Our story begins in the animated realm of Andalasia, where the fair maiden Giselle(Amy Adams) dreams of marry-ing a handsome prince while she constructs a likeness of one from various household materials, all with the aid of various forest animals--rabbits, birds, turtles(?!) and of course a talking chipmunk named Pip(voiced by Jeff Bennett while animated, then by director Kevin Lima after crossing into the real world). Simultaneously, the good Prince Edward(James Marsden) is in the process of capturing a fairly gigantic troll with the aid of weaselly Nathaniel(Timothy Spall). Edward is also dreaming of finding someone to love, and when the troll escapes and threatens Giselle, it's love at first sight for the maiden and her princely rescuer. However, the evil Queen Narissa(Susan Sarandon) doesn't take kindly to the possibility that when her son marries Giselle(their wedding date is set for the day after they meet!), she'll have to abdicate the throne in favor of her impending daughter-in-law. Transform-ing into an old hag, Narissa lures naive Giselle to what is sup-posed to be a wishing well, but once she pushes the maiden in, is revealed to be a portal to a place Narissa notes, "where there are no happy endings".

     New York City.

     Credit must be paid to writer Bill Kelly(Premonition, Blast from the Past) for the clever concept: if ever there were a contrast needed to be found between the mystical animated realm and our real world for comparison, one wouldn't have to look further than the Big Apple itself. Once Giselle is bounced into the sharper angles of our existence, she is shoved around, yelled at and even has her tiara stolen by a home-less man. Luckily for her, she makes the acquaintance of divorce attorney Robert Philip(Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan(Rachel Covey). With some prodding from Morgan, Robert agrees to let Giselle spend the night at their apartment, in spite of her seemingly lunatic ravings about awaiting rescue by her handsome prince.

     Yet of course, help is on the way...Pip happened to witness the hag shoving Giselle into the well, and alerted Edward, who boldly follows the path to our world, while bringing Pip and Nathaniel along--unaware the latter secretly works for Narissa and is under orders to kill Giselle with a poisoned apple. Hmmm...sounding a little familiar at this point? If it does, don't worry: Enchanted works best when it turns the conventions of fairytales on their collective ear. For example: in Andalasia, when Giselle calls out in a sing-song voice for the forest animals to help her construct her princely effigy, naturally bunny rabbits, deer and other cuddly types appear. But in New York, what effect does this have when Giselle needs help clearing the clutter in Robert's apartment? That's right--one-legged pigeons, flies, rodents and roaches come out of the woodwork to aid in the cleanup. It's a hilarious scene, and only the first of many. There's another priceless moment in Central Park where Giselle breaks into song and her whimsy captiv-ates all the passersby, who somehow inherently know all the words and carry out a huge dance number with her, all while poor down-to-earth realist Robert stands by, muttering "I've never heard this song before."

     As someone who's worked various jobs on film sets, I can't look at the extravagance of Giselle's big number, with all those extras, and not wonder how many shots it took for them to get everything down right. But as an audience member, I have to say everyone seems to be having the time of their lives. And why not? Enchanted is in many ways a feel-good masterpiece of cinema, wherein all the actors are obviously having a ball in their roles...and the feeling is infectious. James Marsden(the X-Men trilogy, Superman Returns) in particular is a standout as the narcissistic Prince Edward, who when asked "Do you like yourself?" by a self-doubting Nathaniel, can't even think to give another answer besides "What's not to like?"

     Amy Adams(Talladega Nights, Underdog) successfully pulls off the almost-impossible role of Giselle with a heartfelt genuineness. Patrick Dempsey(Grey's Anatomy) is an excel-lent straight-man for the shenanigans going on around him, and while this is only young Rachel Covey's(Duane Hopwood) second movie, she handles herself with the grace of a pro. And for someone in her early 60's, Susan Sarandon(In The Valley Of Elah, the upcoming Speed Racer) as Queen Narissa hasn't looked this sexy in years.

     Enchanted isn't without its flaws of course, but they are minor ones which are easily dismissed. There's no explana-tion for how Prince Edward and Nathaniel are able to rent a hotel room, even in the dump they manage to find(one would assume Andalasia's coin of the realm wouldn't have George Washington or Ben Franklin's faces on it). While Edward's assault on a sewer worker does make the news, police never investigate it. And the finale of the climactic scene where Narissa changes into a dragon to face off against Giselle and Pip seems a bit rushed and some of the action is out of focus, which leads to some confusion in the resolution. However, the biggest flaw might be in the casting of Idina Menzel(Rent, Ask The Dust) as Robert's girlfriend Nancy.

     Regular readers here will recall how I gave Mrs. Taye Diggs' retch-inducing end song to Beowulf a much-deserved thrashing only a short while ago. Now Menzel continues to prove a double threat(and I mean that in the worst way) with her so-called acting. Not only does she not have the chops to be included as a member of such a fine cast, I would have to say that if it was director Lima's intention to demonstrate the difference between the perfected beauty of an animated woman come to life such as Giselle with an unattractive real-world female counterpart, then the nail has been hit so firmly upon its head that a concussion has been induced. Seriously, when Menzel first makes her appearance on screen(and God help us, in close up no less), more than a few kids and adults in the audience went "ewww!" Really, the woman looks like a drag queen who's not quite pulling off the effect(and be thankful the shot of her at right is a far shot). Her only pur-pose in this movie seems to be to bring to a complete and jarring halt any clever scene she takes part in.

     With such nuisances aside however, Enchanted is deftly directed by Kevin Lima. It's a marvelous little tale which delights in making fun of its 2-D roots. It also happens to be a perfect movie to take the kids to for an afternoon treat. Enchanted truly lives up to its name...and that's a nice change of pace.