The Cinema of the Four

Enchanted

To Sherlock Holmes IV, she would always be the woman. Of course, I am Sherlock Holmes IV, so my eyes are the ones in which she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. While all emotion, and the softer ones particularly, might be abhorrent to the movie consulting detective whose usual diet is crime movies, as in the recent cases of “Hitman” and “No Country For Old Men,” there will always be but one motion picture woman to me, and that woman will have to be Giselle of the movie “Enchanted.”

Portrayed to a perfect pitch by the skilled Miss Amy Adams, Giselle is literally an animated Disney fairy tale princess brought to life, exiled to Times Square and left to wander the streets of New York, where her bright and innocent view of life is put to the test . . . though not too rough of a test, as this is still a Disney movie. A happy mix of romantic comedy and fairy tale (which aren’t all that far apart to begin with), “Enchanted” is one of those movies you have to let yourself get swept up in and let reason fly out the window. And “Enchanted” makes it very, very easy.

While the cast features such attractions as Patrick Dempsey (yes, “Dr. Dreamy” from Grey’s Anatomy) and Susan Sarandon (her evil queen makes one want to pair her with Michelle Pfeiffer’s witch from “Stardust” for an evil sandwich that Watson the Fourth would love to be in the middle of), Amy Adams steals every scene as Giselle and makes you miss her when she’s gone. Her cheery fairy tale optimism, ability to burst into a song at a moment’s notice, and big, big eyes draw one in and make it easy to gloss over the odd little skips in reality that such a fantasy must include.

There’s a big, special effects ending that almost seems tacked on to the real climax of “true love’s kiss,” but that hardly hurts a movie whose outcome you knew was coming every step of the way . . . and enjoyed it anyway.

Take the street urchins, take Mrs. Watson IV, take Nathan Garrideb just to get him out of the house . . . “Enchanted” is a natural movie for the holiday season.

What Great-grandfather Sherlock might have said:
“Does it come within our purview either? Anything is better than stagnation, but really we seem to have been switched on to a Grimms’ fairy tale.”
(Of course, he was a grumpy old cuss sometimes.)