"Enchanted" - Parody and homage

[jennyk]

My review of "Enchanted" is posted here (http://fwdailynews.com/articles/2007/11/29/features/columnists/jenny_kobiela/doc474ec8992bd55878128729.txt). I highly recommend the movie - it was very funny and supremely entertaining, and everyone I went with loved it: my sister, who is 20, and three guys ages 22-23.

I think that kids will enjoy the movie because it has a good story. It's already being marketed to kids, especially little girls - I was in the Disney Store the weekend before the movie came out, and there was already tons of "Enchanted" merchandise, including Giselle dresses for little would-be princesses.

But I wonder if parents won't enjoy the movie even more than the kids. It's a wonderful little send-up of Disney's old princess movies. I hesitate to call it a parody, because it's really a fairy-tale story in its own right. I also think of parody being snide and sarcastic, and "Enchanted" isn't really too snotty to the source material. It's not like "Shrek," where it sort of exists to poke fun at Disney movies. It is a Disney movie that plays off of princess movie cliches. It's more of an homage. I think the "parody/homage" aspect will fly over the heads of little kids, but adults will love it.

It's a very well-made movie, too, with fantastic acting, great special effects and even some really great songs. Disney really went all out for this movie!

Has anyone seen "Enchanted"? What did you think? Do people have opinions on the fine line between parody and homage? Holler back!

[james_t]

Our church held a parent's night out Friday - where they watch the kids for the evening - so I took my wife to see this movie. I can tell you one demographic this movie does not appeal to - my three sons would have been totally put off by the princess theme and the "true love's kiss" references. Of course, that's why we went without them.

I know this is part parody, but Giselle and Edward still both seemed really dippy in comparison to more recent Disney fairy-tale characters like Jasmine, Ariel, Aladdin, etc. I wonder if they couldn't have had half a brain without ruining the comedy.

Disney fairy-tales weren't the only target of the parody though. Modern life took a few hits, too - especially with the characters of the try-to-divorce couple arguing over a baseball card.

I didn't think it was a bad movie, but I think more could have been done with it. I also would have liked to seen Susan Sarandon on-screen more - I thought her character was interesting by underused. My wife also enjoyed it, though she thought it dragged a bit, particularly in the beginning.

[jennyk]

You're right that Giselle and Edward were sort of dippy, but I did like seeing Giselle grow throughout the movie. It definitely wasn't a perfect movie, but I did think it was a nice movie, and very entertaining. I was surprised that my dad actually saw it and liked it. He's usually not into all that princess stuff.