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Techtite's DVD Reviews! |
"Enchanted is, quite simply, a perfect Disney movie." --from the review ------------- Sidebar :: ------------- No Sidebar comments for this review. Yet...
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Disney's Enchanted
Click pictures to order (reviews of each disc's extras, below!) A Review by TechtiteAs always, a review of The Film and the DVD extras. The Film Review: Let me just say this right from the top: Disney's Enchanted is one of the best live-action Disney movies in years. Forget all those Disney movies based on a theme park ride; this is an imaginative story with great songs and a humor that can appeal to every age group. Any critic who shrugs this movie off as a "Shrek clone" has not only missed out on a great time at the movies; they clearly didn't really see Enchanted at all. That is perhaps the film's only problem: its trailer. It incorrectly gives the impression that this is a live-action Shrek clone. Wrong. Shrek hates fairy tales, as if seemingly wishing to convince kids that fairy tales are passé, and ridiculing classic literature is hip 'n' happenin'. To be fair: there have been many saccharine movies which insist the opposite: that our world is for fuddy duddies, and to enter a world of childish whimsy would be swell. What if the truth was somewhere in between; the real world is cool, though even cooler if you don't take everything so darned seriously, and just have fun. That's the beauty of Enchanted. Parents can love the film for its message on life; kids will love a simpler story of a fairy tale princess stuck in "the real world." That princess is Giselle (played perfectly by Amy Adams), who is a "typical" fairy tale princess ready to marry her man after meeting him just a few minutes ago. The evil queen of her world uses her magic to thrust her in a world where there are "no happy endings"...ours. After a few run ins with unfriendly folk on a not-so-friendly city street, she comes across single father Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey). The daughter wants Giselle to stay because she feels (or perhaps knows) that Giselle is a real fairy princess; the father seemingly wants Giselle to stay just long enough to convince his daughter (and perhaps himself) that she is not. Good luck with that, Robert! Here's the funny part: Giselle is "the real deal," though this is also the real world. She has all the "magic" of a fairy princess, in our world. This leads to two wonderfully imaginative musical numbers in the film, with toe-tapping songs co-written by the same lyricist behind The Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast. In the first scene, Giselle is trying to clean Eric's apartment for him. She calls every animal within earshot for aid, except she's in New York. So everything from rats to pigeons come to help, leading to many funny visual gags. In a similar scene, Giselle is trying to tell Eric what it means to believe in love at first sight. Of course, she does so through song, coaxing every musician within earshot to sing along with her. Suddenly there's a whole parade singing about what it means to show you're in love to the person you care about. It's a sweet musical moment that didn't win as Best Original Song this year, yet deserved to. It summarizes the message of this movie brilliantly. What is the message here? That life isn't paradise, though you aren't dead yet, either! On the one hand you have people who have given up on anything "fun" in their life. Simple put, these people are...well, boring. On the other hand, Giselle's old fashioned fairy tale ways are a little dated. Does Giselle need to grow up? Not necessarily. Does the real world need to just daydream all day? Not exactly. The truth is somewhere in between. Giselle starts becoming a real person, making her own decisions and slowly learning what "real" true love is. Though what if her true love might actually be Eric? Even the side stories of this movie are inspired. Giselle's Prince Edward (hilariously hammed up by James Marsden) is hot on Giselle's trail, determined to marry his own true love (whose true identity I will not spoil here). He's joined by Pip the chipmunk; the typical comic relief in any talking animal fairy tale. In a brilliant twist: as soon as Pip enters our world, he looks just like any chipmunk...and much to his chagrin, he can no longer talk! This leads to one of the funniest moments of the movie, when he's trying to pantomime to the Prince who the villain is of the movie. Speaking of villains; the evil queen is played by Susan Sarandon, who plays her role to the hilt, especially in the obligatory confrontation between her and Giselle. It's quite clear everyone in this movie had fun in their roles, and we have fun watching them. That's about all that needs to be said about the best family film of 2007. Anyone who isn't convinced to buy this movie on DVD, will never be convinced at all. Many critics have called this the "Mary Poppins" of the new millennium, and I can see why. Anyone who disagrees, well...to each their own. Enchanted is, quite simply, a perfect Disney movie.
The DVD/Blu-Ray Extras: Yeah, I finally got to type this: Blu-Ray extras! The age of Blu-Ray has finally taken the next step, and not presumed that the "only" thing Blu-Ray fans want is the high-def movie. Of course we want the extras! What's more; there's one additional extra on the Blu-Ray disc, not available on the DVD. We'll get to that, first. Does this additional Blu-Ray "extra" warrant a search on Amazon for a good Blu-Ray player (or, more logically, an affordable Playstation 3)? That's up to you. "The D Files," is a fascinating game built into the Blu-Ray disc, that transforms a surprising majority of the movie into an interactive game. Various scenes play and a narrator asks you about a movie from Disney's past that inspired that scene. For example: what other fairy tale princess similarly made a replica of her prince at the start of the movie, with the help of her animal friends? The game even has a score. Any correct answer leads to a video clip of the creators of the movie as they made that scene. Finish the game with a high enough score and...well, I'll leave that up to you to enjoy. All versions have the same list of extras, so allow me to review them as shown on the Blu-Ray edition (other editions may vary slightly). First are the deleted scenes. Many of these half a dozen scenes are extended scenes, though there is one scene I enjoyed that wasn't in the film at all, which showed Robert's real-world girlfriend lamenting about how she always dreamed of meeting "Prince Charming" but gave up on that long ago. I don't know; I think that would've been a good scene to leave in the movie, that would've been perfect for the ongoing theme of the story, and the ending in particular. Other scenes include an alternate introduction to Robert and his daughter (basically just them getting into a cab), various quick clips cut from the ballroom scene before th final battle, and a surprisingly fully completed (CGI and all) clip of the evil queen's henchwoman lamenting to Pip (who is trapped in a fishbowl) that the queen doesn't treat him properly. There are also two scenes from the introduction of the movie, though they were uncompleted animated sequences, shown only with the recorded audio while the storyboards are shown in a slideshow sequence. One is an alternate introduction to Pip, making him escape the castle like Chip & Dale might have, back in the classic Disney animated short films of those characters. Another is an alternate scene of Giselle's own introduction to the film. Maybe I just loved the film too much, though I'd say they made a good choice here, in choosing the opening they did. In short this is a well made movie with lots of nice additions; both for the DVD and Blu-Ray fan as well. Some critics didn't love the movie, and that's okay. Anyone who wants to feel like a kid again should check this newest Disney live-action gem out.
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