Disenchanted

Disenchanted

Disillusioned with life in the city, feeling out of place in suburbia, and frustrated that her happily ever after hasn’t been so easy to find, Giselle turns to the magic of Andalasia for help. Accidentally transforming the entire town into a real-life fairy tale and placing her family’s future happiness in jeopardy, she must race against time to reverse the spell and determine what happily ever after truly means to her and her family.

  • Released: 2022-12-16
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
  • Stars: Amy Adams, James Marsden, Patrick Dempsey, Idina Menzel, Maya Rudolph, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jayma Mays, Kolton Stewart, Oscar Núñez, Gabby Baldacchino, Gabriella Baldacchino, Griffin Newman
  • Director: Adam Shankman
 Comments
  • Benjamin-M-Weilert - 28 October 2023
    A partly uninspired sequel to a fantastic self-aware princess story.
    It's interesting how the "direct-to-video" sequel has changed now that streaming is the ubiquitous delivery method. Movies that studios still want to capitalize on but don't want to spend money on putting in theaters. Disney has taken this route with many of its animated films in the 1990s, releasing multiple sequels to beloved classics. Even The Disney Channel used to be a place for them to put cheap movies. Now, with Disney+, we see movies like Disenchanted (2022) filling the space that used to be occupied by VHS releases. It's unfortunate because these sequels could be much better than they are.

    I loved the self-aware nature of Enchanted (2007). That Disenchanted held most of the same cast was encouraging, but clearly not the magic needed to recreate the energy of the original. The parody (and adherence to) traditional Disney princess stories in Enchanted made it a fun tongue-in-cheek film to watch. This sequel felt too adherent to the formula to make fun of it. Sure, it plays off the "evil stepmother" trope, which was entertaining for a bit. The songs and music felt uninspired and forgettable. Nothing clicked in this movie, and its "direct-to-video" status on Disney+ is well-earned.

    The real problem with Disenchanted is how it had better potential. The "fish out of water" trope from Enchanted worked to highlight how ridiculous the Disney princess lifestyle was. Instead of bringing magic to the real world for the sequel, Disenchanted should have flipped the script and had the real world interacting with-and butting heads with-the fantasy world (akin to how WandaVision did it). To have real-world people react to how different the princess fantasy realm was to their normal life would have been much more entertaining. As it stands, Disenchanted was a disappointing mess for someone who loved the original.

    A partly uninspired sequel to a fantastic self-aware princess story, I give Disenchanted 2.0 stars out of 5.
  • cricketbat - 9 May 2023
    A wonderful example of why certain movies shouldn't have a sequel
    Disenchanted is a wonderful example of why certain movies shouldn't have a sequel. Is there anything more disheartening than being told the happily ever after you were happy with actually wasn't that happy at all? In addition, as it tarnishes the shine of the original, this movie half-heartedly shovels a completely predictable plot onto the screen. You'd think they could have cooked up something a little less half-baked after 15 years. I can't even remember any of the songs. If Disney straight-to-DVD sequels were still a thing, Disenchanted would definitely have been relegated to that lesser throne.
  • vjmaxwell-58478 - 30 January 2023
    Just as good as the first movie
    We loved this movie, great story line for a family movie. Clever writing for a sequel to enchanted. It is clean and wholesome, no references to anything that parents wouldn't want children to hear or see. Music is fun and catchy, some songs were better than others but overall we enjoyed the music also. All the actresses and actors did a great job. It had the right balance of comedy, romance and songs. Amy is so elegant and performs her role flawlessly. It is just as good as the first movie. I would recommend this to everyone wanting to watch a heartwarming and easy watch. A perfect Friday night movie.
  • Apollocandybar - 1 January 2023
    Quite bad
    We were excited for this sequel, as we loved the original Enchanted and its soundtrack. We knew sequels rarely measure uo, so our expectations were low. Apparently not low enough! The entire plot is absurdity. Maya Rudolph was particularly awful in this. After half of the movie passed, I couldn't find a plot thread. The entire thing reminded me of the very bad Cinderella with Whitney Houston and Brandy: garish colors, cheap sets, pointless songs.

    It could have been better, for sure. The "we need to move" reasoning was so flimsy. The biggest part of Enchanted's charm was. Giselle's naivete, and that aspect is gone in Disenchanted.
  • ashley-crookes - 16 December 2022
    Disappointing
    We sat down as a family and decided to watch this film as we had only recently discovered and enjoyed Enchanted. Sadly Disenchanted is exactly what the title states.

    A plot not worth anything, and a runtime that was about 30mins too long, coupled with a mish mash of things happening, I'm sure all of us fell asleep at least two or three times during this movie. The only thing I picked up on was Disney made a huge effort to include as many female cast members in as possible to the point that it was very noticeable, and made this another diverse PC film - if they spent as much time on that as they did on actual story and casting then we might have a good film from them again one day. Until then, best avoid this movie and go watch the original instead.
  • mizzjackiee - 4 December 2022
    Y'all need to get a grip, this was entertaining
    Okay so maybe they waited too long to make a sequel, but this was still fun, paid homage to many Disney classics and the plot line was clever. I don't know what the people leaving 1 star reviews expected here, but they are being ridiculous.

    The original film was a musical, it's going to have a lot of musical numbers. Did y'all actually watch the first one? This was definitely better than one of the 5 million marvel movies Disney has been churning out.

    The spirit of this movie is very much in line with the original. Possibly, even more so. Don't believe all the bad reviews, give it a shot, be in the mood for light hearted entertainment.
  • iamnoobdefault - 30 November 2022
    everybody gotta relax nowadays and stop craving the same thing from 14 years ago...
    I've been seeing the same comments like "it's not the same like it was back then". Ofc it wouldn't be. Give the film a chance. For example, Enchanted, the original was also made for 7year olds same as this movie. Not everything has to fit for your nostalgic experience. You weren't even the same person from years ago so why expect the same thing from a film? Your experiences might change something in your inner growth, maybe you look at things not the same way as you did before. Just like Morgan realizing that meeting Giselle before was so magical but now she thinks like everything should have logic or explanation. The "memories" you long won't be repeated as you would want again but it is for you to cherish and use to move forward. Anyway, great film! My cousin enjoyed it!
  • Stream2BigScreen_Movie_Reviews - 28 November 2022
    Disenchanted Really Sings the Enchanted-ness of the Past to Death
    Hey, Streamers, fifteen years after Enchanted, Disney has brought Giselle's happily ever after back to the silver screen in the new release, Disenchanted. This time around after a move from the big city and family changes, Giselle is questioning her happiness and inadvertently turns the lives of those in the real world and Andalasia upside down. Let's see how this real-life fairytale turns out.

    First and foremost, if you don't like musicals, now you've been warned. Remember Enchanted? It had big musical numbers like typical musicals do. Now that I say that, I actually feel like Disenchanted is even more of a musical than the first movie. If you can't get passed that, then this is going to be the longest 2 hours of your life. If you enjoy musicals, this movie gets pretty interesting. I personally fall somewhere in the middle. At times, I was like "this this is killing me" and "it's taking forever" but other times I enjoyed the spectacle of the musical numbers. Probably the nostalgia of the old Disney movies helps. The costumes, sets and CGI are well done and so familiar to the typical Disney movie. Either way, the musical sets are grand and well performed. Speaking of good performances, Amy Adams was a super Disney Princess again and Maya Rudolph was just devilish. Idina Manzel can definitely belt out some tunes - no wonder "Let It Go" was so popular. Speaking of tunes, the writing was particularly clever.

    Clearly, Streamers, this movie hinges on two categories, family flick and musicals. Disenchanted is a solid film that has a clever take on Disney Princess movies but is still slightly annoying. The sets, writing and cast are all well-done but might be too much singing for you. Grab a bowl of popcorn Musical fans and families looking for a cute princess/anti-princess movie. This is a good streaming option for you, but you don't have to rush to it. For everyone else, the singing will definitely get annoying but if you fight through it, the irony and subtle jokes will get you through the movie with a handful of popcorn.