Disney pokes fun at itself in its films
Don’t ever say Disney doesn’t have a sense of humor. The latest
film from the major studio proves that much.
”
Enchanted
”
is a Disney movie that pokes fun at the traditional animated
movies the studio is best known for. The movie starts out in an
animated world known as Andalasia where Giselle (Amy Adams) is
dreaming of a true love kiss from her prince. The lyrics to the
first song in the movie poke fun at the way love untangles in
Disney classics
– with a line about lips meeting because that’s all that ever
touches.
Disney pokes fun at itself in its films
Don’t ever say Disney doesn’t have a sense of humor. The latest film from the major studio proves that much.
“Enchanted” is a Disney movie that pokes fun at the traditional animated movies the studio is best known for. The movie starts out in an animated world known as Andalasia where Giselle (Amy Adams) is dreaming of a true love kiss from her prince. The lyrics to the first song in the movie poke fun at the way love untangles in Disney classics – with a line about lips meeting because that’s all that ever touches.
The prince, dubbed Edward (James Marsden), is off tackling trolls when he hears Giselle’s voice and follows it to her treehouse home. He rescues her after she tumbles out the window and they decide they will wed the next day.
But of course, as with all fairytales, Edward’s evil stepmother (Susan Sarandon) has other plans. She sends Giselle through a wishing well into a horrific world – Manhattan.
It is there the movie really begins. As she falls through the wishing well, Giselle transforms from an animated girl to a human one. She is dressed in a huge, sparkling white wedding dress that makes it impossible to get through doorways and she has no idea where she is. It is only due to a chance meeting with Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey), a single dad who has traded in romantic notions for pragmatism, that she doesn’t get into trouble in the city.
It was hard to picture Patrick Dempsey as anything other than Dr. McDreamy aka Derek Shepherd, the character he’s been playing on “Grey’s Anatomy” for four years. Dr. McDreamy has a lot of trouble with his love life and so does Robert.
Robert is a divorce attorney who was scorned by his first wife. To protect daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey), he has insulated her from fairytale and princess stories and instead fills her bookcases with stories of women role models such as Marie Curie. He is about to propose to his long-time girlfriend Nancy (Idina Menzel) after putting lots of thought into it.
But Giselle changes all that when she comes into his life. She can’t stop talking about her true love Edward, who she has known one day and who she is sure will come back to rescue her. One of the funniest moments in the movie is when Robert and Giselle are walking around Central Park and she starts to sing. He says, “No don’t do that.” But when they walk past a calypso band, she starts singing and they start drumming along. He asks, “How do they know this song?” Soon everyone in the park, except Robert, is singing along to Giselle’s song “How does she know that you love her?”
The movie starts out poking fun at the idea of love at first sight or true love, but in the end it really is just as conventional as all the other Disney movies. Everyone lives happily ever after, after a few run-ins with the evil queen, of course. In the end, we all want our happily ever after, even if it is with a divorce attorney instead of a prince.
Roger Rabbit
“Enchanted” isn’t the first time the real world and the animated ones have mixed together in the same movie. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” is another tongue-in-cheek animated film that came out in 1988. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the movie is set in a seedy part of Hollywood, where Toons – that’s cartoon characters – roam the streets freely. Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), a human detective, is hired by a rabbit named Roger (voiced by Charles Fleischer) when Roger becomes suspicious that his wife is playing pattycake with other people. Literally playing pattycake. Jessica Rabbit is a sultry night lounge singer named Jessica (voiced by Betsy Brantley and Kathleen Turner).
The movie pulls off the play between animated characters and real ones in its 1930s gritty noir setting. The scenes are scattered with characters from Disney, as well as Looney Toons and other classic characters.
The real trouble starts when the owner of the Acme company and Toontown is murdered. When Roger is charged with murder, Valiant needs to get over his dislike of Toons and find the real killer before its too late.
The movie wasn’t originally released by Disney, but the company has opted the Roger Rabbit merchandising, going as far as to put a Toontown in the southern California theme park and create a Roger Rabbit ride.
Both movies poke a little fun at the cartoon world, and both are worth a watch.
