real-life counterparts.[7]

Filming

Enchanted is the first feature-length Disney live-action/traditional animation hybrid since Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, though the traditionally animated characters do not interact in the live-action environment in the same method as they did in Roger Rabbit; however, there are some scenes where live-action characters share the screen with two-dimensional animated characters, for example, a live-action Nathaniel communicating with a cel-drawn Narissa, who is in a cooking pot. The film uses two aspect ratios; it begins in 2.35:1 when the Walt Disney Pictures logo and Enchanted storybook are shown, and then switches to a smaller 1.85:1 aspect ratio for the first animated sequence. The film switches back to 2.35:1 when it becomes live-action and never switches back, even for the remainder of the cartoon sequences. When this movie was aired on televised networks, the beginning of the movie (minus the logo and opening credits) was shown in standard definition; the remainder of the movie was shown in high definition when it becomes live-action. Lima oversaw the direction of both the live-action and animation sequences, which were being produced at the same time.[7] Enchanted took almost two years to complete. The animation took about a year to finish while the live-action scenes, which commenced filming on location in New York City during the summer of 2006 and were completed during the animation process, were shot in 72 days.[7]

Animation

Out of the film's 107 minutes of running time, ten of the approximately 13 minutes of animation are at the beginning of the film. Lima tried to "cram every single piece of Disney iconic imagery" that he could into the first ten minutes, which were done in traditional cel animation (in contrast to computer-generated 3-D animation) as a tribute to past Disney fairy tale films such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.[7] It was the first Disney film theatrically released in America to feature traditional cel animation since Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005). This film, although quite different in terms of plot from any previous Disney film, also contained obvious homages to other Disney films of the distant past, such as Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, Bon Voyage!, and Savage Sam. As most of Disney's cel animation artists were laid off after the computer graphics boom of the late 1990s,[20] the 13 minutes of animation were not done in-house but by the independent Pasadena-based company James Baxter Animation, which was started by noted lead animator James Baxter. Baxter had previously worked for Walt Disney Animation Studios, bringing to life many memorable Disney animated characters like Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Rafiki (The Lion King), and Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame).[6][21]

Although Lima wanted the animation to be nostalgic, he wanted Enchanted to have a style of its own. Baxter's team decided to use Art Nouveau as a starting point. For Giselle, the hand drawn animated character had to be "a cross between Amy Adams and a classic Disney princess. And not a caricature." Seeing Giselle as "a forest girl, an innocent nymph with flowers in her hair" and "a bit of a hippie", the animators wanted her to be "flowing, with her hair and clothes. Delicate."[22] For Prince Edward, Baxter's team "worked the hardest on him to make him look like the actor" because princes "in these kinds of movies are usually so bland."[22] Many prototypes were made for Narissa as Baxter's team wanted her face to "look like Susan Sarandon. And the costumes had to align closely to the live-action design."[22]

To maintain continuity between the two media, Lima brought in costume designer Mona May during the early stages of the film's production so the costumes would be aligned in both the animated and live-action worlds. He also shot some live-action footage of Amy Adams as Giselle for the animators to use as reference, which also allowed the physical movement of the character to match in both worlds. Test scenes completed by the animators were shown to the actors, allowing them to see how their animated self would move.[7]

Live-action

Timothy Spall and James Marsden during filming in Columbus Circle.

Principal photography began in April 2006 and ended in July 2006.[23] Because of the sequence setting, the live action scenes are filmed in New York City. However, shooting in New York became problematic as it was in a "constant state of new stores, scaffolding and renovation".[24]

The first scene in New York, which features Giselle emerging from a manhole in the middle of Times Square, was filmed on location in the center of the square. Because of the difficulties in controlling the crowd while filming in Times Square, general pedestrians were featured in the scene with hired extras placed in the immediate foreground.[25] Similarly, a crowd gathered to watch as James Marsden and Timothy Spall filmed their scenes in Times Square.[26] However, the scene Lima found the most challenging to shoot was the musical number, "That's How You Know", in Central Park. The five-minute scene took 17 days to finish due to the changing weather, which allowed only seven sunny days for the scene to be filmed.[7] The filming was also hampered at times by Patrick Dempsey's fans.[13] The scene was choreographed by John O'Connell, who had worked on Moulin Rouge beforehand, and included 300 extras and 150 dancers.[7]

Many scenes were filmed at Steiner Studios, which provided the three large stages that Enchanted needed at the same facility.[1] Other outdoor locations included the Brooklyn Bridge and The Paterno, an apartment building with a curved, heavily embellished, ivory-colored façade located on the corner of Riverside Drive and 116th Street, which is the residence of the film's characters Robert and Morgan.

Costume design

Giselle's wedding dress on display at El Capitan Theatre.

All the costumes in the film were designed by Mona May, who had previously worked on Clueless, The Wedding Singer and The Haunted Mansion. To create the costumes, May spent one year in pre-production working with animators and her costume department of 20 people, while she contracted with five outside costume shops in Los Angeles and New York City.[27] She became involved in the project during the time when the animators are designing the faces and bodies of the characters as they had to "translate the costumes from two-dimensional drawings to live-action human proportion".[28] Her goal was to keep the designs "Disneyesque to the core but bring a little bit of fashion in there and humor and make it something new".[28] However, May admitted this was difficult "because they're dealing with iconic Disney characters who have been in the psyche of the viewing audience for so long".[29]

For the character of Giselle, her journey to becoming a real woman is reflected in her dresses, which become less fairy tale-like as the film progresses. Her wedding dress at the beginning of the film directly contrasts her modern gown at the end of the film.[27] The wedding dress served to provide a "humongous contrast to the flat drawings" and to accentuate the image of a Disney Princess.[28] In order to make the waist look small, the sleeves are designed to be "extremely pouffy" and the skirt to be as big as possible, which included a metal hoop that holds up 20 layers of petticoats and ruffles.[29] Altogether, 11 versions of the dress are made for filming, each comprised 200 yards (183 m) of silk satin and other fabric, and weighed approximately 40 pounds (18 kg).[27][29] On the experience of wearing the wedding dress, Amy Adams described it as "grueling" since "the entire weight was on her hips, so occasionally it felt like she was in traction".[30]

Unlike Giselle, Prince Edward does not adapt to the real world and James Marsden, who plays Edward, had only one costume designed for him. May's aim was to try "not to lose Marsden in the craziness of the outfit... where he still looks handsome".[28] The costume also included padding in the chest, buttocks and crotch, which gave Marsden the "same exaggerated proportions as an animated character"[27] and "posture – his back is straight, the sleeves are up and never collapse".[28]

May was delighted that Lima "went for something more fashion-forward" with Susan Sarandon's Queen Narissa.[27] She decided to make her look like a "runway lady",[28] wearing something that is "still Disney" but also "high fashion, like something John Galliano or Thierry Mugler might design".[29] Since Narissa appears in three media: hand drawn animation, live-action and computer animation, May had to make sure that the costume would be the same throughout in terms of "color, shape and texture".[29] The costume for Narissa consisted of a leather corset and skirt, which looked "reptilian", as well as a cape.[29] Working with the animators, May incorporated parts of the dragon's form into the costume; the cape was designed to look like wings, the layers of the skirt wrap around like a tail and a crown that would turn into horns during Narissa's transformation into a dragon.[27]

Music

The film's score was written by accomplished songwriter and composer Alan Menken, who has worked on a number of Disney films previously. Fellow composer Stephen Schwartz wrote the lyrics for six songs, also composed by Menken. Menken and Schwartz previously worked together on the songs for Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Menken became involved with the film in the early stages of the film's development and invited Schwartz to resume their collaboration.[31] They began the songwriting process by searching for the right moments in the story in which a song moment was allowed. Schwartz found that it was easier to justify situations in which the characters would burst into songs in Enchanted than in other live-action musicals as its concept "allowed the characters to sing in a way that was completely integral to the plot of the story."[31] The three songs Giselle sings contain references to earlier Disney films. The first song played in the film, "True Love's Kiss", was written to be "a send-up of, and an homage to, the style of those Disney animated features", namely, "I'm Wishing" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) and "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (Cinderella), during which Disney heroines sing about the joy of being loved.[32] It posed a challenge for Menken and Schwartz because of the "many preconceptions with that number"; it had to be reflective of the era of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella.[31] Accordingly, Amy Adams performed the first song in an operetta style in contrast to the Broadway style of the later songs.[33]

Both "Happy Working Song" and "That's How You Know" also pay tributes to past Disney songs. "Happy Working Song" pays a lyrical homage to such songs as "Whistle While You Work" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), "The Work Song" (Cinderella) "A Spoonful of Sugar" (Mary Poppins) and “Making Christmas” (The Nightmare Before Christmas), and a musical homage to the Sherman Brothers (with a self-parodic "Alan Menken style" middle eight). "That's How You Know" is a self-parody of Menken's compositions for his Disney features, specifically such big production numbers as "Under the Sea" (The Little Mermaid) and "Be Our Guest" (Beauty and the Beast).[32] To achieve this, Schwartz admitted he had to "push it a little bit further in terms of choices of words or certain lyrics" while maintaining "the classic Walt Disney sensibility".[31] However, Menken noted that the songs he has written for Disney have always been "a little tongue-in-cheek".[31] As the film progresses, the music uses more contemporary styles, which is heard through the adult ballad "So Close" and the country/pop number "Ever Ever After" (sung by Carrie Underwood as a voice-over).[32]

Out of the six completed songs written and composed by Menken and Schwartz, five remained in the finished film. The title song, "Enchanted," a duet featuring Idina Menzel and James Marsden, was the only song of Menken's and Schwartz's authorship and composition that was deleted from the movie.[10]

Effects

The majority of the visual effects shots in Enchanted were done by Tippett Studio in Berkeley, California, who contributed a total of 320 shots. These shots involved virtual sets, environmental effects and CG characters that performed alongside real actors, namely the animated animals during the "Happy Working Song" sequence, Pip and the Narissa dragon during the live action portions of the film. CIS Hollywood was responsible for 36 visual effects shots, which primarily dealt with wire removals and composites. Reel FX Creative Studios did four visual effects shots involving the pop-up book page-turn transitions while Weta Digital did two.[34]

Out of all the animals that appear in the "Happy Working Song" sequence, the only real animals filmed on set were rats and pigeons. The real animals captured on film aided Tippett Studio in creating CG rats and pigeons, which gave dynamic performances such as having pigeons that carried brooms in their beaks and rats that scrubbed with toothbrushes. On the other hand, all the cockroaches were CG characters.[35]

Pip, a chipmunk who can talk in the 2D world of Andalasia, loses his ability to communicate through speech in the real world so he must rely heavily on facial and body gestures. This meant the animators had to display Pip's emotions through performance as well as making him appear like a real chipmunk. The team at Tippett began the process of animating Pip by observing live chipmunks which were filmed in motion from "every conceivable angle", after which they created a photorealistic chipmunk through the use of 3D computer graphics software, Maya and Furrocious.[34] When visual effects supervisor Thomas Schelesny showed the first animation of Pip to director Kevin Lima, he was surprised that he was a looking at CG character and not reference footage.[36] To enhance facial expressions, the modelers gave Pip eyebrows, which real chipmunks do not have.[35] During the filming of scenes in which Pip appears, a number of ways were used to indicate the physical presence of Pip. On some occasions, a small stuffed chipmunk with a wire armature on the inside was placed in the scene. In other situations, a rod with a small marker on the end or a laser pointer would be used to show the actors and cinematographer where Pip is.[34]

Unlike Pip, the Narissa dragon was allowed to be more of a fantasy character while still looking like a living character and a classic Disney villain.[34][36] The CG dragon design was loosely based on a traditional Chinese dragon and Susan Sarandon's live-action witch.[36] When filming the scene which sees the transformation of Narissa from a woman into a dragon, a long pole was used to direct the extras' eyelines instead of a laser pointer. Set pieces were made to move back and forth in addition to having a computer-controlled lighting setup and a repeatable head on the camera that were all synchronized together. In the film's final sequence, in which Narissa climbs the Woolworth Building while clutching Robert in her claws, a greenscreen rig was built to hold Patrick Dempsey in order to film his face and movements. The rig was a "puppeteering" approach that involved a robotic arm being controlled by three different floor effects artists.[34]

Release

The film was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to 3,730 theaters in the United States.[37] It was distributed worldwide by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International to over 50 territories around the world[38] and topped the box office in several countries including the United Kingdom and Italy.[39][40] It is the first movie to be released under the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures name following the retirement of the previous Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

Merchandising

Disney had originally planned to add Giselle to the Disney Princess line-up, as was shown at a 2007 Toy Fair where the Giselle doll was featured with packaging declaring her with Disney Princess status, but decided against it when they realized they would have to pay for lifelong rights to Amy Adams' image.[41] While Giselle is not being marketed as one of the Disney Princesses, Enchanted merchandise was made available in various outlets with Adams' animated likeness being used on all Giselle merchandise. Giselle led the 2007 Hollywood Holly-Day Parade at Disney's Hollywood Studios.[42] She was also featured in the 2007 Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade in the Magic Kingdom with the official Disney Princesses.

A video game based on the film was released for Nintendo DS and mobile phones in addition to a Game Boy Advance title, Enchanted: Once Upon Andalasia, which is a prequel to the film, about Giselle and Pip rescuing Andalasia from a magic spell.

Home media

Enchanted was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on March 18, 2008, in the United States. While Enchanted topped the DVD sales chart on the week of its release in the United States, narrowly defeating the DVD sales of I Am Legend, the Blu-ray Disc sales of I Am Legend were nearly four times the number of Blu-ray Disc sales of Enchanted.[43] The DVD was released in United Kingdom and Europe on April 7, 2008,[44] and in Australia on May 21, 2008.[45]

The bonus features included on both the DVD and Blu-ray Disc are "Fantasy Comes to Life", a three-part behind-the-scenes feature including "Happy Working Song", "That's How You Know" and "A Blast at the Ball"; six deleted scenes with brief introductions by director Kevin Lima; bloopers; "Pip's Predicament: A Pop-Up Adventure", a short in pop-up storybook style; and Carrie Underwood's music video for "Ever Ever After".[46] Featured on the Blu-ray disc only is a trivia game entitled "The D Files" that runs throughout the movie with high scoring players given access to videos "So Close", "Making Ever Ever After" and "True Love's Kiss".[47] In the United States, certain DVDs at Target stores contain a bonus DVD with a 30-minute long making-of documentary titled Becoming Enchanted: A New Classic Comes True. This DVD is also sold with certain DVDs at HMV stores in the United Kingdom.

Reception

Box office performance

Enchanted earned $7,967,766 on the day of its release in the United States, placing at #1. It was also placed at #1 on Thanksgiving Day, earning $6,652,198 to bring its two-day total to $14.6 million. The film grossed $14.4 million on the following day, bringing its total haul to $29.0 million placing ahead of other contenders. Enchanted made $34.4 million on the Friday-Sunday period in 3,730 theaters for a per location average of $9,472 and $49.1 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday in 3,730 theaters for a per location average of $13,153.[37] Its earnings over the five-day holiday exceeded projections by $7 million.[48] Ranking as the second-highest Thanksgiving opening after Toy Story 2, which earned $80.1 million over the five-day holiday in 1999, Enchanted is the first film to open at #1 on the Thanksgiving frame in the 21st century.[49]

In its second weekend, Enchanted was also the #1 film, grossing a further $16,403,316 at 3,730 locations for a per theater average of $4,397. It dropped to #2 in its third weekend, with a gross of $10,709,515 in 3,520 theaters for a per theater average of $3,042. It finished its fourth weekend at #4 with a gross of $5,533,884 in 3,066 locations for a per theater average of $1,804. Enchanted earned a gross of $127,807,262 in the United States and Canada as well a total of $340,487,652 worldwide.[2] It was the 15th highest-grossing film worldwide released in 2007.

Critical response

Enchanted received very positive reviews from critics. As of September 2014, the movie review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes had tallied the film at an overall 93% approval rating (based on 187 reviews, with 174 "fresh" and 13 "rotten"),[50] while Metacritic gave it a rating of 75 out of 100 based on 32 reviews.[51] Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film as the ninth best reviewed film in wide release of 2007 and named it the best family film of 2007.[52][53]

Casual head shot of blue-eyed young woman with long reddish-blond hair pulled back.
Amy Adams received praise for her role as Gisele.

Positive reviews praised the film's take on a classic Disney story, its comedy and musical numbers as well as the performance of its lead actress, Amy Adams. Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, describing it as a "heart-winning musical comedy that skips lightly and sprightly from the lily pads of hope to the manhole covers of actuality" and one that "has a Disney willingness to allow fantasy into life".[54] Film critics of Variety and LA Weekly remarked on the film's ability to cater for all ages. LA Weekly described the film as "the sort of buoyant, all-ages entertainment that Hollywood has been laboring to revive in recent years (most recently with Hairspray) but hasn't managed to get right until now",[55] while Todd McCarthy of Variety commented, "More than Disney's strictly animated product, Enchanted, in the manner of the vast majority of Hollywood films made until the '60s, is a film aimed at the entire population – niches be damned. It simply aims to please, without pandering, without vulgarity, without sops to pop-culture fads, and to pull this off today is no small feat."[56] Enchanted was the Broadcast Film Critics Association's choice for Best Family Film of 2007, while Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer named it the 4th best film of 2007.[57]

Rolling Stone, Premiere, USA Today, and The Boston Globe all gave the film three out of four,[58][59][60][61] while Baltimore Sun gave the film a B grade.[62] They cited that although the story is relatively predictable, the way in which the predictability of the film is part of the story, the amazingly extravagant musical numbers, along with the way in which Disney pokes fun at its traditional line of animated movies outweighs any squabbles about storyline or being unsure of what age bracket the film is made for. Michael Sragow of Baltimore Sun remarked that the film's "piquant idea and enough good jokes to overcome its uneven movie-making and uncertain tone",[62] while Claudia Puig of USA Today stated that "though it's a fairly predictable fish-out-of-water tale (actually a princess-out-of-storybook saga), the casting is so perfect that it takes what could have been a ho-hum idea and renders it magical."[60]

Amy Adams herself garnered many favorable reviews. Reviewers praised her singing ability[63][64] and asserted that her performance, which was compared by some to her Academy Award-nominated performance in Junebug, has made Adams a movie star, likening it to Mary Poppins' effect on Julie Andrews' career.[56][61] Similarly, film critics Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips, who gave the film positive reviews on At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, emphasized the effect of Adams' performance on the film with remarks like "Amy Adams is this movie" and "Amy Adams shows how to make a comic cliché work like magic." However, both agreed that the final sequence involving the computer-generated dragon "bogged down" the film.[65]

Empire stated that the film was targeted at children but agreed with other reviewers that the "extremely game cast" was the film's best asset. It gave the film three out of five.[66] TIME gave the film a C-, stating that the film "cannibalizes Walt's vault for jokes" and "fails to find a happy ending that doesn't feel two-dimensional".[67] Similarly, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian commented that the film "assumes a beady-eyed and deeply humourless sentimentality" and that Adams' performance was the "only decent thing in this overhyped family movie covered in a cellophane shrink-wrap of corporate Disney plastic-ness". Bradshaw gave the film two out of five.[68]

Accolades

Awards
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients and nominees Result
Academy Awards[69] February 24, 2008 Best Original Song "Happy Working Song" – Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz Nominated
"So Close" – Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz Nominated
"That's How You Know" – Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz Nominated
Costume Designers Guild[70] January 17, 2008 Excellence in Fantasy Film Mona May Nominated
Critics' Choice Movie Awards[71] January 7, 2008 Best Actress Amy Adams Nominated
Best Film - Family Won
Best Composer Alan Menken Nominated
Best Song That's How You Know - Alan Menken Nominated
Detroit Film Critics Society December 21, 2007 Best Actress Amy Adams Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[72] January 13, 2008 Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Amy Adams Nominated
Best Original Song "That's How You Know" – Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz Nominated
Golden Trailer Awards[73] 2007 Best Animation/Family Feature Film Nominated
Grammy Awards[74] February 8, 2009 Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media "Ever Ever After"- Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz Nominated
"That's How You Know" - Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz Nominated
Motion Picture Sound Editors[75] 2008 Best Sound Editing: Music in a Musical Feature Film Kenneth Karman, Jermey Raub and Joanie Diener Nominated
MTV Movie Awards[76] June 1, 2008 Best Female Performance Amy Adams Nominated
Best Comedic Performance Amy Adams Nominated
Best Kiss Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey Nominated
Ohio Film Critics Association January 11, 2008 Best Actress Amy Adams Runner-up
Phoenix Film Critics Society[77] December 18, 2007 Best Live Action Family Film Won
Satellite Awards[78] December 16, 2007 Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Amy Adams Nominated
Best Visual Effects Thomas Schelesny, Matt Jacobs and Tom Gibbons Nominated
Saturn Awards[79] June 24, 2008 Best Fantasy Film Won
Best Actress Amy Adams Won
Best Music Alan Menken Won
Teen Choice Awards[80] August 4, 2008 Choice Movie: Chick Flick Nominated
Choice Movie Actress: Comedy Amy Adams Nominated
Choice Movie Actor: Comedy James Marsden (also for 27 Dresses) Nominated
Choice Movie: Villain Susan Sarandon Nominated
Utah Film Critics Association December 28, 2007 Best Actress Amy Adams Runner-up
Visual Effects Society[81] February 10, 2008 Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture Thomas Schelesny, Matt Jacobs and Tom Gibbons Nominated

Disney references

According to director Kevin Lima, "thousands" of references are made to past and future works of Disney in Enchanted,[82] which serve as both a parody of and a "giant love letter to Disney classics".[83] It took almost eight years for Walt Disney Studios to greenlight the production of the film because it "was always quite nervous about the tone in particular".[83] As Lima worked with Bill Kelly, the writer, to inject Disney references to the plot, it became "an obsession"; he derived the name of every character as well as anything that needed a name from past Disney films to bring in more Disney references.[4]

While Disney animators have occasionally inserted a Disney character into background shots, for example, Donald Duck appears in a crowd in The Little Mermaid, they have avoided "mingling characters" from other Disney films for fear of weakening their individual mythologies.[83] In Enchanted, characters from past Disney films are openly seen, such as the appearances of Thumper and Flower from Bambi in the 2D animation portion of the film.[83] Disney references are also made through camera work, sets, costumes, music and dialogue. Obvious examples include the use of poisoned apples from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and True Love's Kiss from Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.[12] Dick Cook, the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, admitted that part of the goal of Enchanted was to create a new franchise (through the character of Giselle) and to revive the older ones.[83]

Sequel

In February 2010, Variety reported that Walt Disney Pictures planned to film a sequel with Barry Josephson and Barry Sonnenfeld producing again. Jessie Nelson was attached to write the screenplay and Anne Fletcher to direct. Disney hoped the cast members from the first film would return and for a release as early as 2011.[84]

On January 12, 2011, composer Alan Menken was asked about the sequel in an interview. His reply was, "I’ve heard things but there's nothing yet. I don’t know much about what’s happening with that. Honestly, I don’t know what the studio wants to do next. I presume there will be some future projects for me to work on. I love doing that, I really do. But I’m not frustrated that it isn’t one of them. At the moment I have a lot of stage things happening and I’m busy enough with that, so I really don’t need more on my plate."[85]

On March 28, 2011, in an interview for his latest film, Hop, James Marsden was asked about the sequel.[86]

I don't know. I think that the clock is ticking on that one. Amy Adams and I are both saying, "If there's going to be a sequel, we're not getting any younger." Since we play sort of ageless animated characters. Hopefully we do. That was something really special and I'd love to come back and do another. I've heard the same things you've heard. There's a script out there somewhere and there's talk of it, but I never believe it until I see the script and learned we're making that film. So I don't know. Too many eggs in that basket.

As of July 2014, Disney had hired screenwriters J. David Stem and David N. Weiss to write a script for a sequel and also hired Anne Fletcher to direct the film.[87]

As of September 2015, the sequel was in development under the working title Disenchanted.[88]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Perman, Stacy (July 5, 2007). "A Movie Studio Grows in Brooklyn". BusinessWeek (McGraw-Hill). Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "Enchanted". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
  3. ↑ Fleming, Michael (November 14, 2005). "Disney crowns its princess". Variety. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Blogs | Syfy.co.uk". Scifi.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-08-28.
  5. ↑ Wood, Jennifer M. (November 26, 2007). "Amy Adams Enchants Kevin Lima". MovieMaker (MovieMaker Publishing Co., Inc.). Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Wloszczyna, Susan (November 14, 2007). "Enchanted princess steps out of cartoon, into Manhattan". USA Today. Retrieved January 4, 2008.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Grove, Martin A. (July 5, 2007). "Enchanted enchants with happily ever after romance". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  8. ↑ Gardner, Chris (December 6, 2005). "Marsden to conjure Enchanted prince". Variety. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
  9. 1 2 Carnevale, Rob. "Film interview: Enchanted – James Marsden". Orange. Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  10. 1 2 White, Cindy (November 13, 2007). "No Songs For Enchanted Star". Sci Fi Wire. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
  11. ↑ Roberts, Sheila. "Idina Menzel Interview, Enchanted". MoviesOnline. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  12. 1 2 Wloszczyna, Susan (November 22, 2007). "New Disney princess Giselle has an enchanting royal lineage". USA Today. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
  13. 1 2 3 "Quint dreams about Disney princesses with Enchanted director Kevin Lima". Ain't It Cool News. December 14, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2008.
  14. 1 2 3 Daly, Steve (September 11, 2007). "Inside Enchanted". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  15. ↑ Wloszczyna, Susan (May 2, 2007). "Enchanted Amy Adams falls under Disney spell". USA Today. Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  16. ↑ "News of the Week: Director Quits Enchanted". Sci Fi Weekly. January 16, 2001. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
  17. ↑ Marris, Dana (December 7, 2003). "Scribe duo will polish Enchanted". Variety. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
  18. ↑ Brodesser, Claude; David S. Cohen (May 25, 2005). "An Enchanted fellow". Variety. Retrieved January 5, 2008.
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  88. ↑ "Exclusive: ‘Enchanted’ Sequel Heating Up, and We Know the Title". Collider. September 29, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2015.

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