Critics Under Enchanted's Spell

Enchanted starts out looking like classic Disney animation—right up until the wicked queen banishes Princess Giselle to a live-action Times Square. “OK, it’s a little corny,” admits Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers. But, like most critics, he succumbs to the spell of this gently revisionist fairy tale and especially its "wicked good" princess. Drawing multiple comparisons to Mary Poppins, Variety calls it “a film aimed at the entire population—niches be damned.”

Roger Ebert pulls out the rhetorical stops, calling it “a heart-winning musical comedy that skips lightly and sprightly from the lily pads of hope to the manhole covers of actuality.” One gag sees Giselle’ decorating a Manhattan apartment with an assist from a few cockroaches, rats and pigeons. Driving the magic is star Amy Adams, who Travers calls “the wish your heart makes when you want a storybook princess for the ages.” (More movies stories.)