Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

December 4, 2008 10:37:54 AM CST

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Critics Under Enchanted's Spell

Posted Nov 21, 07 12:12 PM CST in Gossip,  Arts & Living 

(Newser) – Enchanted starts out looking like classic Disney animation—right up until the wicked queen banishes Princess Giselle to a live-action Times Square. “OK, it’s a little corny,” admits Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers. But, like most critics, he succumbs to the spell of this gently revisionist fairy tale and especially its "wicked good" princess. Drawing multiple comparisons to Mary Poppins, Variety calls it “a film aimed at the entire population—niches be damned.”

Roger Ebert pulls out the rhetorical stops, calling it “a heart-winning musical comedy that skips lightly and sprightly from the lily pads of hope to the manhole covers of actuality.” One gag sees Giselle’ decorating a Manhattan apartment with an assist from a few cockroaches, rats and pigeons. Driving the magic is star Amy Adams, who Travers calls “the wish your heart makes when you want a storybook princess for the ages.”

Sources Rotten Tomatoes, Rolling Stone, RogerEbert.com, Variety

0 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

Related Newser Stories

  • Four Christmases a Big Turkey

    Nov 26, 08 9:46 AM CST
    Four Christmases a Big Turkey Holiday comedy Four Christmases had some critics chuckling but left most moaning ho-ho-no. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon star as a couple forced by circumstance to visit the dysfunctional families of their divorced parents, but the "predictable and dyspeptic story" lacks the bite of misanthropic holiday classics like Bad Santa, Claudia Puig writes in USA Today.
    More »

  • Bolt Is Fetching Fun

    Nov 21, 08 1:18 PM CST
    Bolt Is Fetching Fun Disney's latest animated movie may not win prizes for originality, but Bolt is barking up the right tree for family entertainment, say critics. John Travolta voices with "terrific tenderness" the super-powered pooch who's unaware that his life has been a canine Truman Show, writes Michael Rechtshaffen in the Hollywood Reporter. Miley Cyrus is equally effective as his owner. More »

  • Role Models Sets Bad Example

    Nov 7, 08 12:11 PM CST
    Role Models Sets Bad Example The "shamelessly stoopid, proudly profane R-rated comedy” Role Models, the story of two immature men forced to take care of kids, is “killer funny,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. But other critics aren’t so sure. “A lot of Role Models is plain old tin,” says Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune.
    More »

  • Madagascar Sequel Not Wildly Different

    Nov 7, 08 9:09 AM CST
    Madagascar Sequel Not Wildly Different Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa brings back the on-the-run New York menagerie, and DreamWorks hasn't monkeyed much with the first movie's winning, if slightly tired, formula, say critics. The celebrity-voiced animals' new adventure "is aimed mostly at children and should score a direct hit," Kirk Honeycutt writes in the Hollywood Reporter.
    More »

  • Porno Naughty But Nice

    Oct 31, 08 11:49 AM CDT
    Porno Naughty But Nice Indie director and slacker king Kevin Smith has made a surprisingly tender film with Zack and Miri Make a Porno, critics say. Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogan star as a pair of "genuinely likable social misfits" whose platonic friendship is put to the test when they decide to make an adult film to pay the bills, Sean Axmaker writes in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
    More »

A screenshot from the movie "Enchanted"   (KRT Photos)
  (Getty Images)
James Marsden declares love to Amy Adams as Patrick Dempsey looks on in this still from Disney's 'Enchanted.'   (© Walt Disney Pictures)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Disney's Enchanted (trailer)   (bsbnelijahfan (YouTube))

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »
Our editors also recommend:

Threads (
1
 of 1)

Tags

movie • movie review • comedy • Disney • Amy Adams


Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

Today's Most Popular

Loading...

Other Arts & Living Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser a team of editors and writers culls the most important stories from hundreds of U.S. and international sources and reduces them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. It's the Newser guarantee: we can take any report or column or video and pack what you need to know into 120 words or less. Newser's short-form aggregation, visual format, and unique information tools help you get more of the kind of news you want, in a quicker and more entertaining way. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »