After watching the Dreamworks' Shrek franchise reap untold millions in part by poking fun at Disney's classic animated fairytales, the Mouse House has finally gotten in on the act with Enchanted, a charming, clever riff on Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and other Princess-in-peril flicks from Walt's golden age.
Breakout star Amy Adams (Junebug) stars as Giselle, a fairytale princess who spends her days in the cartoon land of Andalasia conversing with her many animal friends and dreaming of someday meeting her one true love. When said true love arrives in the form of handsome Prince Edward (James Marsden), the connection is immediate and intense, and wedding plans are drawn up for the following day. But before the two can celebrate their nuptials, Edward's mother, the evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) intervenes. Determined to prevent Giselle from marrying her son and inheriting the throne of Andalasia, she banishes the princess-to-be to modern-day New York City.
The opening act of Enchanted is entirely animated, drawn in the vein of the two-dimensional hand-drawn Disney flicks of yesteryear, and in the span of less than 15 minutes manages to successfully parody just about every cliché in the fairytale playbook, from the preponderance of friendly rodents to the saccharine duets declaring undying love.
When Giselle arrives in the real world, bucolic Andalasia gives way to the mean streets of New York -- albeit a PG version of them. Hopelessly naïve and utterly clueless, she stumbles aimlessly through the city before she's discovered by six-year-old Morgan (Rachel Covey), who convinces her divorced dad Robert (Patrick Dempsey) to take the rain-soaked woman in for the night.
Wishing to pay back the favor to her gracious hosts, Giselle decides to clean up Robert's filthy apartment, calling upon her friends in the animal kingdom to help with the task. Summoned by the dulcet tones of her "Happy Working 
Song," hordes of rats, pigeons and cockroaches arrive to aid in the cleanup effort. Needless to say, Robert isn't exactly thrilled when he arrives home to find his apartment crawling with rodents.
Meanwhile, back in Andalasia, Edward catches wind of Gisele's absence and ventures to New York to "rescue" her, followed by the Queen's lackey Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) and, eventually, the evil Queen herself. Together with Giselle, they serve up an array of fish-out-of-water gags, and if Enchanted has one major flaw, it's the over reliance on this type of humor, done to death in Austin Powers, Coming to America and various other comedies involving characters suddenly thrust into unfamiliar environments.
With the help of Robert, Gisele adapts surprisingly well to city life, developing a more fully-formed personality (she experiences anger for the first time) while simultaneously winning over the residents of New York with her unwavering optimism. Soon an unexpected (for them, at least) attraction develops between the cynical divorcee and the would-be princess. But their chances at a "happily ever after" are soon imperiled when Queen Narissa arrives on the scene, poison apple in hand.
Sounds hokey? You bet. But Enchanted manages to pull it off, thanks mainly to the efforts of Adams, who plays it unblinkingly -- and brilliantly -- straight in the role of Gisele. Indeed, the film's fairytale-meets-real-world premise rests almost entirely on Adams's nearly flawless performance, delivered without any winking at the camera whatsoever. Director Kevin Lima plays a game of artistic chicken with our well-bred cynicism, forcing us to yield to Enchanted's many charms -- and we're grateful for it.
ReelzChannel Rating: 