Johnson Thomas

Enchanted
Cast: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James
Marsden, Timothy Spall, Susan Sarandon,
Idina Menzel, Rachel Covey
Director: Kevin Lima
Rating: ★★★½

This one’s a storybook fantasy, whackily imagined and splendidly realised. Enchanted has live-action animation, blending handdrawn creations with real-life actors, and in the process reaches heights that have never been attempted before.

Juxtaposing an animated character into a real-body, director Kevin Lima with superb help from scriptwriter Billy Kelly emblazons a new trail through their highly inventive spiel of tongue-in-cheek humour and fish-out-of-water events.

The basic plot of Enchanted is an amalgamation of numerous fairy tales, ingeniously put-together to make a highly entertaining whole. Julie Andrews’ narration takes us into the animated world of Andalasia where a beautiful Giselle sings of love and meeting her handsome Prince Edward and finding him even before the song is played out.

But the Prince’s scheming step-mother Queen Narissa (played by Susan Sarandon in the real world) banishes Giselle into the real world. Abetted by his manservant, Nathaniel (Timothy Spall), and a talking chipmunk, Edward (James Marsden) goes after Giselle.

Giselle (Amy Adams) is rescued by a young and dashing Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey), creating problems in the fantasy that even the Brothers Grimm’ or Hans Christian Anderson would never have imagined. The music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz add finesse to the fantasy.

Amy Adams of Junebug fame , bubbly and exuberant, displaying a child-like naivete, does wonderfully well as Giselle. Patrick Dempsey is suitably low-key, Susan Sarandon is in her element as wicked Queen Narissa while James Marsden exhibits the requisite flamboyance required of a prince.

Rush for this clever revisionist fantasy, it’s so outrageously funny, it’s bound to make you smile!