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It's Quite Surprising...
Dec. 23rd, 2007 08:49 pm...but Disney's Enchanted is really quite good.
Dispelling any notion that it's going to be anything other than full-on spoof of what Disney used to be from the word go, out comes a fairy tale stright from Walt's own sketchbook, both in celluloid and live action. Kids who don't know any better love it as a modern Disney film (and because it has Idina Menzel in it, which accounts for approximately eight in ten skreeming tweenage sales); older kids who do know better and fondly remember seeing pre-1989 Disney re-runs, kick back and enjoy being six again; adults who were there the first time stuff like this was fashionable stare in disbelief that the world has turned full circle, and that this send-up is actually paying homage in so many ways to what most people thought was dead and gone as far as Disney was concerned.
The songs zip along well, but when your music's being written by Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors and just about every Disney film since Aladdin) and Stephen Schwarz (Godspell, Wicked), that was pretty much a no-brainer; the acting is pretty much by the numbers, but they're very good numbers, and is helped by some intelligent casting; the story is cheesy beyond belief, and there are several in-jokes that only fans of old-skool Disney will fully appreciate, but hey, I'm a LARPer. I spend my life making in-jokes.
Seriously, if you ever enjoyed Robin Hood, Pinocchio, Snow White, Gulliver's Travels or any of Disney's other bona fide classics from the bygone age, Enchanted might well be worth a look. I was surprised - with the exception of the music, I tend to avoid modern Disney like the plague - and I think you might be too.
Happy Christmas to all those who celebrate it, hopes that Yule passed peacefully to those who celebrate that, and well-wishing to all others celebrating something at this time of year.
Dispelling any notion that it's going to be anything other than full-on spoof of what Disney used to be from the word go, out comes a fairy tale stright from Walt's own sketchbook, both in celluloid and live action. Kids who don't know any better love it as a modern Disney film (and because it has Idina Menzel in it, which accounts for approximately eight in ten skreeming tweenage sales); older kids who do know better and fondly remember seeing pre-1989 Disney re-runs, kick back and enjoy being six again; adults who were there the first time stuff like this was fashionable stare in disbelief that the world has turned full circle, and that this send-up is actually paying homage in so many ways to what most people thought was dead and gone as far as Disney was concerned.
The songs zip along well, but when your music's being written by Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors and just about every Disney film since Aladdin) and Stephen Schwarz (Godspell, Wicked), that was pretty much a no-brainer; the acting is pretty much by the numbers, but they're very good numbers, and is helped by some intelligent casting; the story is cheesy beyond belief, and there are several in-jokes that only fans of old-skool Disney will fully appreciate, but hey, I'm a LARPer. I spend my life making in-jokes.
Seriously, if you ever enjoyed Robin Hood, Pinocchio, Snow White, Gulliver's Travels or any of Disney's other bona fide classics from the bygone age, Enchanted might well be worth a look. I was surprised - with the exception of the music, I tend to avoid modern Disney like the plague - and I think you might be too.
Happy Christmas to all those who celebrate it, hopes that Yule passed peacefully to those who celebrate that, and well-wishing to all others celebrating something at this time of year.
