Enchanted is directed by Kevin Lima. The film stars Amy Adams (Charlie Wilson's War), Patrick Dempsey (Can't Buy Me Love), James Marsden (X-Men series), Susan Sarandon, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, and Rachel Covey. Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz contribute the musical score. The film tells the story of a Giselle, a girl living in the woods an animated world, who has just met a handsome prince. In true fairy tale tradition, the two fall in love instantly and plan to get married.... But the prince's evil stepmother has other plans, not wanting to lose her son. She shoves Giselle into a pit which teleports her to another world (the real, non-animated world.) Once there she meets up with a soon-to-be-remarried single father. It isn't long before her prince crosses over into this new world, in search of her. But all the while, the evil stepmother aims to make her dark deeds recognized, and eventually follows the lovers to the real world - vowing to do whatever it takes to stop the wedding of her son. ***

I had high hopes for Enchanted, but it ends up being a mixed bag. There are a lot of clichés, some characters never really get emphasized properly, and as a whole, the movie feels over-the-top. But for every issue the movie has, it has a redeeming quality - namely a few priceless performances. It doesn't quite live up to the hype, but it's still a terrific family film. ***

The one spot in which the film does not fail to please is Amy Adams' terrific performance as Giselle. This is her movie and no one else's. In every real-world interaction scene, she'll do something to make you laugh. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast and characters come off as lackluster, and we never get the chance to bond with them the way we do Giselle. If the characters' screen time had been more balanced, and everyone had been developed properly, the film would have been far stronger. There are a lot of little inconsistencies here and there, mostly involving the characters and their knowledge of things in the real world despite no such things being in their animated world - but I won't get too in depth with that stuff here. ***

Enchanted's greatest weakness is its over-the-top, predictable, cliché-ridden nature. The concept behind this film is a great one, but the execution doesn't always hit the mark. I like what the filmmakers were trying to do here, but they needed to do more than just set a fairy tale in the real world. Song and dance numbers, poison apples, evil stepmothers, glass slippers, needing to be awakened with a kiss by midnight.... In a lot of ways this feels like your typical Disney fairy tale taken to a modern real-life setting, but not much else. ***

Another issue I feel needs to be addressed is the target audience - and exactly who it's supposed to be. With the colorful characters and fantasy-intensive plotline, it's clear that, at least to some point, Disney had children in mind. But the real-world scenes drag in adult themes, including divorces, the working world, and things that kids just won't understand. If you're a parent, don't worry though - there's nothing objectionable here. ***

This is one of those movies that puts me right on the thumbs up/thumbs down border. It's scattershot, uneven, imbalanced, you get the idea. And yet there were things about the movie that managed to win me over - namely the performance from Amy Adams. Issues aside, it's good enough to merit a marginal recommendation. ---

Image And Sound:

The transfer looks solid throughout the course of the movie, the animated portions in particular look excellent. There is some grain noticeable in the real-life portion, particularly night scenes, but nothing that will detract from your viewing experience. The sound quality fares well, with no noticeable flaws to speak of.

We get an average number of extras on the disc, nothing less, nothing more. First up are several deleted scenes, with director introductions. Like most deleted scenes that get put on movie DVDs, it isn't hard to see why these were cut from the film, but they're still fun to watch, and the director intros give some nice insight into things. Also included are three behind-the-scenes featurettes, but these are pretty typical and standard as far as what comes on a DVD - they'll leave you wanting more. The bloopers and Carrie Underwood music video deliver what they promise, and are pretty much what you'd expect. Probably the most interesting feature on here is the new short that revolves around Pip (the chipmunk), and even it too will leave you wanting more. I was hoping Disney would have gone all out and made this a two-disc set, with a ton of bonus material. Also disappointing is the lack of a commentary track - why couldn't Disney hunt down Lima and Adams to record one?

Final Words: