Disenchanted Review: A Few Years Too Late!

It’s been fifteen years since we last heard from the characters of Enchanted, and now with Disenchanted, I wished we never heard from them again. This movie takes place ten years after the first one and follows Giselle, played by Amy Adams, as she and her family move from New York to the Suburbs to try and live the proper fairy tale life. When things start to fall apart, Giselle makes a wish that goes horribly wrong, and now she must fix her mistake before it becomes permanent.

Also Read: The Menu Review – Equally Funny and Unnerving!

I actually gave Disenchanted a chance to be good, but in the end, I was right, and this movie fell flat on its face. My biggest issue is the story but especially how it’s handled. The premise was not inferior and could have worked too. The only reason it didn’t work here is that it bit off more than it could chew. It tried to give each character a plot line of their own which is where it goes wrong. As a result, the characters were skipped over for long periods, and when they finally appear on-screen, I was like, “Oh right, you exist!”

It’s also due to this the character arcs felt rushed or non-existent. We don’t get to spend time with these characters, so the connection isn’t there through and through. Furthermore, there’s a big element in this film that involves a character that is never explained, and I know most people will overlook this, but it just bugged me. But like I said, the story isn’t bad by any means. It still has its heart warming moments, but they were rushed, overshadowed, or forgotten very quickly.

The first Enchanted installment has become a classic over the years with people still being able to quote the story to this day, but I don’t see this 2022 sequel being quotable at all. The story is just that forgettable and what doesn’t help is how predictable it is. I guessed how this movie was going to end at the thirty-minute mark and I know this because I legit paused the movie to write it down. But even without the movie being predictable, a big problem was also the pacing.

I was hoping that one of the things that would be fixed for Disenchanted was the pacing, but despite a slightly longer run time, it’s somehow worse and stems from what I mentioned earlier about the characters. It tries so hard to make sure each character has roughly the same screen time that it ends up affecting the pacing. You’re constantly wanting it to go back to Giselle just so the story can progress further. It’s also due to this pacing issue that once the climax hits everything was sped up to the max. There was no time to breathe because the writers had to solve the problem in a natural way that conveyed the message of this movie properly. Then when the movie ended, it didn’t feel satisfying and was more confusing than anything.

Another big reason this movie’s pacing was not the greatest is because of the songs. Enchanted (2007) only had four songs in it, but they helped progress the story forward so it was okay to have them in it. The songs were also catchy, so it helped distract the audience from the pacing issues it had. Whereas in Disenchanted, the songs bring the movie to a screeching halt. They do nothing to advance the plot, and unlike the original songs, these ones just aren’t catchy enough to distract the audience from the pacing issues. Instead of distracting us they instead makes us wish everything was moving faster and the songs just weren’t included. There also were scenes in this movie that either could’ve been cut out or cut down as well to help this movie move at a faster pace.

Despite those major issues I will say there are things I enjoyed about Disenchanted. The biggest thing I actually enjoyed was the acting. Pretty much every actor had to play two different versions of their character, and you can tell they had fun with it. The best person to show how much fun he had while playing a different version of his character is Patrick Dempsey, who plays Robert. You can just tell through his performance that he was so happy to play this different version of Robert. I can’t properly describe how exactly he portrayed this fantasy version other than a crazy maniac who’s slowly losing his mind. I just wish his fantasy version didn’t sing because I definitely preferred him singing in the first movie to this one.

But of course, the real scene stealer in this movie was Amy Adams. Her performance as Giselle feels the exact same way she played her back in 2007. It’s almost like she never left this role and was able to just come back and play this character like it was yesterday. I also enjoyed how we got to see a different side of her this time around. In the first film, we only saw her as this happy and bubbly person, but here not only do we get to see her be a bit more vulnerable but also has a darker side to her which makes the movie interesting. I love how she was able to smoothly switch between being good and evil. But like I said, what was also enchanting about her performance is when she showed her vulnerable side. It shows how much Giselle has grown over the past ten years, and I wish we got to see more of it.

A performance I surprisingly enjoyed was Gabriella Baldacchino, who plays Morgan. Her performance was a shock to me just due to the fact that she wasn’t the original actress who played Morgan. I thought that her performance might make it obvious that she was played by someone else, but no, she felt like the same little girl from the first Enchanted movie, just all grown up now. Even though she does go through the stereotypical teenager mood swings, it was still entertaining to watch, especially in the moments where you see her caring for her family. I honestly wish we got to see more of her in this movie, as her character was interesting to follow. Also, just have to quickly shout out James Marsden, who plays Edward, as he stole the few scenes he was in for me.

My friend would hunt me down if I didn’t mention this one thing which is the CGI. Was the CGI in this movie better than the first movie? Yes, but at what cost since the CGI appliances were just terrifying. I think they were trying to go for a real-life fantasy look to them, but no matter what, I will be seeing those singing appliances in my dreams tonight. But the terrifying appliances aside, I have to shout out the costume and set designers. Once the wish happens the town and townspeople all look like real-life fairy tale people. Of course, the town already looked like a fairytale village, but the changes to it to make it look like an actual one are insane. Just like with the clothing as well which looks exactly like medieval fairytale wear. I especially love the outfits that Adams and Rudolph wore. I wouldn’t wear them myself, but you can see the detail that went into making them and the passion as well.

In the end, Disenchanted is just a few years too late in its release and definitely won’t hold up as well as the first movie. But at least we got Idina Menzel singing in this movie, that’s a plus.

‘Disenchanted’ Rating – 2.5/5

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