Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, Susan Sarandon, Rachel Covey

Directed by: Kevin Lima

Walt Disney pictures

The Official Site of Enchanted

Living in the forest and singing songs with stray animals about kissing doesn�t sound like a safe way for a young lady to live. Unless of course she�s a cartoon and slowly going crazy waiting for her prince to come. In Enchanted, just as sanity and true love are within her grasp, Giselle (The picture perfect cartoon version of Amy Adams) is pushed into a mysterious well by a power hungry Queen. Nothing odd there. Old lady attacks are as common as talking animals in the typical development of any Disney cartoon. That is until we find out that the bottom of that well opens up to a manhole on 42nd street in real world New York City. Suddenly this perfect princess finds herself over dressed, over styled, and way to nice for the environment she�s landed in. (I�m a New Yorker, I can say that. Most of us are kinda jerks)

Other than the shoving and the falling and whatnot, Enchanted is every little girls dream come true. A real life princess with the hundred-dollar hairdo and glitter to match. But somehow that appeal branched out to include 50 million dollars worth of box office in its opening holiday weekend.

All of that can�t be daydreaming, would-be princesses or even the collective boyfriends, husbands, and fathers dragged along. There�s something to this movie that takes its appeal beyond puffy dresses and prince charming. Really there�s a lot to choose from. Enchanted is a romance, a comedy, a musical, an animated children�s feature, with recognizable talent and enough other little clicks to round out a nice opening take. But if any of you are like me, the real draw is the concept.

The idea of cartoons crossing over into the real world is a unique enough idea to attract a lot of people that may not necessarily be the target of any of the genres above. I think some of us just want to see how they�ll pull it off or if they�ll pull it off at all. Same thing with Like Beowulf last week. The curiosity factor is high enough to draw in the stragglers.

It�s barely worth it though. The fancy premise is just a jumping off point for a fish-out-of-water adventure. We�ve seen this story before but the concept is unique enough to fool us into thinking it�s brand new. I don�t feel like I�ve been suckered out of my ten bucks or anything, but I do feel like they let an interesting concept act as nothing but an introduction.

The one lasting characteristic of the idea that got me in there is the characters that cross between the two worlds. Even in our universe they follow their own fairytale rules. Poison apples, Aquaman level influence of animals, talking to old ladies in reflective surfaces, and singing. Endless singing. Big, choreographed, harmonized productions like the sore thumb from Clerks II except, you know - fitting.

The lead crossover animated characters, Adams and her tireless hero in search of her (brilliantly played by James Marsden) really commit to being these prince and princess types. Super confident, ideal, optimistic� essentially crazy people on our end of the manhole. If they weren�t both so believable as fictional fairy tale characters then there�s no way this movie would have worked at all. In the real world Giselle is taken in by Patrick Dempsey�s character who�s half-glass-empty mentality clashing with her cheerfulness offers the most sincere connections of the film. Predictably she teaches him how to let loose and he teaches her that there�s more to life than �happily ever after�, but it is interesting seeing these two extremes whittle away into common ground. It�s a well-told fairytale.

Still, I longed for more animation. Especially since it was done so well. The old school 2D style used here was Brother Beared out of existence when companies like Pixar and Dreamworks came along to reinvent the way cartoons are made. Seeing the classic style on the big screen again was a welcome treat for this little boy that was raised on Aladdin. The look is sharp and crisp. It�s the timeless Disney style with a modern facelift and some Art Nouveau influences. It was a fresh look that fit in nicely with the classic Disney flair. What�s more, the characterization is dead on. Wildly stylized but recognizable at the same time. When you think of Susan Sarandon, �iron jaw� isn�t what immediately comes to mind, but somehow, it�s her.

I find that appealing, and there truly is something for everyone in Enchanted, but family fun wins out as the movie fizzles into a sweet but predictable conclusion. I wish I could say that the clever concepts continued beyond the unique set-up but the movie turns into sing-a-long musical numbers and princess shopping sprees instead. It�s the classic Disney formula, and while it may not be ground breaking, it�s working just fine. I�m still whistling that damn �first kiss� song.

Rating: 7 out of 10 - Enchanted is an entertaining and refreshing adventure worthy of all its success. Parents should feel comfortable bringing even the youngsters to the theater even though there seemed to be a very specific point where they all got bored and started stomping their feet. Recovery was quick but there was definitely a moment where the story lost its youngest of audience members.

Still, it is great to see this movie really take off and find a crowd to embrace it. I�m so happy for Amy Adams who has really come into her own here and finally found a role that will endear her to the masses. She�s been buzzing around Hollywood for years most notably in projects like Talladega Nights, Junebug and The Office, but with Enchanted she�s finally become a star, and I can�t wait to see her again. She�s come a long way since The Skulls II.

Things were looking good but the answer is no, and I can tell you exactly why. The �clean the house� sequence when Giselle wakes up in Robert�s apartment. Really it�s one of the more clever sequences in the movie because, when a princess summons nearby creatures in New York City to help with some light house work, what else would you expect to show up but rats, pigeons and cockroaches. Clever, accurate, and disgusting enough for Yeo to lay the DVD veto down on it. There�s so much to enjoy throughout the film but I know she�ll never be able to get past vermin scrubbing the tub.

This joke is a dead fish unless you�ve read a few strips back in JLCM. Check out the strips for Beouwulf and Beouwulf 3-D and you�ll be up to speed.

Sorry about that though. With each comic being dedicated to a specific movie it�s really hard to develop long running jokes because in theory, each comic should be a stand-alone joke. Each comic should be a jumping on point for new readers. I appreciate that for what it is but part of me craves the luxury of the slow burn. No worries though, I�ll try to make it a rare occurrence.

27 Dresses - let�s watch as Katherine Heigl reaps the rewards of Knocked Up�s success in her first solo headlining romantic comedy 27 Dresses. It�s the story of a woman that�s always a bride�s maid and never a bride. Always as in �27 dresses� worth of times.

Heigl is making her bid for America�s Sweetheart, but she�s not doing it alone. Relaible support like Malin Akerman, Edward Burns and Judy Greer are waiting in the eings. Not to mention Enchanted�s very own James Marsden who, after years of playing the perfect guy that never gets the girl in movies like The Notebook, Superman Returns and X-Men, is finally lining up to play leading man!

I�ve been a fan Marsden since Disturbing Behavior, and even more so after his all-out offering here in Enchanted. It�s exciting to see his career take this big leap.

Want to hear more about Enchanted? Be sure to tune in tonight at 10PM EST to listen to the Triple Feature where Gordon, Tom and I will be talking about it at length. And if you�d like to ad your 2 cents, listen in live where we�ll be taking calls and questions from the live chat!

That�s all for now guys but I�m gearing up for the other major releases over Thanksgiving including Hitman and The Mist, not to mention the DVD release of my favorite comedy of the year� more soon! Thanks so much for reading!