Enchanted Review

It's not too often you actually get to watch someone become a star.

I watch a ton of movies and I see a ton of good work (and a ton of bad work), but when you see the right actor in the right role and see them command the screen and an entire movie for the first time it's special. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about and you all have your favorites (I can think of Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls" just off the top of my head).

Amy Adams has been around a while. Hell, she's even been nominated for an Oscar already (for "Junebug"), so she's no rookie. She's been a solid actress for a good while, but with her role as Giselle in "Enchanted" she became a star.

Disney's latest is an animated/live-action hybrid that manages to both spoof and celebrate the company's own movie musicals. Giselle (Adams) is banished from her animated home by the evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), who doesn't want Giselle to marry Prince Edward (James Marsden).

As you've probably seen from the previews, Giselle lands in present-day New York City and meets a kindly lawyer (Patrick Dempsey) with a cute little daughter (Rachel Covey) to help show us his tender side.

I won't tell you what happens from there on out, but you can probably figure it out, since this IS a Disney movie — and I mean that in the best possible sense of the word.

Adams is great as Giselle, who is a combination of Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and other Disney princesses. She commits fully to the character and plays it endearingly and without irony, winning us over the way she does the characters in the film. She's got the Golden Globe for "Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical" sewn up and, in my world, would be up for an Oscar.

She's helped along by a few catch and witty songs by Alan Menken (Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast) and Stephen Schwartz that, like the movie, poke fun at Disney musicals, but are also good enough to be part of a Disney musical (like the "Happy Working Song"). My favorite was the park-set "That's How You Know" — if you're not charmed by this sequence (or at least crack a smile) then you're a heartless bastard and I feel sorry for you.

As for the rest of the cast, I'm no "Grey's Anatomy" fan, but Dempsey is decent as Robert. He has less to do as the straight man, but his reactions to all the wackiness around him are pretty solid.

James Marsden joins Thomas Jane on my list of guys who should be on Hollywood's A-list. Even though he's stuck playing the "other" guy again (see "X-Men", "The Notebook", "Superman Returns") he throws himself into the role and delivers good comedy relief. With this role (and his role in "Hairspray) and his past action-centric resume, is there anything this guy can't do?

The rest of the cast doesn't fare quite as well. Idina Menzel ("Rent", "Wicked") is woefully underused, while Susan Sarandon was flat-out bad as Queen Narissa. She was neither scary nor charismatic enough to match up to Disney's long history of scary and charismatic villains. The movie's special effects-heavy finale did not work for me at all.

Still, this is just a cute, good-natured flick that fans of Disney movies will probably enjoy (you can also pass the time by trying to spot the homages to past Disney films). As a bonus, you also get to see a real-live movie star being born right before your eyes.

Enchanted...B+