Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a sequel so bad that you question your love for the original? I’m not talking about just a bad sequel. Those happen; I’d say we generally get at least one a year. I’m talking about jaw-dropping, “what-the-Hell-is-this?”, Another 48 Hrs. sequels in which you literally wish you hadn’t seen the film because now you wonder if the original wasn’t as good as you thought it was.
Let’s start with what I LOVED about Enchanted, the 2007 hit that –understandably- put Amy Adams in our collective conscience:
- The plot
- The music. I still have “That’s How You Know” on several playlists
- The humor
- The cutesy mingling of animated and “real” worlds
- The shining-knight buffoonery of James Marsden
- The reluctance of Patrick Dempsey
- The villainy of Susan Sarandon
- But mostly, and well above all else, the larger-than-life innocent wonder of Amy Adams as Giselle, the animated princess of Andalasia made real by a trip to NYC. When I think about my favorite roles of all time, Amy Adams as Giselle is on that list.
OK, now see that entire bucket of good stuff? None of it applies here. Not a lick. And it has been replaced by next-to-nothing. Oh, and it gets better. Not only did Amy Adams find none of the magic that Enchanted me in 2007; I don’t even like Giselle any more, good or bad. As far as I’m concerned, this is the saddest character reprisal in modern history.
*sigh*
That said, let me introduce Disenchanted, Enchanted’s evil twin. Ten years following the events on Enchanted, Giselle, Robert (Dempsey), and now troubled teen Morgan (Gabriella Baldacchino) have moved to Monroeville, a mediocre suburb, to live mediocre suburban lives. Predictably, Morgan hates her new milieu and so when Giselle is given a “wish-granting wand” by her ex –good gravy, that’s an awful plot device—she uses it to wish her life to be a “perfect fairy tale.”
Yeah, gosh, I see no problems with that request.
Within minutes, all goes kablooie, but few seem to recognize klabooie for what it is. The town turns medieval; Robert – with the aid of a gifted sword (?!)—starts pretending he’s a monster-defeating knight, Maya Rudolph becomes queen of the town, and Giselle –recognizing that she’s a step-mother- starts turning evil.
None of these are good plots, but I have to say that Robert pretending to be a dragon-slayer is the one that really made me want to switch off. Now, don’t get me wrong; the film tried to use what it had: Idina Menzel, the current queen of the parallel cartoon world Andalasia, shows up to sing a meaningless power ballad about love, Andalasian king Edward (Marsden) tries his hand at crisis aversion, Dempsey 
attempts to sell the “humor” of his futility, and –one thing I genuinely did enjoy- Adams and Rudolph sing a duet that amounts to an evil-queen-off. So that three minutes was more enjoyable than “THIS SUCKS.”
By the end of the film, I was absolutely stunned about not just how entertainment had failed to happen, but that I was actually kind of mad to boot, because Enchanted was such a fun watch while Disenchanted was not. At all. So much talent in this film; so many resources. They even exhumed Alan Menken (composer Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Enchanted, Tangled) to compose one more new soundtrack. Absolute fail. Can’t think of a single note I heard just hours ago. And, like I promised above, I not only loathed Disenchanted, I truly wonder if my love of Enchanted was justified. Disenchanted is a sad reminder that talent alone cannot make a film a winner.
Maybe there’s use for this a starter Disney film for those with no background in entertainment; otherwise, throw this on the scrapheap; there’s a damn good reason Disney didn’t put Disenchanted in theaters. It sucks.
Nobody expected this to be Enchanted’s equal
But the producers should have made a prequal
For all the fairytale joy
I’ve one conclusion, oh boy:
The real magic would be not making a sequel
Rated PG, 119 Minutes
Director: Adam Shankman
Writer: Brigitte Hales, J. David Stem, David N. Weiss
Genre: SMH
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Poor desperate and deluded Disney groupies
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Those who know a train wreck when they see one
