Movie Review – ‘Disenchanted’

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s amazing to think that it’s been 15 years since the film ‘Enchanted’ was made in 2007. I’ve now seen ‘Disenchanted’, the sequel to ‘Enchanted’, which was released on Disney+ in 2022. I’m amazed this film was only released exclusively to Disney+, since it could have had a limited theatrical release.

Mind you, I suppose not many were expecting a sequel to ‘Enchanted’. I personally didn’t think a sequel to ‘Enchanted’ would be made. The fact it’s only released on Disney+ may account for that. I enjoyed ‘Disenchanted’, but I must admit this film didn’t have the same quality that ‘Enchanted’ had.

It was compelling to watch, but I wish things could have been different in terms of developing the characters when following it up from ‘Enchanted’. Certain characters from ‘Enchanted’ aren’t in this film at all. Nathaniel is nowhere to be seen and neither is Jodi Benson’s secretary character in the film. 😦

The film has Amy Adams return to the role of Giselle. Amy Adams has been in lot of things since doing ‘Enchanted’, including the 2011 ‘Muppets’ film and playing Lois Lane in the ‘DC Extended Universe’ movies. In ‘Disenchanted’, Giselle is with Patrick Dempsey as her husband Robert Philip. 🙂

She, Robert, her stepdaughter Morgan (now played by Gabriella Baldacchino) and her new baby daughter Sofia move to a new home in the suburb of Monroeville. The community is run by Maya Rudolph as Malvina Monroe, who is the film’s evil queen villain with her own nefarious intentions. 😐

When things don’t seem to be going well for Giselle in terms of a happily ever after, she wishes that the lives of her and her family were that of a perfect fairy tale. The wish granted to her backfires though, as Giselle slowly becomes an evil stepmother herself. Her family and home has to be saved.

Now on the one hand, the idea of everything becoming a fairy tale for Giselle when she makes a wish using a powerful wand is a good one. A lot can be played around with in terms of how characters are set up and presented to us, especially in a comedic fashion that could be pretty funny.

Mind you, I didn’t really get that much excitement when watching the fairy tale version of Giselle’s home and family in Monroeville. This is especially when Giselle starts to become an evil stepmother, which, while a disturbing notion, is not how I would have liked to have seen her depicted in a sequel.

I’m also not a fan of how Morgan’s character is presented in this film. For the simple reason that this isn’t the same Morgan character I knew from ‘Enchanted’. Yes, I know she’s older and yes, I know she’s had a change of actress, but I did feel Morgan was mean-spirited, especially towards Giselle. 😦

Morgan didn’t need to be like that in this film, as the love she had for Giselle as a little girl in ‘Enchanted’ should have been carried over into ‘Disenchanted’ when she was a teenager from the start. Yes, I know teens can be moody, but Morgan didn’t need to be so moody towards Giselle here.

I also didn’t feel Robert had a lot of time spent on him as a character, as he tended to be absent when fighting monsters in his fairy tale persona. It was nice to see James Marsden back as Edward and Idina Menzel back as Nancy, but I don’t feel they had much development compared to the first film.

It was nice to see the 2D animated scenes, especially when Morgan ended up in Andalasia to seek help from Edward and Nancy on how to save Giselle. I will say that Amy Adams is very good in playing the dual roles of sweet Giselle and evil stepmother Giselle as she switched between the two.

The film also features Yvette Nicole Brown as Rosaleen and Jayma Mays as Ruby, who are both assistants to Malvina Monroe in the film. Apparently, Rachel Covey, who played Morgan in ‘Enchanted’, makes a cameo in this movie, playing someone who reminds Giselle about a night festival. 🙂

Alan Tudyk also voices a talking scroll in the film. There’s also Kolton Stewart who plays Tyson, Malvina Monroe’s son who ends up becoming Morgan’s love interest and boyfriend. I liked the love story angle between Morgan and Tyson, both in the real life and in the fairy tale aspects of the story.

Pip the chipmunk, now voiced by Griffin Newman, also returns in the film to meet up with Giselle. I didn’t like it when Pip became an evil cat to match Giselle who was becoming an evil stepmother. That felt wrong to me whilst watching the film and Pip looked ugly as an evil cat, especially in CGI. 😐

Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz return as the film’s songwriters. Alan Menkin also returns to compose the film’s musical score. I can’t say the songs in ‘Disenchanted’ are memorable compared to ‘Enchanted’s. Maybe over time, the songs and music will grow on me the more I watch the movie. 😐

The songs include ‘Even More Enchanted’ performed by Amy Adams, ‘The Magic of Andalsia’ performed by James Marsden and Idinia Menzel, ‘Fairytale Life’ performed by Amy Adams, Gabriella Baldacchino, Patrick Dempsey and more, ‘Badder’ performed by Adam Adams and Maya Rudolph, and ‘Love Power’ performed by Idina Menzel and Amy Adams. Hmm. The singing is still pretty good.

So, whilst ‘Disenchanted’ has been an enjoyable and compelling sequel to ‘Enchanted’, I can’t say it’s as good as the first film. Maybe the more times I watch it, the more I’ll be able to get into it. I’m glad I’ve been able to see the film on Disney+, although I would do things differently with the characters.

I suppose ‘Disenchanted’ was a film that didn’t really need to be made, especially with it being released exclusively on Disney+. I doubt a follow-up will happen in a third film, as the second film was made 15 years after the first film. I still hope I’ll get a chance to revisit ‘Disenchanted’ quite soon.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂

Advertisement