In “Enchanted,” Amy Adams (“Junebug”) plays Giselle, a pen-and-ink fairy tale princess banished to live-action New York City, where she stumbles into the protective arms of a hunky single-dad (Patrick Dempsey) in the city’s seedy Bowery district.
Yeah, I know – there are worse things that could happen to an attractive, naive, out-of-town kid in New York than hooking up with McDreamy from “Grey’s Anatomy.” (For clarification, I invite you to watch “Midnight Cowboy.”) But since “Enchanted” is a Disney offering, and a generally fresh, funny and upbeat one on at that, “worse things” don’t really enter into the picture. So deal.
Naturally, there a few minor conflicts to resolve before Giselle can live happily ever after in her Upper West Side ivory tower.
Evicted from the magic kingdom of Andalasia by her wicked witch of a would-be stepmother (Susan Sarandon), Giselle is dutifully pursued by her betrothed, Prince Edward (James Marsden from “X-Men”), a gallant bore in tights who roves the Big Apple, thrusting his sword into mass-transit vehicles and calling people “peasant.”
Ultimately, Giselle must decide: Does her destiny lie back in cartoonland with Edward, or with a sad-eyed lawyer, Robert (Dempsey), and his cute-as-a-pork-chop daughter (Rachel Covey)? Not much of a dilemma, but for the girlish brand of wish-fulfillment favored by director Kevin Lima (“102 Dalmatians”), it’ll do.
Robert has his own uncertainties. Though his interest in Giselle remains strictly altruistic until that hormonally charged moment when she traces her finger along the open collar of his bathrobe – God bless him, he doesn’t for a moment consider the possibility that this warbling royal songbird might be TOTALLY INSANE – Robert is still not completely sold on girlfriend Nancy (Idina Menzel from “Rent”), a sassy Madison Avenue professional who proves remarkably tolerant of his new live-in charity case.
If one was absolutely determined to find fault in “Enchanted,” might it rest with the filmmakers’ tacit approval of male romantic stereotypes? Why, after all, would Edward want a sophisticated, self-sufficient 30-something woman when he could have a perky strawberry blonde with the non-judgmental personality of an 8-year-old?
Screenwriter Bill Kelly (“Blast from the Past”) leaves that one alone, but does manage to mine a few deconstructive fairy tale gems not plundered by the “Shrek” franchise.
There’s a nifty CGI chipmunk, a poison-apple-wielding henchman (rat-faced character actor Timothy Spall) and a hilarious scene in which Giselle – accustomed to singalong sessions with darling forest critters – tries the same trick in New York and summons only pigeons, rats and cockroaches. In “Enchanted,” even the vermin whistle while they work.
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