Enchanted Princess

I recently watched Disney's Enchanted on Netflix with my girlfriend. I didn't watched it back in 2007 when it gained attention for three Best Original Song nominations at the 80th Academy Awards. I had known the basic premise of the movie, following a Disney-trope princess transported out of her magical two-dimensional fairy-tale world into the very real New York City, and felt it would be an interesting film to watch after Disney's recent fairy-tale endeavor with Frozen. The much acclaimed adaption of the Snow Queen story was seen as a progressive move for the production company, creating two strong female leads that rejected the standard stereotype of most princesses in seeking the true love of a prince. 

Enchanted still followed the classic paradigm of an innocent woman seeking true love. It adheres to all the silly fairy tale tropes that have haunted lead female roles in Disney films. However, it presented its tale with wonder and joy that really made me laugh quite a bit. Amy Adams was wonderful as the princess Giselle, who goes around New York filled with awe at all the strange things she sees. A character out of place in a strange world is a common theme in these kind of movies, but Adams's performance brought it to new heights with her innocent questioning of why people are so unhappy. With most happy-go-lucky movies like this, I can't help but feel a certain cynicism at the optimism, which is why I like to watch darker films with tragic endings (see The Mist or Dancer in the Dark for some good ones). Of course, Giselle's awe and cute wonder at the world would be incredibly lackluster if there wasn't a complete opposite to create the conflict in the film. That's where Patrick Dempsey comes in, playing the realistic feet-on-the-ground single father who's life gets turned upside-down when he is too nice to let poor lost Giselle on her own.

Both characters learn something from each other and this where the film wins. There is a conflict and they gain something in the end. Patrick Dempsey learns to see the bright side, the beauty in the world, to open up about his true feelings, and to love again. Giselle learns about evil, the hardships of real life, that not all people are good and honest, and how to fight for herself and not for someone else. The beautiful thing about all this is how Giselle shows other people the pure beauty in just being alive and getting to share things with each other. This is why she is my favorite part of the film and why I think it received such a great response when it was released. Sure, it still represents the power of being in a hetero relationship, but it does it with a lot of heart.