Growing up the old Walt Disney movies I’ve developed an annoyingly critical take on every Disney cartoon film to come out since then.

This past weekend I managed to go to a free screening of Walt Disney’s new movie Enchanted. Prior to the watching the movie I already knew it was a mix between fantasy and reality – which is what a lot of movies seem to be doing these days (i.e. Beowulf).

The beginning of the movie was a hodgepodge between the opening of Sleeping Beauty, the friendly animals of Cinderella, and the wicked jealous Queen from Snow White. Normally, I wouldn’t be so turned off by those elements but even though the general ideas of those three stories were melded together on the screen, there was something obviously missing. Maybe it was absence of intricate artistic details that made it look more like a Saturday morning cartoon show you’d see at 8 am in the morning, or the light-airy believable voices that drew you into the story to begin with.

Though Enchanted made a good effort in giving an old fashion throwback to the Disney of old – it lacked those certain characteristics that made those Disney movies so entrancing. But I’m sure it filled that holiday longing for those needing a reason to sit in the movie theatre and be immersed in the sugarcoated pop melodies that only Disney can successfully get you to like. I suppose that’s the reason why High School Musical has been such a success.
—Eming Piansay