Saturday, December 08, 2007

I'm Enchanted

You know how I feel about Disney princesses. And some of you know how I feel about the way mass culture sells us our own cynicism. Despite these strikes against it before it ever started, I fell in love with Enchanted.
Enchanted reminds me of Sondheim's Into the Woods (best musical ever -- Cinderella is ever ambivalent about being swept off her feet, and once her marriage to the prince fails, agrees to a return to a peasant life and an unconventional family: "Sometimes, I actually do enjoy cleaning.") The prince's narcissism seems pulled straight from that play, as does the movie's self-reflexivity. In the opening sequence, the (artificial) camera moves into the iconic Disney castle, into a room with a book, containing the animated adventures of Giselle, not yet a princess, soon to be a multidimensional person (with all the misery and joy multidimensionality brings).
Miss I declared it "awesome," though she also thought parts of it were scary. Little bun loved the "drama and action," though he was hoping for a less happy ending. I fell for Patrick Dempsey, which is surprising because I loathe Grey's Anatomy (sorry, fans -- maybe it's having a doctor in the house), and we all fell in love with Amy Adams. She's darling.
I cannot wait for the CD -- gotta sing that work song.

4 comments:

Third Mom said...

Great review - this one's on my list to see.

I've never seen "Into the Woods," but I've heard a lot of the music on web radio and it's terrific.

Erin said...

I've done into the woods a few times, and LOVE it

Yes, best musical ever.

Enchanted has to be on my list then!

abebech said...

Erin,
Do you perform?
Enchanted is far from dark, and in that respect is far from ITTW -- there are just some affinities.

erin said...

I want to see it! Love ambivalent princesses -- have you ever read Cinder-Edna? Or The Paperbag Princess?

Our guys can only handle @1/2 hour of tv/movies, and can't follow too much dialogue, so I'll have to watch it solo sometime.

I don't like Grey's Anatomy, either. Have you ever watched it with the sound off? Lots of close-ups of very attractive people, not unlike a soap.