Enchanted

[Ben]

Animated Views. Fact-checking Eric Janssen's posts since 2007!

Somewhat outrageously, I seem to have written that reply on the very day Eric joined the Forum and started posting here…

[ShyViolet]

Enchanted was actually Disney embracing its “fairy-tale past” even in the face of the constant irony/sarcasm of films like Shrek 3 and Happily N’Ever After. If anything, Disney was starting to understand that sometimes it’s best to embrace your roots. Yes, EVEN WITH Eisner at the helm.

And neither he nor the audience were “punishing” anything. Just because a Princess film has a slight “twist” to it DOES NOT MEAN that it’s saying to h*** with films like Little Mermaid and Beauty (actually, even the Renaissance films had their own wicked “twists”: Gaston the handsome “hero” really being the villain, Aeriel sprightly and independent rather then just waiting for her prince.)

[Ben]

It’s okay, Vi. You can say heck!

I for one felt Enchanted was Disney actually *owning* that whole Shrek satirical edge, and doing it smartly, spoofing the genre as Shrek and its like did, but doing it from the inside and with real heart, and thus making it more authentic. The thing that always strikes me about Shrek is that, for all its bite, it actually wants to be both things, actually ending up being the very thing it wants to tear apart. Part of this is one studio being an outsider taking a knock at another, and part of it is the other studio doing this with a sly nod but also with the true legacy of decades of what came before, but Shrek always felt manufactured to be what it was, to me, while Enchanted was amazingly itself a self-aware knock *and * a celebration of what it was apparently spoofing. Shrek, on the other hand, *wanted* to deconstruct the animated fairytale, but ended up being one, so the bite is lost and becomes actually quite toothless (and, yes, I realise Toothless is a completely different franchise)!

[Dacey]

I actually feel that Shrek is to fairy tales what Incredibles is to superheroes—it’s both a parody and a tribute to the genre.

In other words, I never found it nearly as mean-spirited as others seemed to, and Katzenberg may have had his beef with Disney, but it’s apparent from the commentary that the team behind it were big Disney fans. I think Shrek is far more affectionate—as weird as that may sound—than it’s often given credit for.

Of course each installment was warmer and fuzzier as they went along, until Forever After may as well have rated G as I can’t recall there being anything “edgy” about that one.

[EricJ]

Animated Views. Fact-checking Eric Janssen's posts since 2007!

And I was reading Jim Hill's Disney history site since 2005:
The Enchanted we got was very, very, very, VERY much not the one from the first script treatments, from the days when Michael Eisner was bending over backwards to the Shrek 2 crowd of the day to show how much the studio wanted to "apologize" for their Shameful Legacy of Princesses.
Robert was originally not an upscale midtown urbanite, Giselle's real-world job was not in a big rich fashion office, and the little daughter preferring princesses to Marie Curie was definitely a last-second addition.
Between Eisner and the feminist lynch-Cinderella crowd, there was a lot of personal grudge and revenge-fantasy on display, that had to be toned down to please the new change of boardroom heads.

The reason we got the cute, cuddly version we did three or four years of production hell later was a studio 180 when John Lasseter promised to bring Princess Tiana back, and all of a sudden it was cool to be a sentimental, musical-humming Disney princess fan again. Oopsie.

[Ben]

"Bring Princess Tiana back"…?

[EricJ]

Yes, via bringing John Musker & Ron Clements back out of "exile", and granting full-pardon status, just to prove the point. Do try to keep up.

[Dacey]

Jim Hill Media’s “reputation” (at least when it comes to his “predictions”) has proven to be sketchy at best, bombastically misinformed at worst. And he’s absolutely full of himself to boot. There’s a reason I’ve never used the guy as a news source here.

[ShyViolet]

The reason we got the cute, cuddly version we did three or four years of production hell later was a studio 180 when John Lasseter promised to bring Princess Tiana back, and all of a sudden it was cool to be a sentimental, musical-humming Disney princess fan again. Oopsie.

How could Lasseter have done a 180 on Enchanted when he only arrived at Disney in 2006 and the actual film was released in 2007? You can re-shoot live-action in a relatively short time, but the animation had been in production for years.

[EricJ]

The animation about how she got there? Sure had. Nothing wrong with that.
It's just the live-action script afterwards that needed a little.........retheming once they got to production in the redraft/reshoots.

(And hey: Nothing wrong with liking the film we got. Just don't raise any banners or pay them any gushy compliments about why they started making it in the first place, just because you liked how it ended up.)

[Ben]

Enchanted was Disney's knee-jerk reaction to Shrek. As I’ve said urned out very well because it came from a place of understanding of the legacy and not just from a sniping point. Do try to keep up.

And bringing Princess Tiana "back" still doesn’t make sense. How can you bring Princess Tiana "back" when she eve er existed before? I’m trying to keep up but then you do talk such bollocks!

[EricJ]

And bringing Princess Tiana "back" still doesn’t make sense. How can you bring Princess Tiana "back" when she eve er existed before? I’m trying to keep up but then you do talk such bollocks!

(Bringing...princesses...back...WITH Tiana.
There. I now rule that this horse's cause of death was due to repeated blunt trauma, can we STOP the forensic autopsy now?)

[Ben]

Well, that makes (a bit) more sense.

[Daniel]

Here's a few story details from previously posted articles, should give you a better idea Bill: (Would've posted this sooner, but the usual hogwash derailment...)

The film will see Giselle, Robert, and Morgan moving to a new house in the suburbs, overseen by Malvina Monroe, the main villain of the film. After problems begin to arise, Giselle makes a wish to transform their lives into a perfect fairytale. However, the spell backfires dramatically and puts Giselle in a rush against the clock to save both her family and her Kingdom of Andalasia before the clock strikes midnight.

The film will see Giselle, Robert and Morgan moving to a new house in the suburbs. This suburb is overseen by Malvina Monroe, who is expected to be the main villain of the film. After they move, problems begin to arise (some family dynamics, some problems at work and school), so Giselle makes a wish on a magic wishing wand to transform their lives into a perfect fairy tale. However, the spell backfires dramatically and puts Giselle in a rush against the clock to save both her family and the kingdom of Andalasia before the clock strikes midnight.

As I said initially, the "perfect fairy tale" part gives me WandVision vibes. Filming started Monday!

[Bill1978]

Thanks Daniel for those sypnosis.