Disenchanted
Whereas 2007’s Enchanted was an unexpected delight that came out of nowhere, this highly anticipated sequel has to carry a huge weight of expectation – but while it doesn’t quite have the surprise factor of the original, it has managed to retain the charm and heart.
Premise: Ten years after the first film, Giselle (Amy Adams), Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and Morgan (Gabriella Baldacchino) have moved from New York City to the suburbs, with Giselle’s and Robert’s new baby Sophia. But Giselle is struggling to find her ‘happily ever after’, while also trying to be a good stepmother to Morgan and winning the approval of the town’s self-appointed queen bee Malvina (Maya Rudolph) – until a visit from King Edward (James Marsden) and Queen Nancy (Idina Menzel) of the animated fairy tale kingdom of Andalasia sets a chain of magical events in motion.
Review:
I have to admit that back in 2007, I did not expect to enjoy Enchanted at all – but its blend of uncynical comedy, catchy musical numbers and family-friendly adventure completely won me over. So it’s fair to say that I approached Disenchanted with a degree of trepidation – could it possibly recapture the magic after 15 long years?
The good news is that, for the most part, the answer is ‘yes’. Disenchanted was never going to be able to match the surprise factor of the first film, and it may arguably be unlikely to appeal to viewers who aren’t already familiar with Enchanted, but it still manages to bring a fresh spin to the concepts from the first movie.
“…the film focuses on Giselle’s relationship with Morgan, her stepdaughter…”
One of the best things about Disenchanted is that it doesn’t simply try to rehash the ideas from the first film. So whereas Enchanted was all about finding true love and questioning whether romantic love was even possible in today’s cynical world, Disenchanted instead chooses to focus on a different kind of love: parental love. Rather than centring the plot on Giselle’s and Robert’s marriage (and we’re thankfully spared a contrived wedge being driven between the couple, which is the bane of most romcom sequels), the film focuses on Giselle’s relationship with Morgan, her stepdaughter.
Morgan is played by Gabriella Baldacchino this time (presumably because Rachel Covey who played the character in the first film is now too old to play a teenager?), and she manages to convey the exasperation that a typical teenager would feel at having to move from New York City to a fixer-upper in the suburbs, but without her character ever descending into a moody teenager trope. In fact, in many ways, Morgan is the central character of Disenchanted, and the one whose eyes the audience experiences the film through.
“…Maya Rudolph gets to chew up the scenery playing such a larger-than-life villain…”
That’s not to say that Amy Adams isn’t still the star of the movie – she is, and she still shines as Giselle. But this time, there’s a little more doubt and uncertainty in her character from the start, especially when it comes to being a stepmother to Morgan (given how badly stepmothers normally are in fairy tales…). The one casualty of the increased focus on the relationship between Giselle and Morgan is Robert, as Patrick Dempsey is unquestionably side-lined as a result. He does still get some amusing things to do in the B-plot, but he’s very much on the periphery of the film.
The main new addition to the cast this time round is Maya Rudolph as Malvina, the ‘queen bee’ of the new town that Giselle and her family move to. Maya Rudolph gets to chew up the scenery playing such a larger-than-life villain, and her duet with Amy Adams is probably the musical highlight of the film. Speaking of the music, the songs (on a first viewing) don’t appear to be quite as catchy as the songs from Enchanted, but it’s possible that they may grow to become classics in time. And at least this time around, award-winning musical actress Idina Menzel actually gets to belt out a song herself, unlike in Enchanted.
“…a lot of fun to be had with this subversive take on the clash between fairy tales & reality…”
The film also doesn’t make the mistake that some sequels do of feeling that they have to shoehorn everyone from the original back into the sequel. So like Patrick Dempsey’s Robert, James Marsden‘s Edward is also only back in a minor capacity, just coming in to sprinkle some comedic moments throughout the film.
Ultimately, the film still belongs to Amy Adams who, along with her trusted sidekick Pip, get to have some fun with their established characters thanks to some magic gone awry. Like the songs, the movie itself doesn’t (on first viewing) quite match the heady heights of Enchanted, but that was always a very high bar to reach – and there’s still a lot of fun to be had with this subversive take on the clash between the notion of a fairy tale ‘happily ever after’ and the realities of familial relationships.
