Disenchanted is the long awaited sequel to the 2007 hit Disney musical, Enchanted. I absolutely love the original; Amy Adams is fantastic as Giselle, James Marsden and Patrick Dempsey are having a blast, and the music by Alan Menken is catchy and memorable. You would think bringing all of those pieces back for the sequel would make it as good as the original, right? Sadly, that isn’t the case here. While the cast is great, the story and surprisingly the songs don’t capture the same magic the original had.
Disenchanted Review
The film picks up 15 years after the events of Enchanted, where Giselle is living happily with Robert and his daughter Morgan, who is all grown up now and in high school; they even have a daughter of their own named Sofia. While they have been living happily in New York City, they decide to move to a suburban town called Monroeville. This new home brings on family drama and causes Giselle to make a powerful wish for a fairytale life; naturally, that goes horribly wrong.
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Amy Adams was fantastic in the original Enchanted, and she steps back into the role of Giselle perfectly. There’s a new addition to her performance in this film where she switches seamlessly back and forth between her happy normal self and the wicked stepmother role. Patrick Dempsey is great as Robert, as well as James Marsden, Idina Menzel, and newcomer Gabriella Baldacchino as Morgan. They all sound great in the songs they perform (even Patrick Dempsey this time around); the problem is I don’t remember any of the songs.
The music is the most disappointing element of Disenchanted for me. Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz are both fantastic musical minds. They have created iconic songs as a duo, my personal favorite being The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I don’t know how the production went or if there was a crunch time to get the music done, but the songs feel rushed and unoriginal compared to the original film. There are also too many reprises of the songs for my liking, which makes you become annoyed with them by the end.
Overall, I think putting Disenchanted on Disney+ was the right decision. I don’t think it would have performed as well at the box office as it will be streaming. They picked a smart release time, as I’m sure families will get together and watch it over Thanksgiving weekend. The cast and performances are great and are the main reason I would recommend watching the film, so if you can get past the weak story and songs you may find a little enchantment in this sequel.
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