DISENCHANTED
Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Gabriella Baldacchino, Maya Rudolph, Idina Menzel, James Marsden, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jayma Mays, Griffin Newman, and Alan Tudyk
Director: Adam Shankman
AMARÚ
Disenchanted works best when it’s deconstructing fairy tale tropes. Amy Adams (Giselle) vs. Maya Rudolph (Malvina) as dueling evil queens, Gabriella Baldacchino (Morgan) sarcastically calling out her magical stepmother, and James Marsden (King Edward) going full Prince in real life was all a charming return to form. But the fine line between satire and Disney fantasy was too often blurred, forgoing smart parody for boring princess-story clichés, which sporadically disengaged me from the film. Less time in the musical fairy tale and more time in reality would have done this sequel some good.
JACOB
Unfortunately, Disenchanted continues one of the all-time bad movie streaks for one of our greatest actresses, as Amy Adams is forced to carry any and all of the fun of this film on her shoulders while everything else crumbles around her. Every idea seems to stem from the idea that the sequel had to happen rather than it being something people actually wanted to make. Each character not named Giselle (Adams) is at best two-dimensional, none of the songs are remotely as good as the predecessor’s, and every set feels like a soundstage. It’s not unseemly bad, but it’s bad.
