| Enchanted | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byJohn Alvin | |
| Directed by | Kevin Lima |
| Written by | Bill Kelly |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Don Burgess |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Alan Menken |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 107 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $85 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $340.5 million[3] |
Enchanted is a 2007 Americanlive-action animatedmusicalfantasyromantic comedy film directed byKevin Lima and written byBill Kelly. Co-produced byWalt Disney Pictures,Josephson Entertainment, andRight Coast Productions, the film starsAmy Adams,Patrick Dempsey,James Marsden,Timothy Spall,Idina Menzel, andSusan Sarandon, withJulie Andrews as the narrator. It focuses on anarchetypalDisney Princess-to-be namedGiselle, who is exiled from her animated world into the live-action world of theNew York Citymetropolitan area, where she falls in love with a divorce lawyer.
The film is both anhomage to and aself-parody ofDisney's animated features, making numerous references to past works through the combination of live-action filmmaking,traditional animation, andcomputer-generated imagery. It also marks the return of traditional animation to a Disney feature film after the company's decision to move entirely to computer animation in 2004. ComposerAlan Menken and lyricistStephen Schwartz, who had written songs for previous Disney films, wrote and produced the songs ofEnchanted, and Menken also composed the film's score. The animated sequences were produced atJames Baxter Animation in Pasadena, while filming of the live-action segments took place aroundNew York City.
Enchanted premiered at theLondon Film Festival on October 20, 2007, and went into itswide release in the United States on November 21. The film was critically well-received, established Adams as aleading lady, and earned $340.5 million worldwide at the box office.[3] It won threeSaturn Awards,Best Fantasy Film,Best Actress for Adams andBest Music for Menken.Enchanted also received two nominations at the65th Golden Globe Awards and threeBest Original Song nominations at the80th Academy Awards. This is the firstWalt Disney Pictures film to be distributed under theWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures banner after Disney retired theBuena Vista brand from its distribution division.
Asequel,Disenchanted, was released onDisney+ on November 18, 2022.
In theanimatedfairy tale kingdom of Andalasia, the corrupt and ruthless Queen Narissa is determined to stay in power; her reign will end if her stepson, Prince Edward, ever gets married. Narissa enlists her loyal servant, Nathaniel, to help Edward hunttrolls to distract Edward from searching for histrue love.
A young woman namedGiselle lives in a forest and dreams of meeting a prince and experiencing a "happily ever after." Edward hears Giselle singing and sets off to find her. Nathaniel frees a captured troll to kill Giselle, but Edward rescues her. She and Edward are instantly attracted to each other and plan to be married the following day.
Narissa disguises herself as an old hag, intercepts Giselle on her way to the wedding, and pushes her into a well. Giselle turns into alive-action version of herself and is teleported toNew York City'sTimes Square where she becomes frightened and overwhelmed by the harshness and unfamiliarity of her new environment. Meanwhile, Robert Philip, a divorce lawyer, plans to propose to his girlfriend, Nancy. Robert and his six-year-old daughter, Morgan, encounter Giselle while taking a taxi home. Robert reluctantly allows Giselle to stay in his apartment at the insistence of Morgan, who believes that Giselle is a princess.
Edward embarks on a mission to save Giselle, along with Giselle'schipmunk friend Pip; they jump down the well, turn into live-action versions of themselves, and emerge in Times Square. To his dismay, however, Pip discovers that he cannot speak in the real world. Meanwhile, Narissa sends Nathaniel to follow Edward and sabotage his efforts to find Giselle, and gives him three poisoned apples to use on Giselle, saying whoever eats one of the apples will fall into a deep sleep and die at midnight.
Nancy arrives to take Morgan to school, and, after seeing Giselle, she assumes Robert has been unfaithful to her and leaves. Robert is initially angry at Giselle, but he ends up spending the day with her to help familiarize her with the city. Giselle questions Robert about his relationship with Nancy and helps the pair reconcile by sending her flowers and an invitation to a costume ball at theWoolworth Building. Nathaniel attempts to give Giselle a poisoned apple twice, but his attempts fail.
Edward locates Giselle at Robert's apartment, but although he is eager to take her home to Andalasia and marry her, she suggests they should first go on a date and get to know each other better. Giselle promises to return to Andalasia after the ball that night, which Robert and Nancy also attend. Nathaniel reports his failure to poison Giselle to Narissa, who furiously decides to enter the real world and kill Giselle herself.
At the ball, Robert and Giselle dance together. Nancy and Edward look on in dismay, noticing the chemistry between the pair, but also notice each other. Giselle and Edward then prepare to depart, but Giselle begins to feel guilty and anguished for leaving Robert behind. Shortly before midnight, Narissa appears in her old hag form, and offers the last poisoned apple to Giselle, promising that it will erase her memories of Robert. She takes a bite and immediately falls into a deep sleep.
Narissa tries escaping with Giselle's body, but Edward thwarts her. Realizing that Narissa never cared about him, Nathaniel reveals her plot and apologizes for his previous actions. Robert realizes thattrue love's kiss is the only force powerful enough to break the apple's curse. Edward's kiss fails to wake Giselle, and the clock begins to chime, prompting Narissa to boast that Giselle will soon die. Edward realizes that Robert should kiss Giselle instead, but Robert is hesitant to do so until Nancy, despite being heartbroken, gives him her permission.
Robert kisses Giselle right before the stroke of midnight, waking her up. Enraged, Narissa transforms into a dragon and takes Robert hostage, prompting Giselle to take Edward's sword and pursue her to the top of the building to rescue Robert. Pip comes to support Giselle and causes Narissa to fall to her death on the streets below. Robert almost falls as well, but Giselle rescues him, and they share another kiss.
Edward and Nancy fall in love and get married in Andalasia. Nathaniel, who stays in New York, and Pip, who returns to Andalasia (where he regains his ability to speak), write autobiographies based on their experiences in the real world. Giselle starts a fashion design business, which becomes very successful, and forms a happy family with Robert and Morgan.
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Giselle'schipmunk friend Pip is voiced byJeff Bennett in Andalasia, where he has no trouble expressing himself through speech, whileEnchanted director Kevin Lima voices Pip in the real world, where he must communicate through squeaks and charades. Much of Pip's personality were based on Disney sidekicks such as Mushu fromMulan andTimon fromThe Lion King.[8] The Andalasia cast also includes Lima's daughter Emma Rose Lima as thebluebird and thefawn,Teala Dunn as abunny andFred Tatasciore as the troll.[8]Julie Andrews provides the film's narration.[8][9]
Paige O'Hara (who previously voicedBelle inBeauty and the Beast) andJudy Kuhn (who done the singing voice ofPocahontas in the1995 animated film of the same name) makecameo appearances as soap opera character Angela and a pregnant woman Edward encounters, respectively.[8]John Rothman andJodi Benson (Who voicedAriel inThe Little Mermaid) portray, respectively, Robert's boss Carl and secretary Sam, whileTonya Pinkins andIsiah Whitlock Jr. portray Phoebe and Ethan Banks, a couple whose divorce Robert is mediating.[8]Marlon Saunders andJon McLaughlin appear as vocalists who sing "That's How You Know" and "So Close", respectively.
The initial script ofEnchanted, written byBill Kelly, was bought by Disney'sTouchstone Pictures andSonnenfeld/Josephson Productions for a reported sum of $450,000 in September 1997.[10] The script was written for three years, but it was thought to be unsuitable forWalt Disney Pictures because it was "a racier R-rated movie",[11] inspired by the adult-risque comedy movies in the 1980s and 1990s such asFast Times at Ridgemont High andAmerican Pie. The first draft of the script had Giselle being mistaken for a stripper when she arrives in New York City.[12] To the frustration of Kelly, the screenplay was rewritten several times, first by Rita Hsiao and then byTodd Alcott.[10] The film was initially scheduled to be released in 2002 withRob Marshall as director but he withdrew due to "creative differences" between the producers and him.[13] In 2001, directorJon Turteltaub was set to direct the film but he left soon after, later working with Disney andJerry Bruckheimer on theNational Treasure franchise.Adam Shankman became the film's director in 2003, whileBob Schooley andMark McCorkle were hired by Disney to rewrite the script once again.[14] At the time, Disney considered offering the role of Giselle toKate Hudson orReese Witherspoon.[10] However, the project did not take off.
On May 25, 2005,Variety reported thatKevin Lima (who previously directedTarzan and102 Dalmatians) had been hired as director and Bill Kelly had returned to the project to write a new version of the script.[15] Lima worked with Kelly on the script to combine the main plot ofEnchanted with the idea of a "loving homage" to Disney's heritage. He created visual storyboard printouts that covered the story ofEnchanted from beginning to end, which filled an entire floor of a production building.[16] After Lima showed them toDick Cook, the chairman of theWalt Disney Studios, he received the green light for the project and a budget of $85 million.[2][17] Lima began designing the world of Andalasia and storyboarding the movie before a cast was chosen to play the characters. After the actors were hired, he was involved in making the final design of the movie, which made sure the animated characters look like their real-life counterparts.[18]
Amy Adams was announced to have been cast in the role of Giselle on November 14, 2005.[19] Although the studio was looking for a film star in the role, director Kevin Lima insisted on casting a lesser-known actress. Out of the 300 or so actresses who auditioned for the role,[20] Adams stood out to Lima because not only did she look like aDisney princess but her "commitment to the character, her ability to escape into the character's being without ever judging the character was overwhelming".[21] Lima castPatrick Dempsey as Robert after Disney was satisfied with the casting of Adams but had wanted more well-known actors in the film.[20] Dempsey, whose starring role on TV seriesGrey's Anatomy had earned him the nickname "McDreamy", was described by Lima as "a modern-day Prince Charming to today's audience".[20] The role was challenging for Dempsey because he had to play thestraight man to Adams' and Marsden's more outrageous characters.[18]James Marsden was announced to have been cast as Prince Edward on December 6, 2005.[22] At the time Marsden was auditioning, the role of Robert had not been cast but he decided to pursue the role of Prince Edward because he was "more fun and he responded more to that character".[5]Susan Sarandon was cast as Queen Narissa, and had been attracted to the project prior to Lima's involvement as director. Since Sarandon's on-screen time was relatively short, it took only two weeks to film her scenes.[17]Idina Menzel was cast as Nancy, and commented that since the role did not require any singing, "it was a compliment to be asked to just be hired on my acting talents alone".[23]
Enchanted is the first feature-length Disney live-action/traditional animation hybrid sinceWho Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), though the traditionally animated characters do not interact in the live-action environment in the same method as they did inRoger Rabbit; however, there are some scenes where live-action characters share the screen with two-dimensional animated characters, for example, a live-action Nathaniel communicating with a cel-drawn Narissa, who is in a cooking pot. The film uses twoaspect ratios; it begins in 2.35:1 when theWalt Disney Pictureslogo andEnchanted storybook are shown, and then switches to a smaller 1.85:1 aspect ratio for the first animated sequence. The film switches back to 2.35:1 when it becomes live-action and never switches back, even for the remainder of the animated sequences. When this movie was aired on televised networks, the beginning of the movie (minus the Walt Disney Pictures logo and opening credits) was shown in thepillarboxed 4:3 aspect ratio; the remainder of the movie was shown in the 16:9 aspect ratio when it becomes live-action. Thefullscreen version uses the 4:3 format during the entire movie, while theopen matte version retains theletterboxed 1.85:1 format for the first animated sequence then switches to an open matted 1.85:1 format for the rest of the movie when it switches to live-action. Lima oversaw the direction of both the live-action and animation sequences, which were being produced at the same time[18]Enchanted took almost two years to complete. The animation took about a year to finish while the live-action scenes, which commenced filming on location in New York City during the summer of 2006 and were completed during the animation process, were shot in 72 days.[18]
Out of the film's 107 minutes of running time, ten of the approximately 13 minutes of animation are at the beginning of the film. Lima tried to "cram every single piece of Disney iconic imagery" that he could into the first ten minutes, which were done intraditional cel animation (in contrast to computer-generated imagery3-D animation) as a tribute to past Disney fairy tale films such asSleeping Beauty,Cinderella, andSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs.[18] It was the first Disney film theatrically released in America to feature traditional cel animation sincePooh's Heffalump Movie (2005). This film, although quite different in terms of plot from any previous Disney film, also contained obvious homages to other Disney films of the distant past, such asOld Yeller,The Shaggy Dog,Swiss Family Robinson,Bon Voyage!, andSavage Sam. As most of Disney's traditional animation artists were laid off after thecomputer graphics boom of the late 1990s,[24] the 13 minutes of animation were not done in-house but by the independentPasadena-based companyJames Baxter Animation, founded by former Disney animator Baxter.[4][25]
Although Lima wanted the animation to benostalgic, he wantedEnchanted to have a style of its own. Baxter's team decided to useArt Nouveau as a starting point. For Giselle, the hand-drawn animated character had to be "a cross betweenAmy Adams and a classicDisney princess. And not a caricature." Seeing Giselle as "a forest girl, an innocent nymph with flowers in her hair" and "a bit of a hippie", the animators wanted her to be "flowing, with her hair and clothes. Delicate."[26] For Prince Edward, Baxter's team "worked the hardest on him to make him look like the actor" because princes "in these kinds of movies are usually so bland."[26] Many prototypes were made for Narissa as Baxter's team wanted her face to "look likeSusan Sarandon. And the costumes had to align closely to the live-action design."[26]
To maintain continuity between the two media, Lima brought in costume designerMona May during the early stages of the film's production so the costumes would be aligned in both the animated and live-action worlds. He also shot some live-action footage of Amy Adams as Giselle for the animators to use as reference, which also allowed the physical movement of the character to match in both worlds. Test scenes completed by the animators were shown to the actors, allowing them to see how their animated selves would move.[18]
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Principal photography began in April 2006 and ended in July.[27] Because of the sequence setting, the live action scenes were filmed in New York City. However, shooting in New York became problematic as it was in a "constant state of new stores, scaffolding and renovation".[28]
The first scene in New York, which features Giselle emerging from a manhole in the middle ofTimes Square, was filmed on location in the center of the square. Because of the difficulties in controlling the crowd while filming inTimes Square, general pedestrians were featured in the scene with hired extras placed in the immediate foreground.[29] Similarly, a crowd gathered to watch asJames Marsden andTimothy Spall filmed their scenes inTimes Square.[30] However, the scene Lima found the most challenging to shoot was the musical number, "That's How You Know", inCentral Park. The five-minute scene took 17 days to finish due to the changing weather, which allowed only seven sunny days for the scene to be filmed.[18] The filming was also hampered at times byPatrick Dempsey's fans.[17] The scene was choreographed by John O'Connell, who had worked onMoulin Rouge! beforehand, and included 300 extras and 150 dancers.[18]
Many scenes were filmed atSteiner Studios, which provided the three large stages thatEnchanted needed at the same facility.[2] Other outdoor locations included theBrooklyn Bridge andThe Paterno, anapartment building with a curved, heavily embellished, ivory-colored façade located on the corner ofRiverside Drive and116th Street, which is the residence of the film's characters Robert and Morgan.
All the costumes in the film were designed by Mona May, who had previously worked onClueless (1995),The Wedding Singer (1998), andThe Haunted Mansion (2003). To create the costumes, May spent one year in pre-production working with animators and her costume department of twenty people, while she contracted with five outside costume shops in Los Angeles and New York City.[31] She became involved in the project during the time when the animators were designing the faces and bodies of the characters as they had to "translate the costumes from two-dimensional drawings to live-action human proportion".[32] Her goal was to keep the designs "Disneyesque to the core but bring a little bit of fashion in there and humor and make it something new".[32] However, May admitted this was difficult "because they're dealing with iconic Disney characters who have been in the psyche of the viewing audience for so long".[33]
For the character of Giselle, her journey to becoming a real woman is reflected in her dresses, which become less fairy tale-like as the film progresses. Her wedding dress at the beginning of the film directly contrasts her modern gown at the end of the film.[31] The wedding dress served to provide a "humongous contrast to the flat drawings" and to accentuate the image of aDisney Princess.[32] In order to make the waist look small, the sleeves are designed to be "extremely pouffy" and the skirt to be as big as possible, which included a metalhoop that holds up twenty layers of petticoats and ruffles.[33] Altogether, eleven versions of the dress were made for filming, each made of 200 yards (183 m) of silk satin and other fabric, and weighing approximately 40 pounds (18 kg).[31][33] On the experience of wearing the wedding dress, Amy Adams described it as "grueling" since "the entire weight was on her hips, so occasionally it felt like she was in traction".[34]
Unlike Giselle, Prince Edward does not adapt to the real world andJames Marsden, who plays Edward, had only one costume designed for him. May's aim was to try "not to lose Marsden in the craziness of the outfit... where he still looks handsome".[32] The costume also included padding in the chest, buttocks, and crotch, which gave Marsden the "same exaggerated proportions as an animated character"[31] and "posture – his back is straight, the sleeves are up and never collapse".[32]
May was delighted that Lima "went for something more fashion-forward" withSusan Sarandon's Queen Narissa.[31] She decided to make her look like a "runway lady",[32] wearing something that is "still Disney" but also "high fashion, like somethingJohn Galliano orThierry Mugler might design".[33] Since Narissa appears in three media:hand drawn animation, live-action, andcomputer animation, May had to make sure that the costume would be the same throughout in terms of "color,shape, and texture".[33] The costume for Narissa consisted of a leather corset and skirt, which looked "reptilian", as well as acape.[33] Working with the animators, May incorporated parts of thedragon's form into the costume; the cape was designed to look likewings, thelayers of the skirt wrap around like a tail and acrown that would turn intohorns during Narissa's transformation into a dragon.[31]
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The film's score was written by accomplished songwriter and composerAlan Menken, who has worked on a number ofDisney films previously. Fellow composerStephen Schwartz wrote the lyrics for six songs, also composed by Menken. Menken and Schwartz previously worked together on the songs forPocahontas andThe Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Menken became involved with the film in the early stages of the film's development and invited Schwartz to resume their collaboration.[35] They began the songwriting process by searching for the right moments in the story in which a song moment was allowed. Schwartz found that it was easier to justify situations in which the characters would burst into songs inEnchanted than in other live-action musicals as its concept "allowed the characters to sing in a way that was completely integral to the plot of the story."[35] The three songs Giselle sings contain references to earlier Disney films. The first song played in the film, "True Love's Kiss", was written to be "a send-up of, and an homage to, the style of those Disney animated features", namely, "I'm Wishing" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) and "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (Cinderella), during which Disney heroines sing about the joy of being loved.[36] It posed a challenge for Menken andSchwartz because of the "many preconceptions with that number"; it had to be reflective of the era ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs andCinderella.[35] Accordingly, Amy Adams performed the first song in an operetta style in contrast to the Broadway style of the later songs.[37]
Both "Happy Working Song" and "That's How You Know" also pay tributes to past Disney songs and movies. "Happy Working Song" pays a lyrical homage to such songs as "Whistle While You Work" (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), "The Work Song" (Cinderella), "A Spoonful of Sugar" (Mary Poppins) and "Making Christmas" (The Nightmare Before Christmas), and a musical homage to theSherman Brothers (with a self-parodic "Alan Menken style" middle eight). "That's How You Know" is a self-parody of Menken's compositions for his Disney features, specifically such big production numbers as "Under the Sea" (The Little Mermaid) and "Be Our Guest" (Beauty and the Beast).[36] To achieve this,Schwartz admitted he had to "push it a little bit further in terms of choices of words or certain lyrics" while maintaining "the classic Walt Disney sensibility".[35] However, Menken noted that the songs he has written for Disney have always been "a little tongue-in-cheek".[35] As the film progresses, the music uses more contemporary styles, which is heard through the adult ballad "So Close" and the country/pop number "Ever Ever After" (sung byCarrie Underwood as a voice-over).[36]
Out of the six completed songs written and composed by Menken and Schwartz, five remained in the finished film. The title song, "Enchanted," a duet featuringIdina Menzel andJames Marsden, was the only song of Menken's and Schwartz's authorship and composition that was deleted from the movie.[6]
The majority of the visual effects shots inEnchanted were done byTippett Studio in Berkeley, California, who contributed a total of 320 shots. These shots involved virtual sets, environmental effects andCGI characters that performed alongside real actors, namely the animated animals during the "Happy Working Song" sequence, Pip and the Narissa dragon during the live-action portions of the film. CIS Hollywood was responsible for 36 visual effects shots, which primarily dealt withwire removals and composites.Reel FX Creative Studios did four visual effects shots involving the pop-up book page-turn transitions whileWeta Digital did two.[38]
Out of all the animals that appear in the "Happy Working Song" sequence, the only real animals filmed on set were rats and pigeons. The real animals captured on film aided Tippett Studio in creating CGI rats and pigeons, which gave dynamic performances such as having pigeons that carried brooms in their beaks and rats that scrubbed with toothbrushes. On the other hand, all the cockroaches were CGI characters.[39]
Pip, a chipmunk who can talk in the 2D world of Andalasia, loses his ability to communicate through speech in the real world so he must rely heavily on facial and body gestures. This meant the animators had to display Pip's emotions through performance as well as making him appear like a real chipmunk. The team at Tippett began the process of animating Pip by observing live chipmunks which were filmed in motion from "every conceivable angle", after which they created a photorealistic chipmunk through the use of 3D computer graphics software,Maya and Furrocious.[38] When visual effects supervisor Thomas Schelesny showed the first animation of Pip to director Kevin Lima, he was surprised that he was a looking at a CG character and not reference footage.[40] To enhance facial expressions, the modelers gave Pip eyebrows, which real chipmunks do not have.[39] During the filming of scenes in which Pip appears, a number of ways were used to indicate the physical presence of Pip. On some occasions, a small stuffed chipmunk with a wire armature on the inside was placed in the scene. In other situations, a rod with a small marker on the end or a laser pointer would be used to show the actors and cinematographer where Pip is.[38]
Unlike Pip, the Narissa dragon was allowed to be more of a fantasy character while still looking like a living character and a classicDisney villain.[38][40] The CGI dragon design was loosely based on a traditional Chinese dragon and Susan Sarandon's live-action witch.[40] When filming the scene which sees the transformation of Narissa from a woman into a dragon, a long pole was used to direct the extras' eyelines instead of a laser pointer. Set pieces were made to move back and forth in addition to having a computer-controlled lighting setup and a repeatable head on the camera that were all synchronized. In the film's final sequence, in which Narissa climbs theWoolworth Building while clutching Robert in her claws, agreenscreen rig was built to hold Patrick Dempsey in order to film his face and movements. The rig was a "puppeteering" approach that involved a robotic arm being controlled by three different floor effects artists.[38]
The film was distributed byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to 3,730 theaters in the United States.[41] It was distributed worldwide byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International to over 50 territories around the world[42] and topped the box office in several countries including the United Kingdom and Italy.[43][44] It is the first movie to be released under the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures name following the retirement of the previousBuena Vista Pictures Distribution.
Disney had originally planned to add Giselle to theDisney Princess line-up, as it was shown at a 2007 Toy Fair where the Giselle doll was featured with packaging declaring her with Disney Princess status, but decided against it when they realized they would have to pay for lifelong rights toAmy Adams' image.[45] While Giselle is not being marketed as one of the Disney Princesses,Enchanted merchandise was made available in various outlets with Adams' animated likeness being used on all Giselle merchandise. Giselle led the 2007 Hollywood Holly-Day Parade atDisney's Hollywood Studios.[46] She was also featured in the 2007Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade in theMagic Kingdom with the official Disney Princesses.
Avideo game based on the film was released forNintendo DS and mobile phones in addition to aGame Boy Advance title,Enchanted: Once Upon Andalasia, which is a prequel to the film, about Giselle and Pip rescuing Andalasia from a magic spell.
Enchanted was released onBlu-ray Disc andDVD byWalt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on March 18, 2008, in the United States. WhileEnchanted topped the DVD sales chart on the week of its release in the United States, narrowly defeating the DVD sales ofI Am Legend, the Blu-ray Disc sales ofI Am Legend were nearly four times the number of Blu-ray Disc sales ofEnchanted.[47] Overall,Enchanted was the eighth best-selling film on home video with 5.3 million units sold and earning a revenue of $86.3 million.[48] Consumers could receive $9 in rebates by purchasing aCinnabon Cereal box[49] and two packs ofRayovac batteries.[50] The DVD was released in United Kingdom and Europe on April 7, 2008,[51] Australia on May 21, 2008[52] and in other 50 international countries on 2008.
The bonus features included on both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD are "Fantasy Comes to Life", a three-part behind-the-scenes feature including "Happy Working Song", "That's How You Know" and "A Blast at the Ball"; sixdeleted scenes with brief introductions by director Kevin Lima; bloopers; "Pip's Predicament: A Pop-Up Adventure", a short in pop-up storybook style; and Carrie Underwood's music video for "Ever Ever After".[53] Featured on the Blu-ray disc only is a trivia game titled "The D Files" that runs throughout the movie with high scoring players given access to videos "So Close", "Making Ever Ever After" and "True Love's Kiss".[54] In the United States, certain DVDs atTarget stores contain a bonus DVD with a 30-minute-long making-of documentary titledBecoming Enchanted: A New Classic Comes True. This DVD is also sold with certain DVDs atHMV stores in the United Kingdom.
On November 12, 2021, the film was added toDisney+ to coincide withDisney+ Day.[55] On October 26, 2022, the film was upgraded to4K resolution on Disney+.[56]
Enchanted earned $8 million on the day of its release in the United States, placing at #1. It was also placed at #1 on Thanksgiving Day, earning $6.7 million to bring its two-day total to $14.6 million. The film grossed $14.4 million on the following day, bringing its total haul to $29.0 million placing ahead of other contenders.Enchanted made $34.4 million on the Friday-Sunday period in 3,730 theaters for a per-location average of $9,472 and $49.1 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday in 3,730 theaters for a per-location average of $13,153.[41] Its earnings over the five-day holiday exceeded projections by $7 million.[57] Ranking as the second-highest Thanksgiving opening afterToy Story 2, which earned $80.1 million over the five-day holiday in 1999,Enchanted is the first film to open at #1 on the Thanksgiving frame in the 21st century.[58]
In its second weekend,Enchanted was also the #1 film, grossing a further $16.4 million at 3,730 locations for a per-theater average of $4,397. It dropped to #2 in its third weekend, with a gross of $10.7 million in 3,520 theaters for a per-theater average of $3,042. It finished its fourth weekend at #4 with a gross of $5.5 million in 3,066 locations for a per-theater average of $1,804.Enchanted earned a gross of $127.8 million in the United States and Canada as well as a total of $340.5 million worldwide.[3] It was the 15th highest-grossing film worldwide released in 2007.[59]
Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rate of 93% based on 193 reviews, with an average score of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A smart re-imagining of fairy tale tropes that's sure to delight children and adults,Enchanted features witty dialogue, sharp animation, and a star turn by Amy Adams."[60]Metacritic gave it a rating of 75 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[61] Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film as the ninth best reviewed film in wide release of 2007 and named it the best family film of 2007.[62][63] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on scale of A to F.[64]
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Positive reviews praised the film's take on a classic Disney story, its comedy and musical numbers as well as the performance of its lead actress,Amy Adams.Roger Ebert ofChicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, describing it as a "heart-winning musical comedy that skips lightly and sprightly from the lily pads of hope to the manhole covers of actuality" and one that "has a Disney willingness to allow fantasy into life".[65] Film critics ofVariety andLA Weekly remarked on the film's ability to cater for all ages.LA Weekly described the film as "the sort of buoyant, all-ages entertainment that Hollywood has been laboring to revive in recent years (most recently withHairspray) but hasn't managed to get right until now"[66] whileTodd McCarthy ofVariety commented, "More than Disney's strictly animated product,Enchanted, in the manner of the vast majority of Hollywood films made until the '60s, is a film aimed at the entire population – niches be damned. It simply aims to please, without pandering, without vulgarity, without sops to pop-culture fads, and to pull this off today is no small feat."[67]Enchanted was theBroadcast Film Critics Association's choice for Best Family Film of 2007 while Carrie Rickey ofThe Philadelphia Inquirer named it the 4th best film of 2007.[68]
Rolling Stone,Premiere,USA Today, andThe Boston Globe all gave the film three out of four,[69][70][71][72] whileThe Baltimore Sun gave the film a B grade.[73] They cited that although the story is relatively predictable, the way in which the predictability of the film is part of the story, the amazingly extravagant musical numbers, along with the way in which Disney pokes fun at its traditional line of animated movies outweighs any squabbles about storyline or being unsure of what age bracket the film is made for. Michael Sragow ofThe Baltimore Sun remarked that the film's "piquant idea and enough good jokes to overcome its uneven movie-making and uncertain tone",[73] while Claudia Puig ofUSA Today stated that "though it's a fairly predictable fish-out-of-water tale (actually a princess-out-of-storybook saga), the casting is so perfect that it takes what could have been a ho-hum idea and renders it magical."[71]
Amy Adams herself garnered many favorable reviews. Reviewers praised her singing ability[74][75] and asserted that her performance, which was compared by some to herAcademy Award-nominated performance inJunebug, has made Adams a movie star, likening it toMary Poppins' effect onJulie Andrews' career.[67][72] Similarly, film criticsRichard Roeper andMichael Phillips, who gave the film positive reviews onAt the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, emphasized the effect of Adams' performance on the film with remarks like "Amy Adams is this movie" and "Amy Adams shows how to make a comic cliché work like magic." However, both agreed that the final sequence involving the computer-generated dragon "bogged down" the film.[76]
Empire stated that the film was targeted at children but agreed with other reviewers that the "extremely game cast" was the film's best asset. It gave the film three out of five.[77]TIME gave the film a C−, stating that the film "cannibalizes Walt's vault for jokes" and "fails to find a happy ending that doesn't feel two-dimensional".[78] Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian gave the film two out of five and commented that the film "assumes a beady-eyed and deeply humourless sentimentality" and that Adams' performance was the "only decent thing in this overhyped family movie covered in a cellophane shrink-wrap of corporate Disney plastic-ness".[79]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards[80] | February 24, 2008 | Best Original Song | "Happy Working Song" –Alan Menken andStephen Schwartz | Nominated |
| "So Close" – Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz | Nominated | |||
| "That's How You Know" – Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz | Nominated | |||
| Costume Designers Guild[81] | February 19, 2008 | Excellence in Fantasy Film | Mona May | Nominated |
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards[82] | January 7, 2008 | Best Actress | Amy Adams | Nominated |
| Best Film – Family | Won | |||
| Best Composer | Alan Menken | Nominated | ||
| Best Song | That's How You Know – Alan Menken | Nominated | ||
| Detroit Film Critics Society | December 21, 2007 | Best Actress | Amy Adams | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards[83] | January 13, 2008 | Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | Amy Adams | Nominated |
| Best Original Song | "That's How You Know" – Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz | Nominated | ||
| Golden Trailer Awards[84] | 2007 | Best Animation/Family Feature Film | Nominated | |
| Grammy Awards[85] | February 8, 2009 | Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media | "Ever Ever After"- Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz | Nominated |
| "That's How You Know" – Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz | Nominated | |||
| Motion Picture Sound Editors[86] | 2008 | Best Sound Editing: Music in a Musical Feature Film | Kenneth Karman, Jermey Raub and Joanie Diener | Nominated |
| MTV Movie Awards[87] | June 1, 2008 | Best Female Performance | Amy Adams | Nominated |
| Best Comedic Performance | Amy Adams | Nominated | ||
| Best Kiss | Amy Adams andPatrick Dempsey | Nominated | ||
| Ohio Film Critics Association | January 11, 2008 | Best Actress | Amy Adams | Runner-up |
| Phoenix Film Critics Society[88] | December 18, 2007 | Best Live Action Family Film | Won | |
| Satellite Awards[89] | December 16, 2007 | Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | Amy Adams | Nominated |
| Best Visual Effects | Thomas Schelesny, Matt Jacobs and Tom Gibbons | Nominated | ||
| Saturn Awards[90] | June 24, 2008 | Best Fantasy Film | Won | |
| Best Actress | Amy Adams | Won | ||
| Best Music | Alan Menken | Won | ||
| Teen Choice Awards[91] | August 4, 2008 | Choice Movie: Chick Flick | Nominated | |
| Choice Movie Actress: Comedy | Amy Adams | Nominated | ||
| Choice Movie Actor: Comedy | James Marsden (also for27 Dresses) | Nominated | ||
| Choice Movie: Villain | Susan Sarandon | Nominated | ||
| Utah Film Critics Association | December 28, 2007 | Best Actress | Amy Adams | Runner-up |
| Visual Effects Society[92] | February 10, 2008 | Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture | Thomas Schelesny, Matt Jacobs and Tom Gibbons | Nominated |
According to director Kevin Lima, "thousands" of references are made to past and future works of Disney inEnchanted,[93] which serve as both a parody of and a "giant love letter to Disney classics".[94] It took almost eight years forWalt Disney Studios to greenlight the production of the film because it "was always quite nervous about the tone in particular".[94] As Lima worked withBill Kelly, the writer, to inject Disney references to the plot, it became "an obsession"; he derived the name of every character as well as anything that needed a name from past Disney films to bring in more Disney references.[20]
While Disney animators have occasionally inserted a Disney character into background shots – for example,Donald Duck appears in a crowd inThe Little Mermaid – they have avoided "mingling characters" from other Disney films for fear of weakening their individual mythologies.[94] InEnchanted, characters from past Disney films are openly seen, such as the appearances ofThumper andFlower fromBambi in the 2D animation portion of the film.[94] Disney references are also made through camera work,sets,costumes, music and dialogue. Some of the more familiar examples include the use of poisoned apples fromSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs and True Love's Kiss fromSnow White andSleeping Beauty.[7]Dick Cook, the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, admitted that part of the goal ofEnchanted was to create a new franchise (through the character of Giselle) and to revive the older ones.[94]
A sequel,Disenchanted, was released toDisney+ on November 18, 2022. Directed byAdam Shankman, the sequel sees Adams, Dempsey, Menzel, and Marsden reprising their roles. Newcomer Gabriella Baldacchino replaces Covey as Morgan, though Covey has a brief cameo in the film. They are joined byMaya Rudolph,Jayma Mays, andYvette Nicole Brown as new characters. The film received mixed reviews from critics.
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