Enchanted (Movie Review)

I like my family and all but, man, do I ever get bored on some visits home.

There's a natural tendency to want to get in quality time with friends and family while I'm there, but my parents don't always make that easy. They sit in separate rooms watching different shows on different TVs and it's difficult to get them to go, well... anywhere.

So, yeah, I caught up on some reading while I was home. But I get restless, and two friends — whose visits seldom coincide with mine — happened to also be there this Thanksgiving and so essentially spared me my sanity.

But I was nevertheless determined to cut my trip short and head back a day early when my brother informed me I'd be watching my five-year-old nephew for the night.

About an hour into the evening, I realized I can only play "cowboys" for, well... about an hour. So I offered to take him to a movie, and he eagerly accepted. The nearest theater (20 miles away) is about 50 years old and only has two screens: so it was down to Fred Claus and Enchanted. He chose Enchanted.

And he seemed to be enjoying it, too, until he turned to me grumpily — at precisely 8 p.m. — and said, "Is it 8 o'clock yet?"

Turns out 8 p.m. is his bed-time, something I didn't find out until later.

Man, I'm a bad aunt. The movie wasn't over until 9.

The good news is he enjoyed the film enough to stay awake for its entirety. And I enjoyed it enough to find it mildly amusing. My mother — I talked her into joining us — was even more entertained than I was.

So here's the scoop on Enchanted (2006): it's a modern twist on old fairy tales. Essentially, a cartoon princess is sent to "reality" by the wicked stepmother of her Prince Charming ("No," she corrects someone when they refer to her fiance as such, "His name's Price Edward"). She emerges in-the-flesh from the New York City underground and is very much so lost until a divorce attorney's daughter takes pity on her.

And so begins the convergence of reality and fantasy, with the two slowly (though blatantly) mixing until one becomes the other and all variety of roles become reversed. The end result was a little too obvious for my tastes, but this is a PG film intended specifically for kids, after all.

But on that note, it was also a bit too long and could've benefited from some editing.

Otherwise, a decent film that's as good for cynical, curmudgeonly adults (that'd be me) as it is for charming little kids that are generally all smiles until bed time rolls around.

Did I mention my nephew's an amazing kid? Really is. More on that later.

FINAL GRADE: B+