Disenchanted (Disney+ Enchanted Sequel)

I'll start off making a long story short: I didn't like it. AT ALL. The charm the first movie possessed is all gone, and the plot is a ridiculous mishmash of Disney cliches instead of the loving homage the first movie was. And it's been awhile since I first saw it, so it's possible this next complaint could be leveled against the first too. But the Alan Menken and Steven Schwartz songs are underwhelming here. They don't sound like homages or even parodies of earlier Disney songs. They sound like legit weaker versions of stuff we already know. Whatever you want to accuse Menken and Howard Ashman of during Disney's heyday, they varied up the song styles like crazy. There was no generic Disney "House Sound" like this movie portrays. Some of it's reggae, some of it's a ballad, a Busby Berkeley number, a drinking song, a love song, there are all kinds of variations there.

And I will concede Amy Adams did a passable job as the Evil Stepmother version of Giselle. But that being said, Adams no longer possesses the absolute naive conviction she played the character with back in the day. I believe she's Amy Adams in a role instead of actual fairytale princess. To be fair to Adams, it's been awhile, and that kind of lightning in a bottle performance rarely strikes twice, no matter how good the actor is. And the fact of the matter is, the script is lousy, and doing her no favors.

How lousy? There are a couple of mild curses, but everything else could be seen on a crappy Disney Channel original movie. I think some people will debate my claim that Enchanted was a good movie. What I don't think is up for debate is that it's better than Descendants and Zombies at any rate. I don't think the sequel is, and if it is, it's certainly not by much.

So I've briefly destroyed the movie point by point. You're welcome. What you might be surprised to hear is I'm glad it exists. I wish it were better, but the truth is the original movie was a breath of fresh air, and a LOT of people were hoping it would help reinvigorate Disney's love of 2-D animation. It didn't work out that way, but what saddens me is Disney sort of put it down the memory hole with stuff like Snow Dogs and Cool Runnings. Why? I believe because Disney had all these merchandising plans for the franchise (at the time Giselle was hyped as the latest Disney Princess) but those plans fell through because Disney realized whatever crap they sold, they'd have to pay Amy Adams a licensing fee for her likeness rights. Either they'd have to spend extra money for a Disney Princess in a franchise they never needed to before, or they can just forget it and move on. I don't wanna forget it. Even if this movie sucks, I'm glad its existence draws younger generations to the first movie. That really deserved to become a timeless Disney classic, and never did for freaking legal reasons. I dislike the sequel. I think it sucks. But if it gets a whole bunch of kids to view and love the first one, it's worth it to me. Enchanted being forgotten never sat right with me.

So bad movie. But I'm still glad it exists. *1/2.