Film / Enchanted

The Real and Animated worlds collide, and cause an enormous philosophical discussion on Fairy Tales.

Giselle: What sort of awful place is this?
Robert: It's reality!
Giselle: Well, I think I'd prefer to be in Andalasia.

Enchanted is Disney's satirical Affectionate Parody of, well, a Disney movie, specifically the ones that spawned the Disney Princess line. It was directed by Kevin Lima and written by Bill Kelly, and released in 2007.

Giselle (Amy Adams) lives in the beautiful animated land of Andalasia, where Genre Tropes abound. She falls in Love at First Sight with the handsome Prince Edward (James Marsden), and they are to be wed the very next day. But his Wicked Stepmother, the Queen(-Regent) Narissa (Susan Sarandon), doesn't want to surrender the throne, so she throws Giselle down a Portal Pool to modern-day, live-action New York City. There she is rescued by Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a divorce lawyer who doesn't put much stock in "Happily Ever After". Prince Edward follows Giselle to New York in hopes of rescuing her, Robert's fiancée Nancy (Idina Menzel) is caught in the middle, and Narissa sends her incompetent henchman Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) in as well in hopes of putting an end to Giselle once and for all.

The movie is a Decon-Recon Switch of classic Disney fairy tales, and continuously bounces between both ends of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. Either way, though, it's still fun, never cheesy (save the opening, which is supposed to be cheesy), and doesn't take itself too seriously. The hand-drawn animation in this film, as well as how well it won the audiences over, was probably yet another reason why Disney chose to return to producing 2D films on their own.

A sequel was announced for 2011, but composer Alan Menken later reported that it had been shelved. July 2014 saw the announcement of another attempt at a sequel under the working title of Disenchanted. In 2020, the sequel was confirmed for release on the streaming service Disney+, and it was eventually released on November 18, 2022. That film's page can be found here.

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This film provides examples of the following:

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Okay, maybe not "absurdly" sharp, but Edward's rapier is still sharp enough to stab through the roof of a city bus. Later, Giselle can throw the sword hard enough to pierce a metal decoration and have it stick solidly enough to support a grown man's weight.
• Accidental Pervert: Poor Robert, upon discovering Giselle in the shower with the birds and the towel:
  Giselle: Oh, I hope you had nice dreams!
  Robert: I...I think I'm still in one.
• Accidental Truth: At an Italian restaurant, Nathaniel, disguised as a waiter, gives Giselle an apple martini "from a secret admirer". Robert jokingly says, "Be careful, it's poisonous." Little does he know it's made from a poisoned apple that Narissa is trying to use to do Giselle in. Pip realizes what's up, though, and knocks the martini out of Giselle's hands before she can taste it.
• Action Girl: After spending most of the movie as a Princess Classic, Giselle turns into this to fight Narissa and rescue Robert.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Ariel has a fish tank where she works. And the office has a Muzak version of "Part of Your World".
  • Also, the little musical cue that strikes up when Paige O'Hara first appears sounds awfully familiar...
    • Her character in the soap opera is named Angela after Angela Lansbury, who voiced Mrs. Potts, while the man she is talking to is named Jerry, after Jerry Orbach, the voice of Lumiere.
  • Posters for Wicked and RENT can be seen in Times Square, in which Idina Menzel headlined respectively as Maureen Johnson and Elphaba. Another poster advertises Hairspray, which stars James Marsden as Corny in the film adaptation.
  • Julie Andrews is the narrator for the film. During "That's How You Know", Giselle can be seen running in Central Park and recreating the famous "The hills are alive..." shot from The Sound of Music. And one of the dancers during the same number was Harvey Evans, who also played one of the chimney sweeps during the "Step in Time" scene in Mary Poppins.
• Actually Quite Catchy: After spending most of "That's How You Know" trying to break off Giselle's Crowd Song and lampshading the tropes that come with it, Robert catches himself bobbing along before realizing what he's doing.
• Adoring the Pests:
  • This movie is all over this trope. Giselle calls the "forest creatures" of New York (cockroaches, pigeons, and rats) to help her clean up Robert's apartment. Hilarity Ensues when he walks in with the creatures still in the place. Morgan also has this viewpoint, as well, to an extent (but not as much as Giselle, of course).
  • Inverted in that most pedestrians find Pip as disgusting as any sewer vermin.
• Affectionate Parody: Disney sends up their own animated canon, and they have a lot of fun doing it.
• Again with Feeling: Giselle becomes frustrated with Robert's Jade-Colored Glasses and cynicism, and finally shouts that he makes her angry...then giddily laughs and repeats herself as she realizes that yes, in fact, she's angry, switching between giggles and a frustrated tone with joy. It's implied that, as a Princess Classic, Giselle has never even experienced anger—Robert creating that feeling for her makes her realize that she's capable of more than just happiness.
• All-Loving Heroine: Giselle's innocence and benevolent nature make her this, leading to such as her calling a statue of a large woman and the toothless smile of a bum "beautiful". And when the bum steals her tiara, she's more saddened than anything else.
  Giselle: You are not a very nice old man!
• All Men Are Perverts: "Remember, when you go out, not to put on too much makeup, otherwise the boys will get the wrong idea. And you know how they are... They're only after one thing." From the 6-year old, no less.
  Giselle: What's that?
  Morgan: I don't know. Nobody will tell me.
• All Part of the Show:
  • The bystanders to the True Love's Kiss scene assume it was some kind of performance...until Narissa transforms into a dragon. And even then, some of them bemoan the special effects.
  • Also, the patrons at the Italian restaurant cheer after Nathaniel throws Pip into a pizza oven, although it's not clear whether they think it was all a show, or they're just that glad the rodent's gone.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Narissa in spades. Downplayed, if not subverted, by Nancy.
• Alternate Tooniverse: Andalasia is this.
• And Here He Comes Now: Nathaniel is sitting in a cab and talking to a radiotherapist about his growing unease about Narissa when she shows up outside.
• And Starring: The film's cast roll ends with "and Susan Sarandon".
• Animal Lover: Giselle makes friends with all the talking animals and all the non-talking ones.
• Animal Talk: Inverted, animals can clearly communicate amongst each other AND to other "human" characters in Andalasia, but once we cross into the "real world" of New York, this ability ceases.
• Any Last Words?: Prince Edward says this when he believes that Robert has kidnapped Giselle.
  Edward: Have you any last words before I dispatch you?
  Robert: You have got to be kidding me!
  Edward: Strange words.
• Arc Words: "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss..."
• Armor-Piercing Question: Indirectly, Nathaniel receives one from a soap opera, where the woman spites the man by haughtily asking, "How could I love a man who doesn't even like himself?" Although Nathaniel proceeds with his agenda of keeping Pip from ratting him out to Edward, it's enough to plant a seed of doubt in him that leads to his eventual Heel–Face Turn.
• Artistic License – Geography: New York City has far more animals than just pigeons, rats and cockroaches. Even ignoring the obvious exclusion of squirrels, New York City alone has birds from sparrows to eagles and hawks, as well as opossums and deer.
• Art Shift: From animation to live-action when Giselle gets banished to New York.
• Aspect Ratio Switch: The film begins in a 1.78:1 ratio and switches to 2:35:1 upon the switch to live-action. It then stays that way the rest of the movie, even when going back to animated segments.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: With her huge blue eyes, pale skin and pretty, up-turned nose, Amy Adams has the perfect look required to play a real-life Disney princess.
• Award-Bait Song: "So Close", which weirdly enough, is the one song in the movie where the placement makes sense — it's used as the "slow dance" song at a ball. Giselle's magic voice is not necessary! Strangely enough, it's a bittersweet love song — apt for our leading couple but presumably less so for the other dancers, who, while invited to dance with someone they did not come to the ball with, presumably do not have the same unresolved feelings for one another. Despite being the only true award bait song, the film took 3 of the 5 nomination slots in the Best Original Song category at the Oscars. Although it lost to the Award-Bait Song in Once, Enchanted's domination, a year after Dreamgirls accomplished the same feat, made the Academy put a one-song-per-film cap on the nominations.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Robert's client and her estranged husband.
• Badass Cape: Edward wears one.
• Battle in the Rain: During the Final Battle, no less!
• Beautiful Dreamer: Robert is about to call a cab to get Giselle out... but then sees her asleep on the couch, serene and looking quite angelic. He hangs up and lets her sleep... and can't help watching her a moment longer, with a warm smile.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: Giselle is a Self-Parody of the old-school Disney Princesses, so she sings to her friendly Woodland Creatures and has Prince Edward fall in love with her just by hearing the sound of her voice. Even when she lands in New York her voice remains crystalline, as evidenced by the pests she can convince to work with her ("Happy Working Song") and the Crowd Song she can drum up ("How Does She Know").
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Played straight with Giselle, who by all accounts is the most moral person in the film. But after all, Queen Narissa is a bit of a looker, herself...
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Giselle can never, ever get dirty. (She does get slightly dirty on the bottom of her dress in the beginning.)
• Betty and Veronica: Edward (Betty) and Robert (Veronica) for Giselle (Archie), as well as Nancy (Betty) and Giselle (Veronica) for Robert (Archie).
• Big Bad: Queen Narissa is determined to kill Giselle to keep her power as queen.
• Big Damn Heroes: At the end of the film, Pip is released and helps Giselle defeat Narissa.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Robert and Giselle's kiss in the rain near the end of the movie.
• Big "NEVER!": Delivered by Narissa during the opening. It's so big, in fact, that she briefly appears to turn into a dragon.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: A rare in-universe version. Robert is confused when all of Central Park bursts spontaneously into song during the "That's How You Know". To him, it's a BLAM. His reaction is also a lampshade of the Spontaneous Choreography, since unlike a pure BLAM the sequence also advances the plot. It leads to a romantic make-up gift from Robert to Nancy because of the earlier Not What It Looks Like scene.
• Bigger on the Inside: Giselle's carriage has room for all of her animal friends, including a cow. Really, it was already quite a stunt to get her dress to fit in there comfortably.
• Blithe Spirit: In "That's How You Know," Giselle turns an average day at the park into one of the most joyous musical numbers ever.
• Book Ends: The film begins and ends with a literal opening and closing of a book, which is a Shout-Out to classic Disney films (see below).
• Bowdlerise:
  • When this movie is aired on TV, a portion of Giselle and Morgan's conversation about "boys being after only one thing" is cut.
  • The scene where Pip poops is omitted in the Disney Channel airings of the movie, but not in the ABC Family airings.
  • The Disney Channel airing omits a scene in which Edward takes advantage of a guard's being distracted by a dog taking a leak to slip into Robert's apartment complex unnoticed. Instead, he is shown simply entering the apartment without having to distract anyone first.
• Brainless Beauty:
  • Edward is a handsome prince, but also somewhat hotheaded and not particularly bright.
  • Giselle too, though she improves by the end.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Pip when Nathaniel corners him.
• Bystander Syndrome: Giselle, wearing a huge poofy wedding dress pops out of a manhole and runs into traffic, causing an accident, and babbling about a prince and a castle and gets nothing more than a few confused/annoyed Aside Glance stares. It's New York City! Stranger things happen every day.
• Cassandra Truth: Robert assumes that some old lady is lying to Giselle about having seen Edward, since Robert wasn't there to see Edward stab a bus.
• Casting Gag: Robert's secretary is played by Ariel's voice actress, Jodi Benson. Similarly, Paige O'Hara (who plays Belle) and Judy Kuhn (Pocahontas's singing voice) have cameos later in the movie.
• Celebrity Paradox:
  • As Edward rides on the roof of the bus, he's framed with a poster for Superman Returns (in which James Marsden plays Richard White) in the background. There's also a poster of a musical version of Hairspray, whose film version also has Marsden playing Corny, but filming for Enchanted probably happened first.
  • Additionally, you can see posters for both Wicked and RENT (The former of which the film's lyricist Stephen Schwartz also composed) in Times Square, two musicals that Idina Menzel (Nancy) is pretty famous for starring in as Elphaba and Maureen Johnson.
• Chekhov's Skill: Pip's ability to be The Last Straw that weighs down a branch or building spire.
• Chewing the Scenery: The characters who came from Andalasia do this, though it's justified because it's an animated world.
• Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: Nancy and Edward, after Robert falls for Giselle.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Nancy had shades of this during the ball.
• Cloudcuckooland: Andalasia.
• Clown Car: In the beginning, Giselle gets out of her carriage in her wedding dress, and Nathaniel is run over by all the animals that were apparently in the coach with her. Even though her dress is so big, it's hard to tell how she fit in the car herself. One suspects that the coach must be a former TARDIS.
• Coincidental Broadcast: The TV in Edward's motel room is showing an interview with Giselle when he asks it to reveal where she is. It does appear that he's been channel surfing all evening, though.
• Composite Character: Narissa is a Captain Ersatz of both the evil queen from Snow White and Maleficent.
• Cooked to Death: Giselle thinks this happens to Pip at the restaurant — he tries to hide on top of a pizza pan, under the pizza. Nathaniel, on seeing him, throws the pan across the room and into an oven. At the last second, Pip, unseen by the others, is flung off the pizza pan and into a glass on a counter.
• Company Cross References: The movie is full of them:
  • The book opening sequence is a shout-out to many Disney classics.
  • When Giselle is looking at the fish tank in Robert's office, an instrumental version of "Part Of Your World" plays in the background. Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel, plays Robert's secretary.
  • While in the Italian restaurant, "La Bella Notte" from Lady and the Tramp plays; the restaurant itself is called after the song.
  • The scene where Nathaniel helps Edward to take his boots off is an obvious shout-out to Beauty and the Beast. Edward also watches a soap opera starring Paige O'Hara, who voiced Belle, while a mysterious-sounding "Beauty and the Beast" motif plays.
  • When flipping through channels, the Latin music during the "Pink Elephants on Parade" sequence from Dumbo is heard.
  • Later, Edward watches the ending of Fun and Fancy Free on television.
  • When Edward hears a news report that lets him know where Giselle is, the reporter's name is a shout-out to the voice actresses of three of Disney's most famous princesses: Mary (Costa, Sleeping Beauty) Ilene (Woods, Cinderella) Caselotti (Andrea, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).
  • Giselle wears glass shoes to the ball, and the scene where she takes the bite of the poisoned apple mimics the one in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
  • Narissa herself is a big shoutout to many Disney villainesses, especially to Maleficent; green electricity-based powers, similar outfits, and the fact that she turns into a dragon while bursting in flames. Her poisoned apple plot and Nathaniel reference to the evil queen and the huntsman from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
  • Broadway veteran Harvey Evans, the yellow-jacketed old man from "That's How You Know" previously danced as a chimney sweep in Mary Poppins.
  • There are also several other references to Mary Poppins: Mr. and Mrs. Banks have the same last name as Jane and Michael's parents; the old lady in the park is an Expy of the elderly lady in the "Feed the Birds" song; and Julie Andrews, who had the lead role as Mary Poppins in the 1964 film, is the narrator.
  • The law firm where Robert works is Churchill, Harline, & Smith LLP, after the main songwriters who worked on such early films as Snow White, Pinocchio, and Bambi, Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, and Paul J. Smith.
  • Prince Edward and Nathaniel stay at the Grand Duke Hotel, which is named after the Cinderella character that hosts the royal ball dance.
  • Nancy’s last name is Tremaine, the same as Cinderella’s stepmother.
  • There's a pop-up tracker solely devoted to this on the Blu-ray disc, of which there are over 100, some of which are so obscure that even most Disney diehards won't catch them without it. According to director Kevin Lima, the actual count is over 1,000.
• Could This Happen to You?: The news report of Pip being spotted at the restaurant parodies this, with the reporter rhetorically asking if this is a sign of a rising trend of rat infestations.
• Crapsack Only by Comparison: New York for Giselle, at least initially.
• Crash-Into Hello: Inverted. Giselle actually talked to Robert first before falling from the billboard.
• Creative Closing Credits: The credits featured animated silhouettes with a "woodblock-printed paper" background, many referencing previous Disney films.
• Creepy Cockroach: Played with in the "Happy Working Song". Cockroaches pitch in to help the rats and pigeons clean up the apartment.
• Crowd Song: "That's How You Know" parodies this as ruthlessly as is possible in a Disney movie with the scene in Central Park.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Played for Laughs when Nathaniel clips Pip to a hanger and leaves him in the closet.
• Curtain Clothing: On her second day in New York, Giselle makes herself a dress out of Robert's living room curtains (complete with a shot of the curtains hanging in the windows with appropriately-shaped holes in them); Robert is upset. On day three, she makes herself another dress out of Morgan's rug; by this point, Robert is merely resigned to fate.
• The Cutie: Giselle's bubbly attitude and innocence make her this, in spades.
• Cutting the Electronic Leash: Nancy, after lampshading how a cell phone still gets reception in a magical fairytale kingdom.
• Damsel in Distress: Gender Flip, which Narissa humorously lampshades.
• Dance of Romance: The only possible explanation behind Nancy and Edward's Last-Minute Hookup. The intended explanation was left on the cutting-room floor.
• Dances and Balls: Being a sort of parody on the concept of every Fairy Tale, it has a dramatic and grand Dance Ball near the end. It's complete with Giselle looking stunning in her dress and Robert showing that, although he doesn't like dancing, he actually can.
• Dark Is Evil: Narissa, who is an extremely Aloof Dark-Haired Girl.
• Deadpan Snarker: Robert until his life view becomes more idealistic.
• Decon-Recon Switch: For princess and Disney fairy tale tropes. It drops the classic Disney stock characters (a singing princess with an animal sidekick, a dashing prince and an evil sorceress) into real world New York, quickly showing the harsh differences between reality and fantasy as Giselle finds people unwelcoming and untrustworthy except for Robert and Morgan, and all of her attempts to put her story back on track fail while Edward finds himself actually struggling for the first time. Giselle falling in love and getting engaged to Edward after first meeting is also deconstructed when they reunite, as Robert helped her realise how little they have in common and that she isn't really in love with him. It's reconstructed because the musical scenes are portrayed as genuinely fun for all involved, Giselle's optimism and firm belief in true love help a divorcing couple fall back in love while Robert finds himself becoming less jaded, and by the end many classic Disney tropes such as true love's kiss and the happily ever after are played completely straight.
• Description Cut:
  "Edward has a stepmother. Well, I've never met her, but I hear she's just lovely." (cut to Narissa entering Times Square dramatically, all dark and ominous)
  • Of course, since she is Susan Sarandon, she is lovely, even when dark.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Queen Narissa's evil is brought to Edward's attention only when Nathaniel tells him she's evil.
• Disney Creatures of the Farce: In New York, Giselle's singing summons rats, pigeons, cockroaches, and flies!
  • Hell, it could have been worse. She's lucky she didn't inadvertently shanghai the neighbors' housepets.
• Disneyesque: The movie opens with animated sequences in Andalasia. Notably, these scenes weren't done by Disney's own animation studio, as it had not yet relaunched its 2D department (though it was animated by Disney veterans).
• Disney Villain Death: It's like they read the friggin' page. Oh wait...
• Distressed Dude: At the end of the film, Narissa turns into an enormous dragon, grabbing Robert and flying with him to the top of the Woolworth Building, forcing Giselle to save the day. Narissa lampshades the Gender Flip of the princess saving the hero.
• Divorce Assets Conflict: Robert is introduced in the middle of a messy divorce arbitration that's over...a Hank Aaron baseball card.
• Divorce Is Temporary: Robert's client and her husband have ultimately canceled their plans for divorce thanks to Giselle's remark about their eyes sparkling upon gazing at one another.
• Double Subversion: A lot, due to the film's refusal to commit to being a parody or not.
• The Dragon: Nathaniel is Narissa's main subordinate.
• Dragons Versus Knights: The finale introduces a dragon our heroes have to fight with a heroic prince's magical blade in a play on the example of this trope in Sleeping Beauty. The twist is that the dragon-slayer here is not the brave knight who rescued the princess, but the princess herself, slaying the dragon with his sword.
• Easily Forgiven: Nathaniel's past actions against certain characters (e.g. Giselle and Pip) aren't brought up once he makes his Heel–Face Turn. It helps that he's perfectly honest, not to mention truly apologetic, about his role in Narissa's schemes.
• Evil Overlooker: Narissa on the posters. And so is that giant dragon, so she's in it twice, both times in a watching pose. How's that for overkill?
• Evil Sorcerer: Narissa (see Vain Sorceress below).
• Exact Words: Robert says he doesn't dance; he never said he couldn't.
• Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Narissa.
• Facepalm: The very first thing we see Robert doing, in response to a particularly annoying divorce case unfolding before him.
• Fairytale Wedding Dress: Giselle and Nancy each wear one. Giselle's huge, poofy dress proves to be very impractical in New York.
• Falling-in-Love Montage: Giselle and Robert dancing to "So Close" by John McLaughlin at the ball.
• Falling into His Arms: Played straight with Edward and Giselle, but more of a "Falling on top of his arms" with Giselle and Robert.
• False Soulmate: Towards the end, True Love's Kiss indicates that the couples Edward/Giselle and Robert/Nancy aren't meant to be with each other, but that Edward/Nancy and Robert/Giselle are.
• Fantastic Romance: Cartoon princess-to-be meets real-world lawyer.
  • And the very end provides us with real-world fashion designer meets cartoon prince.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Early on, Robert discourages Morgan's interest in fairy tales. He tries to encourage her in more practical dreams, giving a book about real-world heroines such as Marie Curie and Eleanor Roosevelt. It's implied that his divorce has left him disillusioned about love.
• The Fashionista: Nancy, who is a fashion designer. When she leaves with Edward, Giselle takes over her business.
• Female Gaze: The "I'm angry!" scene in which Giselle feels anger for the first time and is thrilled. She gets very close to Robert, who's only wearing a bathrobe, and we're treated to a nice close-up of her feeling up his bare and exposed chest. It's her Love Epiphany and also implied to be the first time she's ever experienced sexual arousal.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: Robert's divorce, a decision that deeply affected him and made him become a divorce lawyer.
• Fish out of Water:
  • Giselle, obviously, although a lot of things are ignored for the sake of keeping the plot on track.
  • This actually gets subverted a bit, in the scene where Edward and Nathaniel are in a motel room, and turn on the TV. Initially, they're doing the traditional 'Fish out of Water' bit, but they fairly quickly figure out how to use it, that it's not tiny people trapped inside, and are even able to use the remote quite well. This is probably how someone who had never seen a TV would react: Alarm, but quick adaptation. They do continue to think of it as a controllable magic mirror, but honestly, that's pretty accurate. Their cultural worldview just pre-assumes magic instead of technology.
  • Similarly, Giselle doesn't know how the shower works but figures it out very quickly without any fuss. She also figures out how to empty the vacuum cleaner via a song verse.
• Fisher Kingdom: The animated sequences parody this.
• For Happiness: Giselle's life philosophy, whether it's musical numbers, pretty dresses, or giving love a second chance.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Early in the film, Giselle takes an apple that has been bitten and sees if she can use it as the mouth on her mannequin of the Prince. Later, she takes a near-fatal bite of a poisoned apple.
  • Also, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it example, the blast of fire unleashed in anger by Narissa near the beginning bears the silhouette of a gangly, serpentine-looking dragon. Guess what she turns into at the climax?
  • Giselle's mannequin of her dream prince includes blue eyes and a blue overcoat. Its appearance and the outfit it was wearing bear a resemblance to Robert and what he wears to the ball.
  • There's also a deleted scene included on the DVD where Nancy and a co-worker talk about how she's a closeted romantic, foreshadowing her and Edward's Last-Minute Hookup.
  • In Times Square, there are posters of shows (see above) that also starred two cast members of this film. And they're your Beta Couple folks! May also double as an in-universe Hilarious in Hindsight.
  • "That's How You Know" may be considered one to Frozen, which would go on to star Idina Menzel as Princess/Queen Elsa, and along with "Fixer Upper", would discuss the risks of falling in love at first sight, as Anna would do with Prince Hans until she saw his scheme to take Arendelle for himself.
• Formula with a Twist: This was a live-action Disney film that placed the characters from the archetypical Disney story in the real world, and then poked fun at and subverted many of the standard tropes you'd find in such a story. It was the first major picture by Disney to twist their own formula to this extreme, likely in response to popular parodies like Shrek. It kicked off a series of new films, remakes, and sequels that did similar things to play with these tropes, such as Frozen, Beauty and the Beast (2017), and Maleficent.
• Four Is Death:
  • The fourth apple that Giselle holds and successfully ate is the poisoned apple. She got better, though.
  • The Big Bad who rises from the sewer portal the fourth time it opens from Andalasia. Not only did she do it ominously, but she wastes no time causing havoc upon arriving. However, she is technically the fifth Andalasian to come out of there since Edward and Pip simultaneously arrived during the second opening. The actual fourth Andalasian to arrive is Nathaniel.
    • Nathaniel does spend most of his time attempting to kill Giselle, so it still fits.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • The girls: Giselle is Sanguine (cheerful and emotional without fault), Morgan is Leukine (helpful but somewhat neutral in the grand scheme of things), Nancy is Phlegmatic (generally calm but always focused on work) and Narissa is Choleric (cruel and controlling over everyone).
  • The boys: Robert is Phlegmatic (reserved but awkward in the face of all the fantasy stuff happening), Edward is Sanguine (extremely emotional and relentlessly chipper), Nathaniel is Melancholic (loyal to a fault but deeply insecure) and Pip is Choleric (determined to help Giselle and low in patience).
  • The Andalasians: Giselle is Leukine (the kind but sequestered Damsel in Distress), Edward is Sanguine (a typical Prince Charming who is heroic but emotional), Nathaniel is Melancholic (the loyal but beleaguered henchman to the queen), Pip is Phlegmatic (the dependable pseudo-leader of the animals), and Narissa is Choleric (the "Evil Queen" determined to get rid of Giselle).
  • The four main leads: Giselle is Sanguine (again, almost always chipper and very emotional), Robert is Melancholic (composed but in general not amused by the wackier things happening), Edward is Choleric (determined to find Giselle but very unhappy with the situation), and Nancy is Phlegmatic (fairly reserved and obsessed with work).
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Lampshaded and played straight since it's an Affectionate Parody and homage, with Edward and Giselle agreeing to marry just half a minute after meeting.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: The film gleefully skewers many common elements of Disney fairy tale films, notably subverting Love at First Sight and True Love's Kiss. The prince is stuck-up and rather dimwitted, Spontaneous Choreography occurs on the streets of New York, and when Giselle enlists "forest creatures" to clean Robert's apartment, they're rats, pigeons, and cockroaches. When Prince Charming is searching for Giselle, he knocks on an apartment door that is answered by a weary-looking pregnant woman with three small children ^note a cameo by Pocahontas singing voice Judy Kuhn. She glances at him with only mild surprise and deadpans, "Sorry. You're too late."
• Friend to All Children: Giselle gets along with Morgan really well. During the epilogue, she is also seen tending to a group of children at the boutique she inherited from Nancy, which she has named Andalasia Fashions.
• Friend to All Living Things: Played straight in the animated opening section. Spoofed for laughs in the live-action scenes, where Giselle charms vermin into cleaning Robert's apartment.
• Friend to Bugs: Flies and cockroaches help to clean the apartment for Giselle. She also mentions that her silkworm friends helped to make her wedding dress.
• Funny Background Event: There is one point in the big "That's How You Know" dance number where the performers are all marching across a bridge and people in the boats in the water below are not paying any attention to them.
  • When Robert and Nancy make up after that number, you can see a worker in the background is trying to get Giselle to stop messing with the fashion material.
• Giant Poofy Sleeves: Giselle's wedding dress, Edward's shirt, Nancy's wedding dress.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: After Nathaniel fails her for the last time, Narissa screams so loudly, she shatters every single glassware in the tavern.
• Glass Smack and Slide: During the Disney Creatures of the Farce sequence, as Giselle summons critters to help clean the flat, a flock of pigeons flies through the half-open window, save for one who smacks against the glass and slides down on the ledge. It's fine, though, to Giselle's relief.
• Good Princess, Evil Queen: As Disney's affectionate Self-Parody of the Disney Princess line, this film features the plucky and spirited princess-to-be Giselle as the protagonist. By contrast, the antagonist is Prince Edward's Wicked Stepmother, the Evil Sorceress Narissa, who tries to sabotage the marriage so she can stay on as queen.
• Good Stepmother: Discussed. Morgan is fretful about the prospect of getting a stepmother because her only knowledge of them comes from fairytales like "Snow White" and "Cinderella". However, her father's initial girlfriend, Nancy, and his new love interest, Giselle, are very friendly and supportive.
• Go Through Me: When Scaled Up Narissa announces she's going to kill everybody, starting with Giselle.
  Robert: Over my dead body!
  Narissa: All right, I'm flexible. [grabs Robert]
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Giselle in the ball.
• Greed: Pretty much Narissa's essence.
• Greek Chorus: Two old women usually lampshade everything that is happening (or what just happened) on-screen.
• Grey Rain of Depression: When the bum steals Giselle's tiara, it starts raining on our poor girl.
• Guess Who I'm Marrying?: Robert and Nancy are due to be married, though Morgan does not seem to be fond of her because she will be her stepmother. When Giselle and her fellow Andalasians come into the picture, life just so happens to have other plans for the three New Yorkers.
• Hands Looking Wrong: When Giselle first lands in New York from the fairy tale kingdom of Andalasia she first notices she's no longer animated when she looks at her hands.
• Happily Ever After: Double Subversion. In the beginning, Giselle expects to live happily ever after with Prince Edward, like the standard Princess Classic. Subverted, because her stay in New York raises doubt about her feelings for him and finally she breaks up with him. Double subverted, because, in the end, she marries Robert and forms a happy family with him. Triple subversion, because that's what Nancy wants, and needs a little magic in her life.
• Heel–Face Turn: Nathaniel.
• Held Gaze: Robert and Giselle do this at the ball during their Dance of Romance.
• Hello, Attorney!: Robert.
• Help Mistaken for Attack: Morgan and Robert shoo out all the animals that Giselle summoned to clean up the apartment, thinking they were being vermin.
• Her Boyfriend's Jacket: In the "I'm angry!" scene, Robert appears to have loaned Giselle a pair of his pajamas.
• Heroic BSoD: Giselle suffers a mild case of this when she learns about the concept of divorce.
• He's a Friend: When Prince Edward finally finds Giselle, he pulls a sword on Robert for "holding her captive," asking him if he has any last words. Giselle puts a stop to it, placing herself between the two, and telling him that Robert and his daughter Morgan are her friends. Hearing this, he puts away the sword and begins singing in the joy of seeing her.
• Hidden Depths: At one point, Giselle can be seen reading the history book Robert got Morgan (about famous women like Margaret Thatcher and Rosa Parks), with rapt attention.
• High Collar of Doom: Narrisa has an outfit with one.
• I Choose to Stay: Giselle and Nathaniel in New York. Nancy in Andalasia.
• I Do Not Speak Nonverbal: Prince Edward towards the now mute and impressive mime Pip. He has a problem with pantomimes.
• I Feel Angry: The other Trope Namer. Giselle at one point begins to rage at Robert, but said rage falls apart when she's overjoyed and turned on at feeling anger for the first time.
• Improvised Zipline: Pip escaping to alert Giselle with a wire with a clothes hanger.
• Indecisive Parody: The movie never quite decides whether it's a true parody of the Disney Animated Canon or not.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Nathaniel. The only evil deed he succeeds in doing is harming Pip. And even then, it came off as Poke the Poodle.
• The Ingenue: Giselle.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Obviously, mixing live-action and animation necessitates this, though to what extent it's effective varies: in animated form, Giselle doesn't particularly resemble Amy Adams^note Though Adams notes that the animators captured her slightly pigeon-toed gait perfectly. Nathaniel is such a spot-on caricature of Timothy Spall that you will know it's him before he even opens his mouth. Edward and Narissa are somewhere in between with their animated resemblances to James Marsden and Susan Sarandon, as is Nancy to Idina Menzel.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Giselle during the shower scene.
  "Come in!"
• Ironic Echo: "Is this a big habit of yours, falling off stuff?" "Only when you're around to catch me."
  • "Grownup girl bonding time".
• Irony: Giselle buys a modern designer dress for the ball, not knowing it's a costume party and therefore being the only one not dressed as a fairy-tale princess for once.
• I Should Write a Book About This: How Nathaniel earns his happy ending, finding himself far happier in New York. Ditto Pip, who remains in Andalasia (where he can still talk).
• Is This What Anger Feels Like? / That Makes Me Feel Angry: And doubles as a Love Epiphany for Giselle.
• I've Heard of That — What Is It?: During Edward and Giselle's reunion.
  Giselle: Before we leave, there is something I would love to do.
  Edward: Well, name it my love and it is done!
  Giselle: I want to go on a date.
  Edward: A date! [Beat] What's a date?
  • Much earlier, when Robert rants about how angry he is:
    Robert: It's an unpleasant emotion — have you heard of it?!?
    Giselle: [chipper] Oh, I have heard of it, but—
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When Edward realizes Giselle's true love is Robert, he immediately starts pushing Robert to kiss Giselle to save her with no jealousy whatsoever. Robert is hesitant, but then Nancy also relinquishes her former love and tells him to.
• Juxtaposed Reflection Poster: One of the posters◊ has a navy blue strip with the title in gold, cutting the image in two. The upper part depicts a close of Giselle/Amy Adams' wide-eyed face, with New York in the background. The lower part depicts Giselle (upside down) with the same expression but animated, with Andalasia in the background. This immediately establishes the duality of the film's two settings: the animated fairy tale world and live-action New York.
• Knight In Shining Armour: The movie begins with Prince Edward saving Giselle from a troll and they plan to get married the next day.
• Knight in Sour Armour: For all his cynicism, Robert is a fundamentally honorable man who wants to do right by his daughter, and finds himself helping out Giselle almost despite himself. The second time he tries to part ways with her, he watches her from a distance and changes his mind with a tired "Good-grief-I'm-such-a-sap" look.
• Lampshade Hanging:
  • Pretty much the entire movie, but particularly the song "That's How You Know", where Robert, acting the part of the Straight Man, wonders how on earth everyone knows the words for a song he'd never heard.
  • A great deal of Queen Narissa's dialog consists of this.
• Large Ham:
  • Edward is enjoying himself more than is street-legal, but that's part of the fun.
  • Susan Sarandon as Narissa is even more remorselessly hammy. Narissa is such a Large Ham that she continues after going One-Winged Angel, which is normally the point where most villains lose their ability to speak.
• The Last Straw: Pip has this effect on a tree branch that's already holding Giselle and a giant troll. And again on a metal spire Narissa is on.
• Latin Is Magic: Narissa makes all of her magical incantations in something Latinesque.
• Le Parkour: Edward has no problem leaping in the most unusual of places.
• Logo Joke: The camera zooms in on a tower of the Disney castle to show the book on a stand inside, effectively integrating the logo into the animated prologue.
• Lord Error-Prone: Edward, being that this movie deconstructs fairy tales.
• Love at First Note: Edward immediately sets off to find the owner of the beautiful voice he hears singing.
• Love at First Sight: Intentionally parodied. Giselle falls out of a tree onto Edward's horse, and he immediately announces that they'll be married the next day. Her relationship with Robert progresses much more slowly.
• Love Epiphany: Giselle towards Robert ("Oh, my...")
• Love Makes You Evil: Nathaniel ultimately subverts this via Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal fueled Heel–Face Turn.
• Magical Girlfriend: What else would you call Giselle in New York?
• Make a Wish: Giselle does this at a well at the castle because Narissa had told her it was a Wishing Well. It's really the portal between Andalasia and New York.
• Male Gaze:
  • Giselle, wet and covered only in Modesty Towel. Good luck averting your eyes guys!
  • Also, the rainwater glistening on her kinda accentuates the otherwise mild cleavage of her wedding dress...
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Giselle, though she's not an entirely straight example given her character growth and the fact that Robert himself is performing a similar role for her. She helps him loosen up, and even helps him with his relationship, only to end up falling for him. For his part, Robert helps her find some firmer ground.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The passengers on the bus, when Edward's rapier comes down through the ceiling, slicing a bag of birdseed (but missing the woman holding it).
• Meaningful Echo: ,
  • "True love's kiss: the most powerful force in the world."
  • A subtle one was that the first song sung in the film contains the lyric "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss." The last song sung by Carrie Underwood in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue contained the lyric "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss." Also counts as a Book Ends.
• Medium Awareness: The moment she arrives in our world, Giselle seems to take considerable note of the fact that she's now 3-D and live-action... and looks quite taken aback at it. Interestingly, none of the other Andalasians ever have this issue.
• Meet Cute: Lampshaded when Giselle falls onto Edward's horse running from a troll he was hunting.
  "And in years to come we'll reminisce / How we came to love..."
• Missing Mom: Morgan and Giselle share a bonding moment over neither having ever had a "shopping with Mom" experience. Bonus points in that Morgan's mom isn't dead, but actually left her family.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Nathaniel gradually realizes that he's just a convenient tool to Narissa, and steps forward to help the heroes at the end.
• Modesty Towel: Giselle in the Not What It Looks Like Shower Scene. Pigeons fly in and provide her with one.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • The "Happy Working Song", which ends with a one-legged pigeon eating a cockroach.
  • Edward is ready to kill Robert, but when Giselle says he's just a friend, he replies with a carefree, "Oh."
• Mr. Fanservice: Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden.
• Musical Chores: The "Happy Working Song", sung by Giselle as she and the pigeons, rats, and cockroaches clean up Robert's apartment.
• Musicalis Interruptus: Edward's attempt to launch onto a reprise of "True Love's Kiss" after hearing Giselle's voice in Central Park is quickly cut short by a pack of bicyclists running him over.
• Music Genre Dissonance: The ball features "The King and Queen's Waltz", which is in 4/4 time instead of the 3/4 time of a waltz.
• The Music Meister: Giselle.
• Narrative Shapeshifting: Pip can't speak outside the fairy tale world, so he tries using charades to warn Prince Edward that Nathaniel is planning to poison Giselle with an apple. It doesn't work; Edward just thinks the chipmunk is praising his greatness.
• Narrator: Julie Andrews narrates the film.
• Never Trust a Trailer:
  • A fairly minor example. The trailer set us up for a Subversion of a standard Big-Lipped Alligator Moment musical number. Turns out it was a Double Subversion.
  • A bigger example: When the announcer says something about Robert having to help Giselle and Edward return to Andalasia "before time runs out", newcomers can easily assume that they will become trapped in New York after a certain number of days, especially since they show the clock striking twelve.
  • The Disney Channel promos for the movie present Giselle trying to get home in time for her wedding, which features Edward getting married to someone else; this is actually spoiling the very end of the movie, where he falls for Nancy instead and Giselle stays in the real world.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Pip. Those other animals in Andalasia also qualify, but mainly it's him.
• Not What It Looks Like: Giselle clad only in a towel, falls out of the bathroom on top of Robert. Right when Nancy's shown up to take Morgan to school. What makes it worse is that Giselle doesn't help to clear up the misunderstanding (if anything she only makes the whole thing seem even more risque), because she doesn't understand the implication.
  Robert: Can't we just talk about this?
  Nancy: Talk about what, Robert? How I never stay the night because we both agreed that Morgan's here and you have to set some boundaries! And I thought, "I'm so lucky, he's sensitive." I didn't realize you were worried about crowd control! [starts to storm out]
  Robert: What...What about the grown-up girl bonding time with you and Morgan? About you bringing her to school?
  Nancy: What, so you can have your own "grown-up girl bonding time"? I don't think so.
• Novelization: There is one, and it's actually pretty good.
• Official Parody: The whole movie is one to traditional Disney animated films.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Giselle when Narissa pushes her down a well into our world. And again when she is about to fall off a billboard on the Upper West Side.
  • Robert when he discovers the animals that Giselle summoned to help clean his room.
  • Nancy when she sees Robert with Giselle on top of him.
    • Robert as well. Giselle is the only one not freaking out — because she's genuinely unaware of the implications.
  • Nathaniel when Narissa decides to kill Giselle herself after he commits one failure too many.
  • Robert when Edward points a sword at him after the latter reunites with Giselle.
  • The citizens of Times Square when Narissa arrives in the real world.
  • Giselle when Narissa arrives at the ball.
  • Robert when he discovers the poisoned apple that Narissa used to knock out Giselle. Then, everyone at the ball has a Mass "Oh, Crap!" moment when Narissa is going to make her escape and then realize that Giselle is in danger.
  • Narissa herself gets one when she realizes that she's going to fall to her death.
• Older Sidekick: Nathaniel to Edward.
• Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date: Briefly seen in the "That's How You Know" montage, complete with a Parasol of Prettiness and a mariachi band on a couple of other boats.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Featured in "Narissa Arrives" as Narissa emerges into New York and proceeds to wreak havoc as she makes her way to Nathaniel.
• One-Winged Angel: Narissa turns into a dragon for the Final Battle, in a clear homage to Maleficent.
• Only One Name: Andalasians have no last names. Even in the epilogue, when Nathaniel writes his autobiography, only "Nathaniel" is printed on the cover as the author's name.
• Only Sane Man: Giselle starts singing "That's How You Know" in the middle of Central Park and Crowd Song breaks out around her. Defrosting Ice King Robert, the one being sung to, is the only one who wonders how that is even possible.
  Robert: He knows the song too?! I've never heard this song before!
• Opposites Attract: Giselle, the cheery optimist, and Robert, the sarcastic pessimist.
• Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Narissa's initial plan — obviously, it doesn't work.
• Pair the Spares: Giselle and Robert start the story partnered up with Edward and Nancy respectively, but fall for each other. In the end, Edward and Nancy marry.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Nathaniel dresses as a chef, an apple cart vendor, an Italian waiter, and a cab driver, and is never recognized by anyone other than Narissa.
• Perspective Flip: Giselle's version of Little Red Riding Hood.
  Giselle: I remember this one time when the poor wolf was being chased by Little Red Riding Hood around his grandmother's house and she had an axe. And if Pip hadn't been walking by to help, I don't know what would've happened.
  Morgan: I don't really remember that version.
  Giselle: Well, that's because Red tells it a little differently.
• Pimped-Out Dress:
  • Giselle's would-be wedding dress.
  • Narissa and her HUGE collar.
• Pink Means Feminine: Giselle's first dress in the movie is pink. She also wears one in the epilogue when she becomes a fashion designer.
• Poison Is Corrosive: The poisoned apples also appear to be highly acidic as the one that Giselle accidentally throws attaches to a biker's helmet; a few minutes later the biker crashes his bike, throws his helmet and stumbles away, his helmet with a sizable hole in it.
• Poison Is Evil: Played with. Narissa wants to kill Giselle with one of the poisoned apples. Nathaniel, who tries to give Giselle the first two, isn't evil, though — just in love with the evil Queen.
• The Pollyanna: Played with, with Giselle; she is very cheery and light-hearted, but she is seen to be capable of feeling pain and sadness early on. She typically springs back quickly, though.
• Pretty Freeloader: Giselle by essence, though she does help with cleaning up Robert and Morgan's apartment first thing in the morning... unconventional as her methods may be, that is at her own Nice Girl initiative.
• Prince Charming: Edward, parodied. In addition to his cluelessness, he's revealed to have a bit of an ego problem, but he never gets to the level of Prince Charmless and is always polite and even a Graceful Loser.
• Princess Classic: Giselle, also parodied. (Even though she's technically not a princess; she was set to become one by marrying Prince Edward but that never happens.)
• Prophetic Names: Robert's last name is Philip (Sleeping Beauty's prince) and Nancy's is Tremaine (Cinderella's evil stepfamily). This last one is a subversion, though, as Nancy is actually quite nice and ends up a fairy-tale princess herself.
• Pungeon Master: Like many Disney villains, Narissa engages in a bit of this once she has her big evil moment. "It's time to take our tale to new heights... We're coming to the end of our story now. Are you at the edge of your seat, Giselle, just dying to know how it ends?"
• The Queen's Latin: Averted. In the fairytale land of Andalasia, everyone (aside from Nathaniel) speaks with American Accents.
• Reaching Through the Fourth Wall: People, animals, and objects that are transported from Andalasia to the real world turn from animated to live-action, and vice versa.
• Record Needle Scratch: "Ever Ever After" and Edward's wedding to Nancy screech to a halt as Nancy's phone rings.
• Redemption Earns Life: Nathaniel becomes a very successful writer post Heel–Face Turn.
• Red Is Heroic: Edward wears a heavily red outfit for the entire movie.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Edward and Robert respectively. Their clothes in the ball are even Color-Coded for Your Convenience.
• Refugee from TV Land: The Doylist concept of the film is taking the characters from an archetypical fairy tale story and placing them in real-life 21st-century New York City, but technically and Watsonianly speaking, Andalasia is Another Dimension, not a TV show, animated film or fairy tale book.
• Required Secondary Powers: Parodied on purpose. With just the sound of her voice, Giselle can control any animal and induce mass hypnosis in as large a group as she wishes. Why? Because Disney Princesses can just do that, and therefore so can Giselle, or she wouldn't be one. That's why. Likewise, following classic Disney tropes, Pip is agile and intelligent, Nathaniel can disguise into any human bystander, Narissa has the power to transform into a creepy old lady and turn into a dragon, and Prince Edward... is a Large Ham.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Edward does this when interpreting what Pip is trying to tell him.
• The Rival: Nathaniel and Pip.
• Roger Rabbit Effect: Despite the characters from Anadalasia becoming live-action when entering New York, Narissa remains animated while spying on Giselle or communicating with Nathaniel through different liquids. A rather neat effect is seeing Narissa grab a live-action poisoned apple from the boiling pot and it becomes animated when she holds it, and when she releases it, it becomes live-action again.
• Romantic False Lead: Nancy, Robert's fiancée who takes up Giselle's place and marries Prince Edward in the end. Edward counts here, too.
• Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: The passionate and imaginative Giselle versus the rationalistic and business-minded Robert.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: As out-of-it as he is, Prince Edward is still pretty brave to dive through a Portal Pool to a strange land, fight a "metal monster" (read: a bus) with a sword, and search Manhattan to look for Giselle.
• Sassy Black Woman: Robert's client and the bus driver in Times Square.
• Scenery Censor: When Robert walks in on Giselle as she's stepping out of the shower, a pair of pigeons fly in holding a towel, conveniently blocking the view before she wraps it around herself.
• The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction: Narissa on Nathaniel. Nathaniel begins to realize he's a dupe for her when he sees a soap opera variant.
• Second Love: Robert for Giselle, with Edward being the first. Giselle is likely the third for Robert, being preceded by his wife and Nancy. Nancy for Edward. As for Edward to Nancy, it's unknown if she had past relationships before Robert.
• Self-Parody: Yes, it's a Disney fairy tale film poking fun at how unrealistic Disney fairy tale films are. They also got longtime Disney composer Alan Menken to do the songs for this film, which means that Menken is parodying himself with "That's How You Know" and "So Close"^note "True Love's Kiss" and "Happy Working Song" are parodies of songs from the pre-Menken era.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Played with. Edward is the Warrior Prince, while Robert is a Non-Action Guy. However, Edward is an over-the-top Romantic, while Robert is the one with a no-nonsense snarky attitude.
• Serenade Your Lover: Discussed by Giselle as a way for Robert to reconcile with Nancy.
• Shopping Montage: In this case, however, the "protégée" is an adult, and the person who takes her shopping is a child.
• Shout-Out:
  • Giselle making a dress out of the window curtains of an angry man's house is likely one to The Sound of Music (or Gone with the Wind).
  • There is an obvious shout-out to The Sound of Music during the Central Park sequence, especially with Giselle throwing her arms out and running and leaping through the grass in "The hills are alive with the sound of music" fashion. Bonus points for Julie Andrews being the narrator.
  • "That's Amore" by Dean Martin plays before the scene in the Italian restaurant, like it did in the opening credits of Moonstruck.
  • There's something eerily King Kong (1933)-esque about Narissa's death scene.
  • Susan Sarandon's make-up should look familiar — she's wearing Frank's face from Rocky Horror Picture Show.
  • Meta Shout Out: Robert's first scene involves a divorcing couple arguing over who gets a valuable Hank Aaron baseball card. Hank Aaron played for Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, who, at the time this movie was made, did their spring training at Champion Stadium, on Walt Disney World property. They have since moved, but a rookie affiliate team of the Braves still plays there.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Nathaniel.
• Skepticism Failure: It takes Robert a very long time to admit to himself that Giselle really is magical, despite watching her magical song powers in action.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Giselle is really turned on by how Robert makes her — what is it called? — so angry!
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Cynicism may be easier and less painful, but idealism is more fun.
• Soap Within a Show: The soap opera that appears on the TV in Edward's motel room, starring Paige O'Hara (Belle from Beauty and the Beast) no less. Even better, the background music of said soap opera takes cues from the song "Beauty and the Beast".
• Speech-Impaired Animal: Pip in New York becomes a literal example. Back in Andalasia, he's a Talking Animal like all the animals in Andalasia.
• Spoiler Cover: Movie posters show either Giselle with her face toward Robert and away from Edward, or Giselle dancing with Robert, and no other characters appearing.
• Stock Scream:
  • The animated troll does the Goofy scream, or something remarkably similar when he gets catapulted by the tree.
    • A Wilhelm Scream can be heard at the start of Narissa's transformation, along with a Goofy holler.
• Suggestive Collision: Giselle, dressed only in a towel, falls out of the bathroom onto Robert. Right when Nancy enters.
• Summon Backup Dancers: For "That's How You Know" in Central Park.
• Super Cell Reception: Nancy gets cellphone reception in a magical fairytale kingdom. The bizarreness of this is discussed right before she destroys the cell phone.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The movie often contrasts between the animated world and reality. For example, in the animated opening, Giselle falls from a great height from a tree but is caught effortlessly in Edward's arms (on a horse) and she is unhurt. On the other hand, in New York when Giselle falls from a billboard (a much lesser height) and Robert tries to catch her, he does manage to cushion her fall, but they are both hurt and end up in an undignified tangle to boot.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Narissa can turn any body of water (or soup, or alcohol) in the real world into a spy camera.
• Take That!: At the beginning of the movie, when the old hag, who's really Narissa in disguise, pushes Giselle into the well, she says that she sent her to a place "where there are no happily ever afters." It turns out to be modern-day New York City. Nice.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Narissa plots to kill Giselle with a poison-laced apple.
• Tempting Apple: When Nathaniel gives Giselle the caramel apple, she doesn't notice that the caramel forms a skull-shaped pattern, and she nearly takes a bite before accidentally throwing it onto a biker's helmet. Later, at an Italian restaurant, Nathaniel brews another apple into a martini, which he claims came from Giselle's secret admirer. Giselle nearly takes a sip before Pip deliberately knocks it out of her hands. Eventually, Narissa decides to poison Giselle herself and offers an apple she claims will erase Giselle's memories of experiencing heartbreak in New York. Giselle finally bites this one, but True Love's Kiss saves her from a permanent death.
• Tender Tears: The Romantic-hearted Giselle starts crying when Robert explains divorce to her.
• "They've Come So Far" Song: "So Close", a diegetic song sung at the ball before the big confrontation.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Giselle thinks a Disney fairy tale romance is the most normal thing in the world. But then, it kind of is in her world, so the cynical reality of New York takes some adjustment.
• This Is Reality: Robert tries to explain to Giselle that this is reality, only for her to respond, "I think I'd prefer to be in Andalasia."
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Combined with Improbable Aiming Skills, The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In, and Pinned to the Wall.
• Thrown Down a Well: Narissa does this to Giselle after telling her it's a wishing well.
• Title Drop: Carrie Underwood does this in the song "Ever Ever After":
  Let yourself be enchanted/You just might break through/To ever ever after!
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Giselle is definitely a very frilly and girly girl, while Nancy is a career woman who wears pantsuits and glasses.
• Took a Level in Badass: Giselle takes up a sword in the climax and saves her love interest from a dragon.
• Tree Buchet: The troll at the beginning of the movie has this happen to him.
• Troperiffic: Well, that's the whole point of its existence.
• True Blue Femininity: Giselle wears a turquoise dress for much of the film, courtesy of Robert's curtains.
• True Love's Kiss:
  • Giselle's "I Want" Song is even called "True Love's Kiss".
  • It's also played straight near the end of the movie, when, like a good Disney princess, she's hexed to sleep. She needs a Troperiffic True Love's Kiss before midnight (of course) to wake up. Robert, of course, manages to rouse her in the nick of time with a True Love's Kiss.
• Two First Names: Robert and his daughter's last name is Phillip.
• Unanthropomorphic Transformation: Pip the chipmunk goes through this, albeit downplayed in that he retains his intelligence. In the animated world of Andalasia, Pip can speak fluently, but when he goes through the portal to the real world not only does he get a more realistic appearance but he loses his ability to speak and has to communicate mostly through charades.
• Un-Duet: When Prince Edward reunites with Giselle, he launches into a reprise of their "True Love's Kiss" duet from the start of the film, but since she's grown as a person and is now grounded in reality, she doesn't join in.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: The scene when Giselle trails off mid-rant because she's been distracted by Robert-in-his-bathrobe virtually screams this. That, or Distracted by the Sexy.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Zigzagged.
  • Giselle's initial arrival in New York does get some odd looks (the fact that she causes a traffic accident certainly helps), and Edward's antics with the bus and Pip's appearance in the Bella Notte make the local news... but otherwise their presence (including Pip at Katz's Delicatessen) doesn't garner a lot of notice. Also, Nathaniel manages to sneak into Katz's kitchen with only a chef's hat and strike up a conversation with a pot of soup without attracting too much-unwanted attention.
  • Those people in the boats during "That's How You Know" who are ignorant of all the performers crossing the bridge above them.
  • The stable magical portal in Times Square attracts attention... the first time. By the time Nathaniel pops out of it, it's routine; they've fenced it off with traffic cones and the utility crew just want to know who he's looking for.
• Up the Real Rabbit Hole: After one attempt to locate it, as far as Robert is concerned, Andalasia (a very real if Magical Land) is "fantasy", and This Is Reality. Nobody ever corrects him or acts as if this makes anything but perfect sense.
• Urine Trouble: When Edward is lurking outside Robert's apartment complex, waiting for an opportunity to get in and "rescue" Giselle, a passing dog relieves itself on his boot.
• Vain Sorceress: Narissa. Though, that must have been intentional; she is meant to be an amalgamation/parody/lampshade of the classic Disney villains, most notably Maleficent, the Queen from Snow White, Ursula, and perhaps just a dash of Lady Tremaine (well, that last one doesn't really use magic unless you count one of the sequels, but still).
• Verbed Title: Enchanted.
• Villains Blend in Better: Nathaniel seems to have much less trouble navigating New York than Giselle or Edward does, showing up in a variety of guises and apparent jobs. (Possibly he has a fairytale-villain-instant-disguise trait that carries over the way Giselle's fairytale-heroine-magic-singing trait does.)
• Visual Pun: Giselle falling to Robert in the beginning, and vice-versa at the ending.
• Warrior Prince: Though a Glass Cannon, Edward is a very capable fighter.
• Weight Woe: When Pip, a chipmunk, weighs down the troll, he wonders if he's getting too heavy and needs to eat fewer nuts.
• Welcome to the Big City: Giselle is magically transported from her idyllic Fairytale world to the middle of New York City, still in her poofy white princess dress. We then get an extended scene of Giselle being pushed around, yelled at, and freaking out at the terror of NYC rush hour. After a long day, a hobo steals her tiara.
• What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Thoroughly deconstructed when Giselle calls the creatures of New York to help her clean Robert's home for him and ends up with an entourage of rats, pigeons, and cockroaches. With a queasy look: "Well...it's always nice to make new friends..." Eventually, she gets along with them just fine "...even though you're vermin."
• When the Clock Strikes Twelve: We actually see that the clock is designed to start striking before the hour. For some reason.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: It shows that Edward and Nancy got married in Andalasia. Giselle opens up a new fashion/boutique business, staying with Robert. After staying in New York, Nathaniel becomes a successful author, as well as Pip back in Andalasia.
• White Stallion: Ridden by Prince Edward as he rescues Giselle.
• Wicked Stepmother: Played straight with Narissa. Averted with Nancy and eventually Giselle herself.
• Widescreen Shot: When the viewers first enter Andalasia, black bars appear on the left and right sides to make the picture appear as narrow as the movies Disney released during The Renaissance Age of Animation. The picture expands and fills the bars when Giselle crosses through into the live-action world. They never change back after the first transition, even when animated scenes occur.
• Wig, Dress, Accent: Nathaniel's various disguises as he follows Giselle around Manhattan.
• Wishing Well: Narissa tells Giselle that a well at the castle is this before pushing her in. It's really the portal between Andalasia and New York.
• Worst News Judgment Ever: A rodent in a New York City restaurant makes the nightly news? Maybe if it were a high-end restaurant, but it doesn't seem to be. Bonus points for twisting it into a parody of Could This Happen to You? pieces.
• Wrong Insult Offence:
  Robert: You're crazy!
  Narissa: No. Spiteful, vindictive, and very large, but never crazy.
• You Said You Couldn't Dance: Word for word.
  Giselle: You said you couldn't dance!
  Robert: I said I don't dance. I didn't say I couldn't.

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