Things I'll Love Forever: Enchanted

Rough effity Monday. I’ve been chewed out by three different people already, and it’s not even 11:00 AM. Well, in a rare display of positive-thinking, I’m gonna try to cope with this by kicking off a new feature for the blog I plan on returning to when I get stuck for subjects to write about: Things I’ll Love Forever. First subject: Enchanted.


Good night, I LOVE this movie.

The funny thing, though, is that everything I am screams that I should HATE Enchanted. It’s ridiculously optimistic, cheesy, and INCREDIBLY girly. It’s a freakin’ Disney movie, for cryin’ out loud! Yet I can’t help it: Enchanted ranks as one of my all-time favorite movies. Here’s why:

1 – Amy Adams. Gotta love her. She’s cute, spunky, vivacious, and… DANG, that girl has pipes!

2 – Enchanted is a throwback to all the best Disney cartoons, and, as a child of the 90s, I grew up with the best of the best: Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King. Heck, I even loved The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I was skeptical at first to hear that Disney was putting out a live-action movie modeled after their old “princess” cartoons, but I’ll be darned if it didn’t work.

3 – The worst part of most Disney cartoons is the talking animal sidekick. Enchanted had the decency to take that frickin’ talking chipmunk and shut him up. Can’t remember his name, but if you’re a talking chipmunk and your name isn’t Chip or Dale, then I don’t really want to know you.

4 – “That’s How You Know.” Probably one of the catchiest Disney songs of all time.

5 – Shout “Giselle!” Now bite your finger. I bet you’re giggling a little bit.

6 – The message of the movie’s actually pretty good. It strikes a balance between having “fairy tale” aspirations and being “sensible.” Giselle, of course, learns that her “one true love” isn’t the one she first thought. However, Patrick Dempsey (whose character name I can NEVER remember – I’ma just call him McDreamy) also learns that his meticulous romantic planning wasn’t going to work out, either. The balanced approach winds up being a better lesson – and a bit more original – than the usual Disney “star-wishing.”

7 –Almost every scene in Enchanted contains multiple visual references to other Disney films. Some are obvious (like McSteamy’s outfit at the ball – a replica of the Beast’s suit he wore during the dance sequence in Beauty and the Beast), some are a bit more obscure (McFly’s receptionist is played by the same girl that provided Ariel’s voice in The Little Mermaid). It’s a nice little touch that turns watching Enchanted into a game of Where’s Waldo?

Enchanted: You're cutesy to the point of disgusting, but I'll love you forever.