Disenchanted, 2022.
Directed by Adam Shankman.
Starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Maya Rudolph, Idina Menzel, James Marsden, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jayma Mays, Kolton Stewart, Oscar Nunez, Gabriella Baldacchino, Griffin Newman, Rachel Duff, Alan Tudyk, Brooke Josephson, and Eimear Morrissey.
SYNOPSIS:
Ten years after her happily ever after, Giselle questions her happiness, inadvertently turning the lives of those in the real world and Andalasia upside down in the process.
While tracking the Philip family and their quest to maintain a happily ever after in Disenchanted, Giselle (Amy Adams back in her breakout role, something that really couldn’t have come at a better time given her last few disappointing projects) begins to feel lost, responding by moving the family away from city life to suburb Monroeville, struggling to assimilate with the locals there as well, particularly high and mighty clique leader Malvina Monroe (a malevolently delightful Maya Rudolph that hangs with the established ensemble whether it’s through diabolical scheming or mischievous musical numbers). Craving a magical life again, Giselle uses a wishing wand to transform Monroeville into a fairytale folklore town resembling a live-action Andalasia (her animated origins from Enchanted).
Beyond the expected humongous budget Disney has allocated to director Adam Shankman (working alongside screenwriter Brigitte Hales and a story by J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, and Richard LaGravenese, based on characters created by Bill Kelly), yielding stunningly colorful dresses, expert dance choreography, and lavish production design for real world/fantasy hybrid locales and festivals, and dazzling CGI whenever characters find themselves shooting bursts of magic at each other, there’s a pleasant considerable amount of thought put into the consequences of this narrative.
Even after the events of Enchanted, Giselle is under the impression that injecting some fantasy into the real world will solve anything (at one point, she states out loud that the scariest things one has to worry about there are ogres and nothing else). The rest of the world might be inclined to agree that fantasy trumps reality, but Disenchanted is here to boldly argue against that, as Giselle’s life is thrust into turmoil in more ways than one upon making that wish.
Counteracting the joys of house appliances coming to life in live-action form (something that contains more personality than usual when Disney attempts such a thing), Giselle finds herself further alienated from her teenage stepdaughter Morgan (now with Gabriella Baldacchino taking over the role with rebellious force) and slipping into evil queen behavior. It turns out that such a wish has begun to corrupt her morality, shifting her into the villain of her story, which grants Amy Adams a wickedly fun acting challenge of balancing goodness with a descent into nefarious villainy. This also allows the screenplay to playfully deconstruct and poke fun at the clichés and tropes of such fables.
Disenchanted also parallels its predecessor, although this time, it focuses on a mother-stepdaughter relationship in terms of bloodline, memories, support, and love. As Morgan does adapt to fantasyland, she also develops a crush on Malvina’s son Tyson (Kolton Stewart), eager to take him as her date to the upcoming festival. Naturally, Giselle forbids this for no real reason while forcing Morgan to perform more chores just because that’s what evil stepmothers do. Apparently, they also have loyal dastardly cats, which Pip the squirrel is transformed into (talented voice actor and Movie Trivia Schmoedown legend Griffin Newman also gets to flex that skill with a different amusing voice for each animal).
Giselle’s straight-faced husband Robert (a returning Patrick Dempsey) also notices that something is up. He also receives a more playful role that has him attempting to protect civilians from dragons and ogres. Meanwhile, Edward and Nancy (still played by James Marsden and Idina Menzel, respectively) come through from Andalasia to hang out and offer their assistance to Morgan when they also realize Giselle’s quickly growing evil tendencies. Their performances are accomplished through a mixture of live-action and Beautiful 2-D animation, blended together during one of Disenchanted‘s many tremendously catchy songs, which Idina Menzel belts out and nails with stirring emotion.
However, the highlight musical number is a sequence involving Giselle and Malvina locking horns in a duet about one-upping each other in evilness. The song also includes a line asking if one could imagine Maleficent and Cruella in the same story, which seems to have been the rewarding backbone for Disenchanted as a narrative. That approach works, especially more so than when the third-act breaks down into the usual CGI action, although not without moving story beats. What was once enchanting is still enchanting.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
