Duchess (Eva Gabor) and her three kittens are kidnapped by Madam’s butler Edger when he discovers that she’s leaving everything to the cats and he’s second in line. Hoping to move up the inheritance line, he dumps them in the middle of nowhere with little hope of survival. Thomas O’Malley the alley cat (Phil Harris) helps Duchess and her kittens to get back to Madam, and ends up falling in love with Duchess in the process. Because cats need love too, and because this is Disney and a cat romance isn’t weird in the slightest!
This is one of my favorite animated Disney movies! The animation is beautiful and in some scenes looks similar to a watercolor painting. The story’s funny, and the music’s great. It’s one of Disney’s more underrated gems.
It was recently announced that Disney is working on a live-action version. (Because they’re lazy and it’s easier to regurgitate another unnecessary remake than it is to create anything original.) It’s supposedly going to be in the same vein as the Lady and the Tramp remake which I miraculously enjoyed. It could be good. It could be bad. It could go either way. It’s undoubtedly an unnecessary waste of time, money, and creative energy. Until then, you can stream the original on Disney Plus.
In traditional 2D Disney Princess fashion, Giselle (Amy Adams) gets nearly eaten by a troll and is rescued by Prince Edward (James Marsden). They sing a duet, fall in love, and she accepts his marriage proposal after a grand total of five minutes or less! Edward’s evil stepmother wants to keep her position as Queen and devises a plan to get rid of Giselle.
Disguised as an old hag, the Queen pushes Giselle down a wishing well that transports her from 2D fairytale kingdom Andalasia to 3D real world New York City. While there, fun-loving romantic Giselle ends up staying with strait-laced, uptight stick-in-the-mud divorce attorney Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan.
Giselle brings fairytale magic with her wherever she goes including her ability communicate with animals through song and bursting into broadway worthy musical numbers at random. She injects Robert’s life with magic, and he tries to keep her grounded in her new reality. As much reality as he can anyway with an evil Queen and her henchman trying to kill her, and a Prince and talking chipmunk trying to find her! In the end, Giselle’s fairytale ending isn’t anything like what she’s expecting. Sometimes reality is better than a fairytale.
Enchanted takes several elements from Classic Disney movies like the old hag and poisoned apple from Snow White, the dragon from Sleeping Beauty, and the missing shoe and Ball from Cinderella, tosses them in a blender, and somehow they ended with a fantastic movie by the end of it! Enchanted has been one of my favorite movies since it first came out. It’d been years since I watched it, and I’d forgotten how good it was! I love everything about it from the story to the animation, the cast, and the music. Everything is perfect! I can’t wait for the sequel Disenchanted coming out later this year! I’ve literally waited just over half my life for it! Stream Enchanted now on Disney Plus.
2¢ Movie Reviews 