Enchanted: Release date March 18, 2008
The Enchanted story:
What is the movie like?
The Hidden Layers of Disney's Movie "Enchanted"
The story is most similar to Snow White, because it has an Evil Queen, played beautifully by Susan Sarandon. Queen Narissa is the stepmother of Prince Edward, the two dimensional love interest of Giselle. In both stories, the poisoned apple plays an important part, and the likeness of the old hag is almost identical. A very funny part of the movie is where Giselle decides to clean up Robert's house with the help of the local animals, which in this case are rats, pidgeons and cockroaches. This of course is exactly what Snow White does when she sees the messy house that the Seven Dwarfs live in. Near the end of the movie, True Love's Kiss comes into play in order to waken Giselle from the curse of the poison apple.
Additionally, Cinderella very clearly comes into play during the Royal Ball scene, and her footprint is left with the see-through designer shoe. The fairy godmother in Enchanted is really Robert's American Express card, which provides all the clothing Giselle needs for the ball.
The subtle layer:
There are several scenes in the movie that have exact parallels in the other Disney movies:
-In Central Park, there are a few seconds which show Giselle and Robert in a boat which looks very much like a scene in the Little Mermaid.
-Later in the same Central Park scene, you will notice a woman with a candelabra on her head. Seem strange? This is a nod to Lumiere, the candelabra in Beauty and the Beast.
-While singing "That's How You Know" in Central Park, Giselle runs up a small, grassy hill, her arms stretched out behind her. You may recognize the similarity of this shot to "The Sound of Music: The Hills Are Alive". There is also a similar shot to this in "Beauty and the Beast".
-A reference to another classic movie occurs when Giselle and Robert visit an Italian restaurant for dinner. The restaurant may seem a little familiar. The restaurant is Bella Notte, which is from "Lady and the Tramp".
The layer most people will miss:
Jodi Benson, who's the voice of Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid,' was in the movie as the receptionist at Robert's office.
When Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) is in a motel room watching TV, there's a moment when Paige O'Hara [voice of Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast'] shows up on the TV screen in the soap opera. The soap-opera music is 'Beauty and the Beast' rearranged.
The law firm Robert works for is called Churchill, Harline and Smith who are the three songwriters from 'Snow White'.
Pregnant Woman with Kids: Judy Kuhn provided the singing voice of Pocahontas in Pocahontas.
According to director Kevin Lima, "thousands" of references are made to past and future works of Disney in Enchanted, which serve as both a parody of and a "giant love letter to Disney classics". As Lima worked with Bill Kelly, the writer, to inject Disney references to the plot, it became "an obsession". They derived the name of every character as well as anything that needed a name from past Disney films to bring in more Disney references.
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