Is not really in my favorite genre. Was not really my first pick last Wednesday at 9pm.
But the Bugs (Mark, 11 and Emily, 6) wanted to watch with me, and I wanted to let them (for the hour Mom said they could stay up). Lord of the Rings, my first pick, isn't really a Bug movie, and I remembered Anna had gotten Enchanted from Netflix to watch with her girlfriends this weekend. So I pulled it out and put it in.
I was laughing so hard.
The guy - whatshisname - and Giselle are walking in the park, talking intensely about their differing ideas about love. The gist of the conversation (highly paraphrased) goes something like this:
"So how long have you known your prince?"
"A day." *Sighs*
"A day!?!?"
"And when he finds me, it will be TWO DAYS." *Sighs*
"But - how can you know he loves you?"
"How does she knowwwww!!" Giselle sings.
"OH no, DON'T sing."
"How does she KNOWWWWWW!"
A low hiss: "PEOPLE are LOOKING!" He grabs her and pulls her along.
Some black guys with banjos by the river take up the tune.
"THEY know this song TOO??"
HA HA HA !!!
They sing together: "How does she KNOWWWW you love her!!!!!!!"
Shakes his head as if to assure himself of his sanity. "I've never heard this song."
I was dying. Just dying. Mark and Emily are like, hush, we're watching a movie! I'm like, HA HA HA !
It's a great movie.
But the ending irritates my true-fantasy streak. Fantasy needs to make sense or it's not REAL - in that other sense.
In Enchanted, once the witch is exposed, she turns into a great dragon, grabs the guy, climbs a skyscraper, and arrogantly holds on to the tiny top antenna. She's followed by Giselle - it's raining OF COURSE - so she's soaked and half-way up this thing (HOW? Is she Brad Pitt or something?) before her CHIPMUNK (yes, chipmunk) scrambles past her, jumps onto the tiny antenna on top of the skyscraper, and HIS WEIGHT makes it bend. The dragon falls, unable to grasp anything else, even tho she's a dragon with big claws, and even bursts into flame while she falls, even though there's no reason to and IT'S STILL RAINING, btw, and it dies on the streets, probably killing lots of innocent people. Cue HAPPY ENDING!
So the Evil Witch was killed and everyone got their happily ever after because the chipmunk ate a few extra nuts.
WHAT - EV - ER.
But then I thought about it a little more...
and I came to this conclusion...
It doesn't need to be REAL because it's point is that we start believing in things that are a little hard to believe in - like true love.
The power of seeing Giselle bring back together a divorcing couple and wake "the guy" and his daughter to a forgotten world of dreams-come-true is what it's all about.
Not dragons and witches, etc.
For being a fairy tale, you'd think it would be.
But then... you wouldn't.
Few fairy tales are about witches and princesses. They're about true love, following your heart, and believing in yourself. And many other worthy things.
Enchanted didn't need to be serious because it was calling us to lighten up.
If we didn't like the movie because it wasn't serious, we missed the point.
Giselle reminds me to be true to myself. To act on kind impulses. To be honest. To enjoy life. To not apologize for who I am. To take the adventure that comes to me.
To communicate these things is to have succeeded.