Hidden Gem?

So, as I've made pretty obvious in my previous blogs like this one, I am well versed in the way of the rom-com. I love ones made for all ages but given its sequel was recently released, I thought I would talk about a movie that holds a special place in my heart and have a feeling may have flown under the radar as far as Disney princess/ romance movies go. I'm talking about the 2007 classic: Enchanted.

Now, when I was younger I liked most Disney movies, and the romance in them always warmed my hear, but I think even as a kid I could recognize when this was done better than than other times. I liked the way the romance between Robert and Giselle played out and until I started thinking about it recently I couldn't pin point why I enjoyed rewatching Enchanted more than other kids movies with romance in them. I will say, again Cinema Therapy helped a lot in this realization so if you haven't checked them out, feel free to check out their video on Enchanted and come back. I'll wait.

You back? Okay. So I think there were a couple beautiful factors to this movie that made me fall in love with this movie, and even now I love it. The first being that this relationship flipped the script a bit with Disney's usual princess/love formula. Early movies of theirs especially had plots that were variations of love at first sight and no questions asked, and usually the two involved are all in right away and their relationship is pretty two-dimensional (no pun intended). While I do still like those movies, because nostalgia, catchy songs and hur hur pretty people kissing OuO. And Enchanted does kind of poke fun at that with Giselle and Edward--Edelle? Gedward? But this evolves and becomes something more profound with Giselle and Robert-- Robelle if you will. While Robelle only had a few days since meeting (which I think they only sped up for movie shorthand), I think that both characters took some evolving before they actually fell in love, and that's what makes the romance not only stronger but also more realistic and a healthy model especially for the younger audience (like me when it came out). First of all, when they meet there was no immediate romantic attraction. They may have mentally acknowledged each other's beauty, but first impressions were pretty rocky, but not to the level of hate to love cliché. Mostly, for both, their meeting was a culture shock. It was really intriguing how they both thought the way the other was living was insane-- she was too naive and optimistic and he was too bah humbug and pessimist. But slowly, as she starts to learn more about the world and he learns about keeping a bit of whimsy, they also start to notice the deeper sides to the other's personality. And that's when they fall in love.

The other two factors that just put the icing on this lovely cake were the acting and the production (specifically the directing and writing). The writing is sort of what I touched on earlier with how they wrote the relationship, and how they had Edward and Nancy in there as contrast as to what relationships on either end of the extremes looked like and how lovely Robelle is where they met in the middle. And while they stayed true to themselves, they also accepted extra viewpoints that lead to more in-depth views. And as for the acting, I loved everyone's performance and think they all deserve Oscars but today I will focus on Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey. Just look at these faces during their dance at the ball:

God so many emotions in one here. You can tell the pure longing and sadness that they feel this obstacle between them and that they shouldn't be feeling the love they feel. It's so good!! And just look at his face when he thought she was going to die:

And then his desperation when he whispers "don't leave me." It's all just so heart-wrenching. But never fear, my jellybeans. The girl gets the guy and Robelle fully sets sail. You bet your fine booties that I'm gonna watch the crap out of the sequel. I just hope they maintain that same level of chemistry they had here.

But one final unrelated thought I had while rewatching this was, why did Queen Narissa still wanna get rid of Giselle even after she knew that she loved Robert, not Edward? Did she just feel committed at this point? Did she decide those apple were expensive and didn't want to waste them? Did she just want to be a messy beech? Who knows.... The question has definitely been on my mind for the past week or so. Let me know your thoughts, jellybeans.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe!