Enchanted is a 2007 American musical live-action/animated fantasy romantic comedy film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures with New York Academy Barry Sonnenfeld and Josephson Entertainment. Written by Bill Kelly and directed by Kevin Lima, the film stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, Rachel Covey, and Susan Sarandon. The plot focuses on Giselle, an archetypal Disney Princess, who is forced from her traditional animated world of Andalasia into the live-action world of New York City. Enchanted was the first Disney film to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, instead of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
The film is both an homage to, and a self-parody of, Disney's animated features, making numerous references to Disney's past and future works through the combination of live-action film-making, traditional animation and computer-generated imagery. It heralds the return of traditional animation to a Disney feature film after the company's decision to move entirely to computer animation in 2004. Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who had written songs for previous Disney films, produced the songs of Enchanted, with Menken also composing its score.
The animation sequences were produced at James Baxter Animation in Pasadena. Filming of the live action segments took place around New York City. It premiered on October 20, 2007, at the London Film Festival before its wide release on November 21, 2007, in the United States. Enchanted was well-received critically, established Adams as a leading lady, and earned more than $340 million worldwide at the box office. It won the 2007 Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Motion Picture, received two nominations at the 65th Golden Globe Awards and three Best Original Song nominations at the 80th Academy Awards.
Plot[]
In "Andalasia", an animated fairy tale world devoid of problems, in which there are talking animals and "happy endings", Queen Narissa frets that her stepson Prince Edward will soon find his true love, which means that Narissa's position on the throne would be taken over. One day, Edward and Nathaniel, Queen Narissa's henchmen, successfully capture a troll, but Edward rides off to the cottage of a girl named Giselle after hearing her sing about "true love". Knowing Narissa's wishes, Nathaniel sets the troll free to get rid of Giselle, but Edward saves her just in time. When they meet, they instantly fall in love and plan to get married the following day.
However, Narissa had witnessed everything, so she meets Giselle while the peasant runs off to get wed to Edward. Narissa, disguised as an old hag, tricks Giselle and exiles her to the real world of Earth by falling through a portal that is under a sewer in New York City's Times Square. Meanwhile, a divorce lawyer named Robert prepares to propose to his longtime girlfriend Nancy, much to the dismay of Morgan, his young daughter. While Robert and Morgan are heading home, they see a confused Giselle trying to enter a brightly lit pink castle on a billboard which she has mistaken for the Andalasian palace. Luckily, Robert rescues her after she falls off, and he begrudgingly permits Giselle to stay at his apartment at the insistence of his daughter. At their apartment, Giselle sits on a couch just so she could go to sleep because she yawns.
Pip, Giselle's chipmunk friend from Andalasia, witnessed the events of Giselle's fall through the portal and alerts Edward to it, so they embark on a rescue mission. Edward chances upon Giselle's whereabouts via a TV news report of her being interviewed. However, he is unaware that Nathaniel, who had been dispatched to New York City by Narissa, is trying to eliminate Pip after the chipmunk discovered a poisoned-apple plot that Narissa and Nathaniel had concocted to kill Giselle. Meanwhile, Robert decides to keep Giselle close by, given her naivete and lack of means to survive on her own. Giselle questions the divorce lawyer about his relationship with Nancy, and decides to help the pair reconcile by sending flowers and tickets to the "King and Queen's Costume Ball". An angered Narissa, who has continued to spy on events, makes plans to come to New York City after Nathaniel failed twice to poison Giselle.
As they spend more time together, Giselle and Robert begin to develop feelings for each other while Edward continues to look for Giselle, eventually finding her at Robert's apartment. While Edward is eager to take Giselle home to Andalasia and finally marry, she insists that they should first go on a date, still conflicted about her feelings. Giselle promises to return to Andalasia after ending their date at the King's and Queen's Ball, which Robert and Nancy are also attending. Narissa arrives in New York, but the queen's powers sent the sewer manhole cover flying across the city, which destroys a Coca-Cola sign as it glitches. Giselle and Robert finally dance as if they were the only couple in the room. From afar, Edward and Nancy sense the attraction between Giselle and Robert, and also discover a mutual attraction between themselves. At the climax of the ball, Narissa appears as the old hag and offers the last poisoned apple to Giselle, who was so bereft at the thought of leaving her true love behind that she takes a bite and falls to the floor unconscious.
Nathaniel, sick of being manipulated by Narissa, reveals their plot. Robert realizes that true love's kiss is the only force that will break the poison apple's spell before midnight. After Edward's kiss fails to wake Giselle, he prompts Robert to do so instead. Giselle awakens as the clock strikes twelve, but Narissa uses this moment of distraction to break free from Nathaniel's grasp and transform into a giant blue dragon. When Robert shields Giselle after Narissa threatens to kill her, the evil queen takes Robert hostage instead. Giselle takes Edward's sword then follows Narissa out the window and up to the top of the Woolworth Building. With Pip's help, Giselle successfully defeats Narissa, who falls off of the Woolsworth Building and lands in the street, disappearing in sparkles as she dies. After almost falling off the roof themselves, Robert and Giselle share a passionate kiss and embrace, while Edward and Nancy, finding themselves in love, depart to Andalasia via manhole.
A montage of the protagonist's new lives follows, showing Edward heading back home to Andalasia as he and Nancy marrying, Giselle running a successful fashion business and forming a happy family with Robert and Morgan, while Nathaniel becomes a best-selling author on Earth, as does Pip in Andalasia.
Voice Cast[]
- Amy Adams as Giselle. A princess-to-be who ends up almost having her dream of meeting her prince a reality. Adams was announced to have been cast in the role of Giselle on November 14, 2005. Although the studio was looking for a film star in the role, director Kevin Lima insisted on casting a lesser-known actress. Out of the 300 or so actresses who auditioned for the role, Adams stood out to Lima because not only did she look like "a Disney princess" but her "commitment to the character, her ability to escape into the character's being without ever judging the character was overwhelming." Hailing from Andalasia, Giselle displays similar traits to the Disney Princesses; Lima describes her as "about 80% Snow White, with some traits borrowed from Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty... although her spunkiness comes from Ariel a.k.a. The Little Mermaid." She is "eternally optimistic and romantic" but is also "very independent and true to her convictions". Over the course of the film, she becomes more mature but maintains her innocence and optimism.
- Patrick Dempsey as Robert Philip. A cynical, New York City divorce attorney who doesn't believe in true love or happily-ever-after, or understand his daughter, Morgan. Lima cast Dempsey after Disney was satisfied with the casting of Adams but had wanted more well-known actors in the film. Dempsey, whose starring role on TV series Grey's Anatomy had earned him the nickname "McDreamy", was described by Lima as "a modern-day Prince Charming to today's audience". The role was challenging for Dempsey because he had to play the straight man to Adams' and Marsden's more outrageous characters.
- James Marsden as Prince Edward. A narcissistic and athletic prince who ends up confused with the world of New York once entering it. Marsden was announced to have been cast on December 6, 2005. At the time Marsden was auditioning, the role of Robert had not been cast but he decided to pursue the role of Prince Edward because he was "more fun and [he] responded more to that character." Edward is a prince in Andalasia and the stepson of Narissa. He is "very pure, very simple-minded and naive, but innocently narcissistic."
- Timothy Spall as Nathaniel. Nathaniel is a servant of Queen Narissa, who controls him through his infatuation with her and his own lack of self-esteem. He initially does Narissa's bidding, but ultimately realizes her true nature and rebels against her. He has a penchant for disguises. This is the first of two Disney films Timothy Spall has been in, the other being Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in which he was the voice of Bayard the Bloodhound.
- Idina Menzel as Nancy Tremaine, Robert's fiancée. Once Giselle falls in love with Robert, she falls for and leaves with Edward. Menzel, who is well known for her Broadway musical roles in Wicked and Rent, was offered the role of Nancy Tremaine. Since the role did not require any singing, Menzel said in an interview that "it was a compliment to be asked to just be hired on [her] acting talents alone." Nancy is a fashion designer and Robert's girlfriend. She is named after Lady Tremaine, the stepmother from Cinderella. Like Adams, Benson, O'Hara, and Kuhn before her, Menzel went on to play a Disney Princess: Elsa the Snow Queen in Frozen, which she worked with director Chris Buck, who previously directed Tarzan with Lima in 1999.
- Rachel Covey as Morgan Philip. Morgan is Robert's 6-year old daughter. Despite her father misunderstanding her and telling her otherwise, she believes in fairy tales and believes that magic exists.
- Susan Sarandon as Queen Narissa. An evil sorceress with a hatred for Giselle; Edward's stepmother and the film's main antagonist. Sarandon had been attracted to the project prior to Lima's involvement as director. Since Sarandon's on-screen time was relatively short, it took only two weeks to film her scenes. Narissa's mannerisms, characteristics, powers, and physical features were inspired by such classical Disney villainesses as the Queen Grimhilde and Maleficent. Sissy Spacek, Anjelica Huston and Mary Steenburgen were in close competition for the part.
- Jeff Bennett and Kevin Lima as Pip. Bennett provided the voice for the 2D-animated Pip in the animated segment while Lima provided the voice for the computer-generated Pip in the live-action segment. Pip, a chipmunk friend of Giselle who has no trouble expressing himself through speech in Andalasia, loses his ability to speak in the real world and must communicate by acting.
- Jon McLaughlin as himself, singing "So Close" at the ball while Robert and Giselle dance.
- Fred Tatasciore as the Troll from Andalasia who tried to eat Giselle.
- Several actresses who have played characters in Disney films have cameos:
- Paige O'Hara as Angela, a soap opera character. O'Hara provided the speaking and singing voice of Belle in Beauty and the Beast.
- Jodi Benson as Sam, Robert's secretary. Benson provided the speaking and singing voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid as well as the voices of the various Barbie dolls in Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.
- Judy Kuhn as Pregnant Woman with Kids. Kuhn provided the singing voice of the title character in Pocahontas and its its sequel.
- Julie Andrews as Narrator. Andrews played the title character in Mary Poppins as well as appearing in The Princess Diaries series as Queen Clarisse Renaldi.
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