Friday, March 28, 2008

In Defense of Fairy Tales

(cross-posted from Love2learn at the Movies)


We finally saw Disney's Enchanted after many lovely recommendations. I don't think I could possibly say it better than Barb Nicolosi's brief recommendation:

It is smart and at moments hilarious and consciously uncynical. And when Disney is on the dock at the last judgment, they will just show this film and say, "The defense rests."
G.K. Chesterton would love this story that not only defends fairy tales, but gives us a quirky look at our world from someone who finds it completely foreign.

I'm kind of a crazy person sometimes. I've been known to cheer (very loudly) at the television - during football games, spelling bees and *some* political speeches. It doesn't happen a lot in movies, but when there's a glorious moment of truth proclaimed on screen, I can't help myself. I found myself cheering and yelling at more than one point in this story. Good stuff!

7 comments:

Clare said...

Oh, I'm so looking forward to seeing this film! It looks like such a delight.

Anonymous said...

Oh I'm so glad you liked it - I knew you would! ;-)

Karen Edmisten said...

I've been wanting to see this one since I read that Nicolosi review. Thanks for the reminder! Can't wait!

love2learnmom said...

For those interested in the nitty-gritty details (with a small spoiler), here is a slightly-edited (for context) comment I left on a friend's blog:

There are a few tricky parts, but I think the plugged in review makes it sound more problematic than it really is (for example, I think that the word "homosexual" applied to a particular glance and a very, very mild joke is quite an overstatement).

I think the most objectionable part is the very low-cut dresses worn by the heroine. Fortunately, at this point, my kids all consider that to make the dress uglier, so it's not really much of an issue here.

For me, the positives make up for that completely, but movies hit different people differently and I think this is very much one of those parents-need-to-make-the-call kinds of movies (it IS rated PG for fairy tale violence and mild innuendo).

I think this youtube clip is pretty typical of the story.

I'm not generally a fan of musicals, but I LOVED this scene, probably my second-favorite scene in the movie.

MILD SPOILER ALERT:

My VERY favorite scene (the one I cheered the loudest for, LOL) was one in which a married couple in divorce proceedings (the male lead in the movie is a divorce attorney) are "accidentally" reconciled by the very innocent heroine's very sweet sorrow over their separation.

The very clever and sometimes rather subtle way that the movie has of looking (very rightly) at the world through a child's eyes is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the movie on the whole.

Perhaps I should also mention that, after viewing the movie in its entirety only once, it's possible that I missed some little details too.

Hope that helps! :)

Christine said...

We really enjoyed this movie, too, and liked the music a lot. "That's How You Know" and the "Happy Working Song" are particular favorites in this house. My children can't help but dance to some of the songs and I have to admit that they get my feet moving. The positives far outwayed any negatives.

Anonymous said...

I've been waiting to see this - when it first came out, I sorta wrote it off but I have heard some really good reviews.

Anonymous said...

I was so relieved to see your review. My daughter saw this without me and I've been wondering ever since whether that was a mistake. She loved it, though. And I cheer (and sometimes even stand) for all kinds of televised events. :)