Enchanted

Enchanted opens like many a Disney story; there’s a storybook, a wise narrator (that’s Julie Andrews’ voice you’ll hear), and a girl who’s loving, good, kind to animals, just waiting for her prince to arrive. And there he is! They’re off to the altar, with nothing to stand in the way but his evil (of course) stepmother, who doesn’t want anyone infringing on her power. And because she’s both evil and magical, she knows just what to do. She throws the girl, Giselle, down a well, observed only by her henchman, Nathaniel, and her chipmunk friend, Pip.

It’s a magic well, naturally, so instead of drowning, Giselle’s banished to a strange, new, three-dimensional world – New York. Times Square, to be exact; that’s where the manhole she climbs out of is located. So there’s Giselle, no longer a toon but now Amy Adams, dressed in her wedding finery, and completely clueless as to where she is or what’s really happened. All she’s sure of is that her prince, Edward (James Marsden), will come for her.

And, alerted by Pip, Edward does make the journey too, followed by both Pip and Nathaniel (Timothy Spall), sent by the evil queen to keep make sure Giselle and Edward aren’t reunited. In the meantime, Giselle’s had a bad day, culminating in her being taken in by a widowed New York dad and his daughter. The daughter, Morgan (Rachel Covey) is sure Giselle really is a princess. Dad Robert (Patrick Dempsey) is just as sure that Giselle’s got some serious mental problems.

Will Edward find Giselle? Will she really want him to? Will Robert really want him to? What nefarious deeds with Nathaniel, and, eventually, the evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) herself, get up to in trying to keep true love from running its course?