Reviewed by Johnny McNair  

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment – 107 minutes – 2007 – Rated PG – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – Dolby True HD audio

Disney’s Enchanted was a surprise hit when it came out last Holiday season, taking in over $300 million at the box office. It’s a family friendly film that works on many levels, with the main being the homage to all the Disney classics we all watched as kids; but at the same time it captures a new younger audience who have never seen Cinderella, or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, making what is old fresh again. Enchanted is now available on Blu-ray from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, ready to sprinkle some fairy dust on your HDTV.

THE MOVIE

Enchanted takes bits and pieces from all of the Disney’s greatest animated features and re-imagines a fairy tale for today’s generation. Like all classic Disney films it starts off in the once upon a time world, where everything is perfect, cute and of course a cartoon. Here we are introduced to the over bubbly Princess Giselle, who is set to marry the man of her dreams, the dashing Prince Edward. But his mother, Queen Narissa, does not want him to marry Giselle so she sets a trap to get rid of her, tricking her to enter a porthole that banishes her from the fairy tale world, and into our current real world.

The animated Giselle now becomes a real person, portrayed perfectly by Amy Adams, climbing out of a manhole in the center of Times Square where her adventure begins. She has no clue where she is and is in no way ready for the brutal world and insane New Yorkers. But her luck leads her to meet up with a handsome lawyer named Robert played by Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy) and his young daughter played by Rachel Covey, who take this damsel in distress into their home. Back in fairy tale land, the Prince, fearing his dear love is in great danger ventures into the portal and enters our world, played by James Marsden, (from the X-men movies) on a quest to find her.

Giselle’s odd charm doesn’t play out well at first, but eventually she finds a place in the hearts of Robert and his daughter; so much so that it gets between Robert and his fiancée Nancy played by Idina Menzel. Once the Prince Edward and Giselle finally find each other, she realizes that she doesn’t have the same feelings for him, triggering a love triangle between Robert, Nancy and the Giselle. To make things worse, Queen Narissa has also entered the real world (ala Susan Sarandon) to put an end to Giselle’s life once and for all. Will this story have a happy ending? Of course it will…it’s a Disney movie.

Without a doubt, the main thing that makes Enchanted work is Amy Adam’s performance as Giselle. She portrays her with enough with enough sugar to keep he pure, but at the same time allows Giselle to develop and learn that she has a lot more to offer than to be the defenseless maiden waiting for her prince. By the end of the movie you’re really rooting for her to have a storybook ending. Director Kevin Lima should also get a pat on the back for making this all work, because it could have turned into a cheese-fest on the level of an episode of Saved by the Bell. There are so many nice moments that keep the story flowing, not only because it’s a homage to the Disney classics, but it’s re-imagining the fairy tale. The only small gripe I have is that I wish Susan Sarandon’s role as Queen Narissa was expanded, because being such a good actress she could have really gone all out with the wicked villain role.

Some may see Enchanted as a “kiddie” or “chick” flick, but it’s not; and if you give it the chance it will do that magic that Disney does so well and bring out the sweet side of you. And after racking up $300 million in ticket sales, it’s safe to assume that someone over at the Disney studio is brewing up a sequel now to see if Giselle and Robert really do live happily ever after, or is there more to the adventure. Maybe the Little Mermaid will get in on the action.

VIDEO

Enchanted is a Disney film emulating a Disney animated film, of course it’s going to look fantastic. This Blu-ray is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p, and it’s a visual feast. The colors practically jump off of the screen, whether it is the street scenes in New York’s Times Square, or the VIP dance ball featuring elaborate costumes and set design, you will be consumed with so much Disney-ish eye candy that you may get a toothache. The filmmakers wanted to make a live action storybook fairy tale and they were successful in pulling it off visually. There are places where the skin tones appear to be a little on the red side, but overall this is an excellent transfer that will shine on your HDTV.

SOUND

Just like it’s visuals, Enchanted also pumps out some great sound with a mixture of songs, magical sound effects, a talking chipmunk, chirping birds, dancing roaches, and fire breathing dragon; all presented in Dolby True HD 5.1. There’s never a moment in the film where audio does not play a apart, and even though Enchanted is live action, it’s handled like an animated film where most of the sounds are exaggerated to immerse you in the setting.

EXTRA GOODIES

Except for the Carrie Underwood music video, all of the bonus features for Enchanted are presented in full high definition, so you won’t feel cheated that they just dumped the features from the standard DVD on the Blu-ray.

After watching the film the first time, Enchanted offers a feature called the “D-Files” which is an interactive game allowing kids (ok, the kid in all of us) to re-watch the film and as icons pop up on the screen in certain screens, you will be asked a trivia question. These questions relate Enchanted with other classic Disney animated films like Cinderella, Snow White and Pocahontas. When you answer a question correctly, a short video clip will play offering background information about inspirations for the particular scene, and then you’ll return to the movie. This is a nice feature that’s totally Disney-ish, and you also have the ability to save your game, and then return to scene you left off later, which is a nice touch.

“Fantasy Comes to Life” is a twenty-minute behind the scenes look at the making of Enchanted, that goes into the apartment cleaning scene that featured rats, birds, and CGI roaches. A few of the musical numbers are also highlighted, featuring Amy Adams; as well as a small section on the finale at the dance ball where Susan Sarandon makes her entrance. These segments are all short and plays like it was just pieced together so that something could be on the disc. Makes you think that Disney may plan to double-dip one day and release a super edition of the movie again in the future.

There are roughly ten minutes of deleted scenes, some which are un-finished animated pieces. None of the scenes stand out and it’s better that they were not included with the final cut.

“Pip’s Predicament: A Pop-Up Adventure” is a five-minute short that will probably only appeal to very young kids, telling a mini fairy tale featuring the Prince, Giselle and of course Pip, her loyal chipmunk sidekick. It’s displayed as a moving pop-up book, where the camera does most of the action around the cardboard stand-ups. This falls into the cute box, but unless you’re under 5, you may not get much out of it.

There’s a quickie two-minute Blooper reel that shows actors flubbing their lines, bumping into walls and slipping. Its silly and cut stuff, and you may get a chuckle out of it.

Finally, there’s a music video by American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, “Ever Ever After.”

BOTTOM LINE

Even if you only like films where helicopters constantly explode and cars flip over twenty times and keep going, you’re still going to find something to like about Enchanted. It’s a sweet film for ages 2 to 200 that will put a smile on your face. The image and sound quality for this Blu-ray is great, but the extras leave you desiring more. The interactive D-Files game will go over well with the kids, because it adds replay value. Overall, Enchanted will make a good addition to your growing Blu-ray collection, (even if you have to hide it on the back of the shelf so your football buddies won’t know you have it).

SCORES (Out of 5):

The Movie: 4.5

Video: 4.5

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 3.5

Bottom Line: 4.0