Enchanted is Enchanting

Yesterday I saw Enchanted. Once again, going in with limited expectations pays off.

If you are looking for a light comedy with some truly excellent acting and minimal plot to confuse you, this movie is a good choice.

The part animated/part real shtick works very well, and provides a wonderful opportunity for Disney to poke fun at its own animated movies.

I imagine the director must have gotten a little tired of saying, "OK, Patrick in this scene I want you to be bewildered and in disbelief, and Amy I want you to be incredibly sweet and naive," but we do get some actual character development (remember it is a light comedy - you can probably predict most of the character development within 30 seconds of meeting each character).

I'm a sucker for a good "Lassie" (or anti-Lassie) moment (i.e.: "Arf! Arf! Bark!" "What's that Lassie? You say three miners are trapped in the abandoned coal mine, one of them has a broken leg, and the water is rising to drown them?" or anti-Lassie "Arf! Bark! [Highly explicit and clear pantomime indicating the direction the lost child went]" "I think he's trying to tell us something." "Yeah, he's hungry, right boy?"), and Enchanted has a chipmunk that goes in my personal Disney hall of fame with the Sugarbowl from The Sword in the Stone and the Magic Carpet from Aladdin.

Add in some catchy songs (though I'm not sure how well the sound track would hold up on its own), and you've got yourself a movie.

I was strongly reminded of Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! where Carrot comes to the city, or perhaps more accurately Men At Arms, where Angua muses on the odds that Carrot will burst into song and the random street people will suddenly demonstrate a flair for choreography as part of his number.