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Enchanted is Disney's Affectionate Parody of, well, a Disney movie, specifically the six that spawned the Disney Princesses.
Giselle lives in the beautiful animated land of Andalasia, where Genre Tropes abound. She falls in Love At First Sight with the handsome Prince Edward, and they are to be wed the very next day. But the wicked Queen Narissa, who doesn't want to lose her throne, throws Giselle down a Portal Pool to modern day, live action, New York City. In New York she is rescued by Robert, a divorce lawyer who doesn't put much stake in "happily ever after", for whom she eventually falls. Prince Edward follows Giselle to New York in hopes of rescuing her, Robert's fiancée Nancy is caught in the middle, and Queen Narissa follows Giselle in hopes of killing her.
The movie is never quite sure whether it's a Deconstruction of fairy tales or an actual fairy tale, and continuously bounces between both ends of the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism. Either way, though, it's still fun and doesn't take itself too seriously.
This film provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Giselle grabs the sword and goes after the dragon.
- Affectionate Parody: Disney sends up their own animated canon, and they have a lot of fun doing it.
- All Men Are Perverts: "Remember, when you go out, not to put 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 six-year-old, no less.
What's that?
I don't know. Nobody will tell me."
- All Part Of The Show: The bystanders to the True Loves Kiss scene assume it was some kind of performance.
- Anachronism Stew: The costumes at the Kings and Queens Ball. One would assume it'd be medieval- or Elizabethan-themed, but it's more like "whatever the hell period dress you feel like putting on" (there's a Spartan helmet in there...).
- Antagonists Assimilate: Nathaniel, the evil queen's minion, has no trouble fitting into New York. He even comes up with various disguises and gets at least two jobs while there. Oh, and he apparently knows how to drive.
- 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 not necessary!
- Beautiful Dreamer
- Betty And Veronica: Gender Flipped and played straight.
- Blithe Spirit: Giselle, of course.
- Brainless Beauty: Edward
- Giselle too, though she improves by the end... though she still accepted an offer to "help her forget her pains" from the "old lady" who pushed her down the magic well. At least Edward didn't swallow Narissa's excuses...
- Admittedly, Giselle was under a lot of stress and heartache at the time (something probably quite new and unpleasant to her) so the "old woman" probably didn't need to use much pursuasion...
- Cameo: Several previous Disney princesses make appearances in the movie — Jodi Benson
 , the physical model and voice actress for Ariel in The Little Mermaid; Paige O'Hara, the voice actress for Belle in Beauty and the Beast; and Judy Kuhn, who performed the singing voice for Pocahontas.
- Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: A Pair The Spares that feels like an Ass Pull. There is a deleted scene that shows how Nancy is a romantic, that was supposed to show why she would be better with Edward than Robert. But, it didn't make it into the movie.
- Cloudcuckooland: Andalasia.
- Crash Into Hello: A twisted version, in that this is not how Giselle is introduced to Robert but rather how she's introduced to Robert's girlfriend. The Not What It Looks Like defense is employed.
- Crowd Song: Parodied as ruthlessly as is possible in a Disney movie.
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: Blink and you'll miss it - Giselle throughout the movie insists that singing to the girl you love is the best way to let her know. When they dance together at the ball, Robert softly sings along with the band's crooner. Pass the tissues, please.
- Cutting The Electronic Leash: Nancy, after hanging a lampshade on how a cell phone still gets reception in a magical fairytale kingdom.
- Damsel In Distress: Gender Flipped
- Dance Of Romance: The only possible explanation behind Nancy and Edward's Last Minute Hookup
- Dances And Balls: Being a sort of parody on Fairy Tales, 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.
- Deadpan Snarker: Robert — in the beginning.
- Development Hell: Disney bought an early version of the script in 1997.
- Double Subversion: A lot, due to the film's refusal to commit to being a parody or not.
- Everythings Nuttier With Squirrels: Pip.
- Everythings Better With Princesses: Of course, since it's a parody of the movies that foster the mindset.
- Evil Overlooker: See the poster illustrating this article. That giant woman is Queen Narissa.
- Heel Face Turn: Nathaniel
- Falling Into His Arms: Played straight with Edward and Giselle, but more of a "Falling ontop of his arms" with Giselle and Robert.
- Family Unfriendly Aesop: Probably unintentional, but it's a-okay to break off a long-standing relationship to marry a girl you've known a week. Which adds more fuel to the Parody/Not a Parody fire — isn't that kinda how all Disney romances go? How many of the Disney Princesses know their princes for much longer than that before the Happily Ever After?
- Also, your dad won't mind you borrowing his credit card to take the stranger shopping!
- Fantastic Romance
- 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 the Prince and the henchman 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.
- The prince still thinks it's a magic mirror, though.
- Friend To All Living Things: Both played straight AND spoofed.
- Genre Savvy: Narissa, but apparently only during the Final Battle, since she always sticks to her plan of Disney Killing Giselle until the very ending.
- Getting Crap Past The Radar
- When Nathaniel first pops out of the manhole, the road workers, exasperated, ask him if he's looking for a beautiful princess like Edward was. Nathaniel's reply: "No. A Prince, actually." The stunned expressions on the roadworkers' faces are obvious.
- The Not What It Looks Like scene is pretty much one long string of crap put past the radar — possibly Parental Bonus, since while the kids won't know what's implied, their parents will. For one thing, save for a towel, Giselle starts out naked on top of Robert. Nancy sarcastically asks if Robert was having some "grown-up girl bonding time." And when Giselle asks if Nancy thought they kissed, Robert replies: "Yeah. Something like that."
- The scene immediately following the Crowd Song in which Nathaniel picks up Edward after he's fallen over. "You've fallen on your royal—" "I know, I know." But he fell forward, so "ass" seems unlikely. Royal jewels, perhaps?
- The scene where Edward is looking for Giselle in the apartment building. Behind the one of the doors he knocks on, he finds a stereotypical biker... who grins mischievously at him. Edward politely excuses himself.
- The romantic-looking scenery of the room behind the biker didn't help things any.
- Then there's this little nugget of dialogue, from Morgan and Giselle's shopping montage:
Morgan: And you don't wanna wear too much make-up, because then boys get the wrong idea... and you know they're only after one thing!
Giselle: What's that?
Morgan: ... I don't know. Nobody will tell me.
- Giant Poofy Sleeves: Giselle's wedding dress, Edward's shirt.
- Happily Ever After: Pretty much the theme of the entire movie.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Hey, what are Cyclops, Dr. McDreamy, Maureen and Peter Pettigrew doing in this movie?
- High Concept: "Hey, let's do a Refugee From TV Land plot with a Disney princess" said one exec to another.
- Hot Shoujo Dad: Robert, who is a rare non-anime, western live-action example of this trope.
- I Feel Angry: Trope Namer
- Indecisive Parody: The movie never quite decides whether it's a true parody of the Disney Animated Canon or not.
- The Ingenue: Giselle
- Ironic Echo: "Is this a big habit of yours, falling off stuff?"
- James Bondage: Robert in the final battle between Giselle and Narissa
- Large Ham: Edward. James Marsden was clearly enjoying himself more than is street-legal, but that's part of the fun.
- Last Minute Hookup: Edward and Nancy.
- Love At First Sight: Almost parodied. Giselle falls out of a tree onto Edward's horse, and he immediately announces that they'll be married the next day.
- Love Makes You Evil: And rejection makes you good.
- Magical Girlfriend: What else would you call Giselle in New York?
- 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.
- Meaningful Echo: "True love's kiss. The most powerful force in the world."
- 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.
- Name That Tune: "Part of Your World" and "Beauty And The Beast"
- Not What It Looks Like: See second entry on Getting Crap Past The Radar.
- One Winged Angel: Narissa transforms into a dragon as a homage to Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent.
- Out Of Sight Out Of Mind: Narissa's initial plan — obviously, it doesn't work.
- Pair The Spares: Take a wild guess.
- It might have been foreshadowed by Edward when he and Giselle were reuinited at Robert's apartment.
"Somewhere there's a maid I've never met..."
- The Palantir Ploy: Narissa can turn any body of water (or soup, or alcohol) in the real world into a spy camera.
- The Paolo: Nancy, Robert's fiancée who takes up Giselle's place and marries Prince Edward in the end.
- Pimped Out Dress: Giselle's would-be wedding dress.
- Prince Charming: Edward, parodied.
- Prince Charmless: Again, Edward.
- Princess Classic: Giselle, also parodied.
- Prophetic Names: Robert's last name is Philip (Sleeping Beauty's prince) and Nancy's is Tremaine (Cinderella's evil stepfamily.)
- Refugee From TV Land: The fairytale Princess, her handsome Prince, a wicked Queen, and Sir Not Appearing In This Trailer all being transported to modern New York City.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The "turtles are cute" subversion.
- Roger Rabbit Effect: Of the second variety.
- Shallow Love Interest: Prince Edward.
- Shopping Montage: In this case however, the "protégée" is an adult, and the person who takes her shopping is a child.
- Shout Out: Many, many, many to past Disney movies. The Blue Ray DVD version even contains a special feature on them.
- A particularly delicious one is the name of the roving reporter who tells Edward how to find Giselle, since it references the voice actresses of three Disney princesses: Mary (Costa, Sleeping Beauty) Ilene (Wood, Cinderella), Caselotti (Andrea, Snow White). To know this, of course, you'd have to be a true fan...or have no life. You make the call.
- Well, if you didn't know and you're finding out here…
- Sir Not Appearing In This Trailer: Nathaniel.
- Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Idealism may be easier and less painful, but cynicism is more fun.
- 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!
- Somebody Elses Problem: A young woman wearing a dress the size of a building pops out of a manhole and runs into traffic, babbling about a prince and a castle, and gets nothing more than a few confused/annoyed Aside Glances — well, this is New York City!
- Speech Impaired Animal: Pip in New York, back in Andalasia he's a Talking Animal like all the animals in Andalasia
- Stock Scream: The troll has Goofy's scream, or something remarkably similar, when he gets thrown in the air
- Strangled By The Red String: Deconstructed and played straight — The Aesop of the film is that this is impossible... and then it hooks up two of the characters at the last minute. Hm.
- 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...NEW YORK"! Nice.
- Tastes Like Diabetes: The first three minutes. That was supposed to be a parody of things that taste like diabetes.
- This Is Reality
Giselle: What sort of awful place is this?
Robert: It's reality!
Giselle: Well, I think I'd prefer to be in Andalasia.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Even if you're a princess.
- Trapped In Another World
- Tree Buchet: The troll in the beginning of the movie has this happen to him.
- True Loves Kiss: Giselle has an I Want Song 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 Troperriffic True Loves Kiss before midnight (of course) in order to wake up. Robert, of course, manages to rouse her in the nick of time with a True Loves Kiss.
- Unfortunate Implications: At one point, Nathaniel imprisons the chipmunk Pip by leaving him dangling in mid-air by the arms. Being trapped in this position generally leads to death by asphyxiation, as anyone nailed to a big wooden cross by a Roman can testify.
- Urine Trouble: Happens to Edward, when he's hunting Giselle outside Robert's apartment complex.
- Unnecessary Makeover: Giselle gets a makeover before going to The Ball, giving her a more "realistic" appearance to contrast with the somewhat silly "fairy-tale princess" look she originally had. Given the plot and themes of the film, this makes perfect sense, and the characters react according to the trope. Unfortunately, the filmmakers put the actress in a rather unflattering dress and gave her an unimpressive hairstyle, completely ruining the intended effect; she was much prettier as a "fantasy princess" than as a "real woman".
- That, and the fact that the ball is fairy tale themed.
- Maybe this was the point? Perhaps she was supposed to have a drab "real world" appearance while everyone else got to look like something out of a fairy tale?
- That's actually a good point — consider that, when the group meets up, Giselle sort of looks like Nancy when we first saw her, and the dolled-up Nancy looks like when we first saw live-action Giselle. It's like it's foreshadowing the switch that'll happen at the end.
- It is the point; Word of God has confirmed this. You'll notice that Giselle's outfits get progressively less fairy-tale-ish and more real-world/conservative as time goes on. When you first see her, she's in that ridiculous wedding dress; the dress she makes out of Robert's curtains is more understated but still fairy-tale like. This continues until the final scenes in the modern ball gown dress and the ending scene.
- 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.
- Humorously enough, the secretary making the attempt to locate it got the name wrong, and was looking for "Andalusia". It's rather odd that she didn't find it; that's the name of a place in Spain.
- What Measure Is A Non Cute: Not quite. While Giselle's band of forest critter friends in Andalasia does contain a lot of "cute" animals, we also see a warthog, an alligator, and other decidedly non-cute-standard creatures.
- 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".
- X Meets Y: This is "Cinderella Meets Snow White Meets Reality" or "Disney meets Reality".
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