While I was returning from Frankfurt to Mumbai by the Lufthansa flight, they announced that they would be showing one Hindi and one English
movie during the 7 odd hours that it would take to reach our destination. Firstly I was disappointed at not having the facility to choose the movie from among 5-6 at least. I thought an airline like Lufthansa should at least have had a personalized in flight entertainment system at each seat. But anyway when the first movie they started turned out to be "Enchanted", my spirits were rather lifted and my initial disappointment vanished. I had heard about this movie and read its reviews but had been unabl
Enchanted Movie
e to see it till now.
So many movies have been made on the subject of love that one would be excused for believing that all there is to be said has already been said and done with. Yet each time a storywriter and a director comes out with something so special and so different that ones heart is moved and the eyes become wet. Enchanted is a very special mix of some animation, computer generated imaging, excellent emotive acting, humor; it’s all there, and in such fine proportion and mix that one would savor the taste for a long time. Directed by Kevin Lima and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, its very nice musical, humorous and emotional love story.
What is love really? There have been so many definitions of this one simple word and one simple emotion. Even if we leave aside the lust and the sex part, which really are very different emotions and there really cannot be any confusion between these and love. But there surely can be a lot of confusion when trying to differentiate between the emotions of Love, Infatuation, Crush, first love as opposed to real love, puppy love as different from love at the intellectual level. There are so many different types of emotions attached to this one simple word that ones mind boggles at even the though of interpreting them.
To move ahead in the analysis, how does one determine that he has found his true love. When we met the first girl in school and got close to her, we thought we were inseparable. Then when we had our first affair with a GF/BF we thought we had found the love of our lives. Were we right. Was that the right person for us. Or is the person whom we meet a couple of times when our parents fix them up the right ones for us. Or is it best to date several people maybe even have several GFs and then decide. Or is there even any foolproof method. Does one know instantly when he meets the love of his life. Is there any truth to love at first sight. What if we fall in love at the first sight and then fall out of it as fast as we fell into it. How does one address these changing emotions. Friends, the questions are too many and at least now we know why there have been so many stories and different takes on this subject and yet the questions remain unanswered. This movie provides one very interesting take on this topic and attempts to analyze and answer this complex question in a touching and at the same time humorous manner.
The Plot
This is the story of a girl called Giselle, who lives in the animated world of Andalasia. This is a world full of cartoon characters and animals that are her best friends and help her in all her chores. They sing and dance in chorus at every available opportunity and their world is nothing less than heaven. Giselle harbors thoughts of meeting her prince charming and has even made a statue of him. Life goes on and then one day with a twist of fate, the prince of Andalasia comes face to face with her. Both are immediately smitten by the love bug and decide to marry the next day. However the step mother of the Prince, a witch, who is currently ruling the kingdom is very worried with the prospect as she would have to give up the kingdom to Prince Edward after he is married. So on the day of the marriage she tricks Giselle into accompanying her and banishes her to a place “where there are no happy endings”. And what place would that be other than our very own earth. So she is transported to New York City as a real person. Very soon she finds out that this is no Andalasia and works very differently. She is desperately trying to negotiate the traffic and at the same time find her Prince Edward, when she encounters Robert Phillip, a divorce lawyer and his little daughter, Morgan. Morgan the little 6 year old was looking for a fairy tale story book and found a real life princess instead. She convinces her father to take Giselle home till she can find her prince Edward.
The prince too misses his bride to be and soon enough follows her in the real world of New York City. While he tries to figure out how to navigate in this strange cruel world and wonders, “why is everything so difficult here”, Giselle shares her interpretation of love with Robert. Robert also guides her on how love is dealt with on earth, what “dates” are what is their purpose and how the humans go about deciding on their love. And then when they decide that the one they married after all of this exercise is not the one they wanted they go about divorce. All this information stuns Giselle initially and she tells him her own methods of charming the whole world into a love trance.
Without going into too much details of the plot, all I will say is that when Edward finally does meet Giselle, she doesn’t want to go back to Andalasia immediately and instead asks him to take her on a date.
Does dating Edward give her some new insight into his personality and love. Does her definition of love change with her experiences on earth or is she able to transform the beliefs of the people that she meets on earth.
The Reviewers Take
What can I say friends; I was totally smitten by this one. The movie has not left me thinking rationally to be able to give you a proper analysis of its technical scores or its cast performance and direction. It’s a truly Enchanting movie! The best performance seems to be by Giselle. She has subtly conveyed the change in her emotions and truly justified her reasoning for saying that the most powerful thing in the world is – The Kiss of True Love. Amy Adams as Giselle is convincing in her role and even her movements in the animated and the real world are very well coordinated. From the technical scores and the cast performances the movie is five stars. Patrick Dempsey as Robert, the divorce Lawyer has also given a good performance. Whereas his lookout on love is totally different from Giselle’s, the two of them still come together and bond so well. How each one influences the others thinking and to what extent, is the high point of the movie. Susan Sarandon as Queen Narrisa the stepmother of Prince Edward has done a reasonably good job and has also added the comic touch to the proceedings. James Marsdon as the somewhat dimwitted and love struck prince has given a reasonably good account of himself and has done justice to the character. Rachel Covey as the 6-year-old daughter of Robert who has lost her mother early but bonds very well with her father, has given a decent performance.