2007 was a much simpler time, where we were not so bombarded with remakes and retellings of classic stories, but like all classics they probably never should be touched and would far be better left doing something new with a classic tale. Enchanted sort of did that, as its partially Snow White partially Sleeping Beauty and partially a million other things and the end result is a whole lot of fine. Now fifteen years later, someone somewhere decided that we should make a sequel without any of the creative team behind it and see what happens. Well two things happened, until you’re in on what is happening its down right bad, but once you catch on to what they’re doing and in on the joke, per say, it becomes a lot more palatable.
The story continues to focus on Giselle played by Amy Adams and Robert played by Patrick Dempsey as they move with their daughter, Morgan played by Gabriella Baldacchino and their new daughter to the suburbs. Once arriving there they meet the head of the PTA essentially, Malvina played by Maya Rudolph and her two minions, Ruby played by Jayma Mays and Rosaleen played by Yvette Nicole Brown. As Giselle questions her happiness, as she’s stepping in new territory between suburbia and being a step mom to a teenager, her actions result in turning the world upside down for those on Earth and those in Andalasia.
What works for Disenchanted, aside from most of the cast coming back and playing their characters again is that Brigitte Hales decides to smash together and reinvent a giant chunk of the Disney library all in one. There is so much borrowed and sampled from other classics that it kind of becomes a hodgepodge jungle of all those classic stories rolled into one. Is it a mess, absolutely, is it endlessly fun once you realize that’s what it’s going for, most definitely. Even the music from Alan Menkin is sampling classics as well, so everyone creatively is on the joke so to say, so while it may be a far cry from what anyone was expecting, the direction it takes is certainly better than expected even if it has varying results.
The performances in the movie, are mostly sidelined except for Amy Adams and Maya Rudolph and to an extent Gabriella Baldacchino, everyone else is just barely in the movie. Is this a bad thing, absolutely not, because these three ladies absolutely steal the show. They know when to go absolutely over the top and when to reel it in, making it at minimum a fun and silly two hours with actors showing off their varying degrees of comedic and character chops. No one is blowing anyone away, but they’re endlessly having fun with what they’re creating which in the end translates to a much more enjoyable movie overall.
While Disenchanted is surely going to ruffle some feathers, especially those die hard fans of Enchanted and hardcore Disney fans, it takes a very silly laid back approach to create something new out of things that more likely than not don’t need to be adapted. Since Disney’s track record with live action straight remakes has been rather spotty, this collaboration of silly and mixing of stories is certainly a welcomed change, it’s just aggravating until you realize they’re essentially parodying their own works. Once you realize this movie is just trying to be fun, and nothing more serious than that, the experience you walk away with is much more positive.
