Enchanted

This Friday was definitely busy on campus, with the Camerata and Chorale concert and then CAB hosted a movie night, showing Bourne Ultimatum and Enchanted served with Cold Stone ice cream. The concert was great, it first started with Camerata which sang a collection of religious songs. Their rendition of Kumbaya was an interesting composition, it was much more upbeat than the usual, slower rendition that is more commonly known. Afterwards they were joined by Chorale, which an interesting choice of songs. I've never heard of the composer or the songs, however they sang three short songs which were apart of a collection called Animal Crackers. The three pieces were titled The Bovine, The Firefly, and the Panther. Each song was bascially an ode to the animal, in which the audience was warned about what to do when coming upon a panther, the greatness of the cow (they actually moo'd harmoniously), and the lively firefly. The set was hilarious, and the combination of such a serious mood with humorous lyrics not only was a success but a refreshing change. Chorale's last song Wade in de Water was a gospel song, began slowly and transformed into an energetic melody that was fairly reminiscent of a slave ballad. After the concert I headed over to the shell to see Enchanted, which was definitely worth ednduring the frigid night. The film begins in the animated world Andalasia, with Giselle (Amy Adams) singing about finding true loves kiss, and her voice attracts Prince Edward (James Marsden) who comes to finish their love duet. He immediately proposes to Giselle, however his evil stepmother is not happy about giving up her reign and sends Giselle to the real-world, "where there are no happy endings." Giselle pops out of a sewer into a rainy New York night, and asks everyone on the street the directions to the castle. The film incorporates lines and characters from past Disney films, such as when Giselle sees a dwarf with an attitude and calls out Grumpy!! After seeing a castle (a casino advertisement) posted on a billboard, she climbs up and bangs on the "door." At this point Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a lawyer working on a divorce case, and his daughter Morgan pull up in a taxi and Morgan sees a princess yelling at the billboard. Robert doesnt believe it, until Giselle walks around, at which Robert jumps out of the car and fails to catch her when she jumps off. She goes home with them, and Robert is unable to grasp Giselles naivety and constant belief that her prince charming Edward will find her. The gap that exists between adult and child is shown throught the movie in how Robert and Morgan each come to accept Giselle. Prince Edward also goes to New York in search to finish his love's duet, and is followed by his evil stepmother's (Susan Sarandon) right hand man who is on the mission to kill Giselle with poisoned apples. Giselle throughout the movie begins to acclamate to the real world, and beings to realize her true love is actually Robert. The ending is at a ball, where the queen herself arrives and poisons Giselle after her aide has failed, and Prince Edward realizes that he isnt her true loves kiss but that Robert is, and sure enough she wakes up. The film ends with Robert's, now ex, fiancee, going with Prince Edward back to Andalasia, and Giselle stays with Robert and Morgan in New York. Enchanted is a wonderful comedy that mixes animation and real life cinema, and has a great soundtrack. It explores themes that are applicable to a wide-range of people, matters such as fitting in and finding one's niche, or realizing that what one thinks they want isnt always what's best for us. This part-animated, musical is great for all ages, and is just an overall fun film about finding true love where, and when, it's least expected despite the bumps along the way.