- Enchanted
- (Disney Home Entertainment, $17)
Disney's most endearing princess may be the one who literally breaks out of her fairy tale. Enchanted is that rare film that truly deserves the designation "all-ages entertainment." Perhaps that's why this relatively unassuming comedy became one of the biggest movie hits of the last holiday season. An animated Disney princess (a wide-eyed Amy Adams) ends up crossing worlds into a live-action New York City, where a fish-out-of-water story—à la Elf and Splash—plays out to an atypical fairy-tale ending (the square-jawed prince comes to the rescue, but things don't follow the usual formula from there). This movie both salutes and lampoons the fantasy-princess genre, and thereby plays to many parents' ambivalence toward such films. Thanks to clever writing and a cast of eminently likable characters (played by actors—including Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden—who are unafraid to embrace the over-the-topness of their roles), it's hard to watch Enchanted without cracking a smile.—Ages 2 and up
