Disenchanted Movie Review: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey’s Fantasy Sequel Lacks That Classic Disney Magic (LatestLY Exclusive)

Disenchanted Movie Review: Fifteen years later, Amy Adams once again steps into the role of Giselle as Disenchanted, directed by Adam Shankman, hits Disney+. Back in 2007, Enchanted had wrapped up things neatly with a promising “happily ever after” for its characters, Giselle had found true love and was all set to start a family. So, was a sequel warranted? Well, the concept of the film does speak for itself, however, the overall charm factor of it leaves so much to be desired. She Said Movie Review: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan’s Powerful Performances Lead This Hard-Hitting Tale on the Harvey Weinstein Scandal (LatestLY Exclusive).

Beginning with a classic Disney animation sequence, we see Giselle and Robert (Patrick Dempsey) move out of Manhattan to the suburban town of Monroeville to live a simpler life. With them just having had a child and Morgan (Gabriella Baldacchino) being a teenager now, their life takes for a huge turn when they get to revisit the fairytale shenanigans, but things don’t really go according to plan.

With Enchanted we saw a natural progression of Giselle, and the one good thing that Disenchanted actually does is try to further that in a meaningful way. With Giselle now being a stepmom, she quickly starts losing herself and her sweetness. Her chipmunk turns into a cat and she starts being meaner to her stepdaughter, which in turn gets her closer to being an evil witch. This directly mirrors Narissa, who was portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the first film, and while that progression could have made for a great sequel, Disenchanted just does it in the most mundane way possible.

Amy Adams is adorable in the role, and when she starts turning up into an eviler version, it makes for an interesting dynamic, yet the film just doesn’t capitalise on it. It has all the evil witch stereotypes put in over here, and never once tries to subvert them. The same can be said for the supporting cast too; Patrick Dempsey tries to add some spark through his midlife crisis, and when the opportunity arises, the film doesn’t give him much to do.

Watch the Trailer:

Gabriella Baladacchino’s Morgan stuck in her teenage angst has her reservations. Playing into the cliché of a child not liking the move to a new place, she pretty much ends up being a fantasy stereotype. Thankfully, the writing doesn’t completely let her down because her dynamic with Amy’s Giselle makes up for a lot of the heart of the film, and that's what keeps a lot of Disenchanted’s, errr... disenchanting plot afloat.

James Marsden and Idina Menzel return as King Edward and Nancy, yet there is nothing special to latch onto them and Maya Rudolph’s antagonistic Malvina Monroe can’t reach to the heights of Susan Sarandon's Narissa.

Disenchanted does look quite pretty though. The sequences of Monroeville turning into a fantasy land of its own are backed up by some well designed visuals, and the overall action does make for an occasional fun watch here and there. Another huge part of Enchanted were the musical sequences, and while the songs here don’t really hold a candle to the tracks in the previous entry, they sure do add a bit of excitement to the film. The Menu Movie Review: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy’s Kitchen Horror Comedy is a Delectable Platter With a Claustrophobic View (LatestLY Exclusive).

Sadly, that’s where the majority of the charm ends for the film. Disenchanted leans heavily into nostalgia and that’s where things start going off the rails. Focusing on spectacle more than having its story be paced well, an easy amount of the film could have been trimmed out. All-in-all it just made for a watch that didn’t grab a hold of me like how Enchanted did.

Yay!

Amy Adams

Good Visuals

Nay!

Lacks the Charm of the Original

Plays Into Fantasy Stereotypes

Final Thoughts

Disenchanted sadly can’t live up to the infectious charm of the original film. Packing in a good performance from Amy Adams, it unfortunately runs into the issues of being a needless sequel that can’t further the plot of the original in a meaningful way. Disenchanted is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar right now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 18, 2022 06:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).