---
title: "Enchanted"
year: 2007
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/enchanted"
fi1m_id: "enchanted"
imdb_id: "tt0461770"
tmdb_id: 4523
wikidata_id: "Q490464"
fi1m_score: 76
critics_score: 74
critics_reviews: 13
published: "2026-09-24T01:42:39.243648+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-24T01:42:39.797742+00:00"
region: "SE"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Enchanted (2007)

Directed by Kevin Lima · 1h 47m · Statens medieråd 7 · Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Romance

## Identity

Enchanted

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/enchanted
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** enchanted
- **IMDb ID:** tt0461770
- **TMDB ID:** 4523
- **Wikidata ID:** Q490464
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461770/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/4523, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q490464

**Fi1m score: 76** · Critics 74 from 13 reviews

*In a sentence:* Amy Adams sings to the cockroaches of Manhattan and the cockroaches, quite reasonably, do as they are told

> Disney’s send-up of its own fairy tales is funny for an hour and then stops teasing and starts believing. Amy Adams, playing a cartoon princess in the flesh without once winking, is the reason it holds together.

## Synopsis

In the hand-drawn kingdom of Andalasia, Giselle (Amy Adams) sings to her animal friends about the prince she is waiting to kiss, and within a day Prince Edward (James Marsden) has found her and proposed. His stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), wants to keep the throne, so on the morning of the wedding she pushes Giselle down a well. Giselle climbs out of a manhole into Times Square, still in her wedding dress, a flesh-and-blood woman in a city with no use for her. Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey), a divorce lawyer, takes her in at the urging of his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey), to the irritation of his girlfriend Nancy (Idina Menzel). Edward follows down the well with Pip the chipmunk, and Narissa’s henchman Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) arrives with a bag of poisoned apples.

## Review

Kevin Lima’s *Enchanted* opens as a hand-drawn cartoon, narrated by Julie Andrews, in Andalasia, where the animals talk and a maiden named Giselle sings about true love’s kiss. Within ten minutes she is engaged to Prince Edward and pushed down a well by his stepmother, Queen Narissa, and she climbs out of a manhole into Times Square in her wedding dress. The joke is that Disney is sending up Disney. The film is good: brisk, funny, sung with conviction, and in Amy Adams it has a performance that keeps working after the joke has worn thin. It also, in its last half hour, decides it would rather be the thing it was mocking, and it is less fun once it has.

Adams plays Giselle without a wink. She widens her eyes, tilts her head, and speaks in the sing-song of a woman who has never been contradicted. Giselle assumes strangers will help her and summons the pigeons, rats and cockroaches of Manhattan to scrub a bathroom. When she learns what anger is, later, in Robert’s kitchen, Adams plays it as a physical discovery, as though she has found a new limb.

Patrick Dempsey is the straight man, a divorce lawyer named Robert Philip who believes in none of this and has a daughter, Morgan (Rachel Covey), who believes in all of it. James Marsden is the surprise. His Prince Edward runs a bus through with his sword, and Marsden plays him as a man who has never had a doubt. Timothy Spall shuffles after him as the henchman Nathaniel, offering Giselle poisoned apples she keeps failing to eat. Susan Sarandon’s Queen Narissa is heard more than seen; the film has hired a star and left her in the cartoon for most of the running time. Idina Menzel, a Broadway singer, plays Robert’s girlfriend Nancy and is not given a note to sing, which seems a waste.

Don Burgess shoots New York in a grey, damp light, so that Giselle’s dress, white satin with sleeves the size of pillows, looks like something spilled on the pavement. Mona May’s costumes carry a fair amount of the story: the dress gets dirtier, then gives way to one Giselle cuts from Robert’s curtains. Stuart Wurtzel gives Robert a beige flat of the kind owned by a man who does not expect visitors. Alan Menken’s songs are the old Menken songs, big and clean, and the best of them, *That’s How You Know*, is staged in Central Park with what looks like every extra in Manhattan. Stephen A. Rotter and Gregory Perler cut it so that it keeps growing and never shows the join.

We came in braced to be irritated. Cute has a short shelf life and Giselle is cute for a living. Instead, somewhere around the second chorus in the park, we found we were grinning like fools, because Adams sings as though she means every word and Dempsey looks exactly as embarrassed as we would have. We winced later, once, at a lavatory joke that belongs somewhere else.

The trouble is nerve. For an hour Bill Kelly and Rita Hsiao’s script pokes at everything the studio has sold since *Snow White*: love at first sight, the wicked stepmother, the poison apple, the girl who needs rescuing. Then it turns round and sells them again. Giselle learns about dating and anger and doubt; nobody in New York is asked to learn anything back. The last stretch swaps comedy for spectacle, in a way we will not describe, and the effects are the weakest thing on screen. At 107 minutes it does not outstay its welcome, but the final twenty are the ones you will remember least.

Set against [*Shrek*](https://film.one/film/shrek), which made the same joke six years earlier and with more malice, this is gentler and has better songs. Set against the studio’s own cartoons it is an oddity: a film that knows exactly why those pictures work and cannot quite bring itself to stop them working. Watch it with a child who will believe all of it, or with an adult who once did. Anyone in between should bring a cushion for the last act.

*Fi1m score 76, published 24 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like Enchanted, and nearly all of them like it for the same reason: Amy Adams. Review after review singles out her Giselle, praising her for playing the character’s innocence straight and making it funny and touching rather than cloying. Beyond the lead, the reviews warm to the film’s affectionate parody of Disney’s own fairy tales, and several call it the studio’s most enjoyable family outing in years.

The spread is fairly narrow, with most reviews landing between good and very good, but the reservations are consistent where they appear. Total Film and Collider find it safe or too self-conscious to rank with the classics, and Den of Geek notes the villain is underused. The two sharper dissents come from Slant Magazine, which finds its treatment of women regressive, and The Hollywood Reporter, which calls it grating and says the premise goes largely unexplored. Even those two, though, credit Adams.

## Straight answers

**Is Enchanted worth watching?**

*Enchanted* is worth watching, particularly with a child or with an adult who once believed in fairy tales, and we scored it 76. Amy Adams plays a cartoon princess loose in Manhattan without a wink, and the songs and jokes carry the first hour easily. The last twenty minutes drop the teasing for spectacle and are the weakest part of the film.

**How long is Enchanted, and what is it rated?**

*Enchanted* runs 1h 47m and is rated 7 by the Statens medieråd in Sweden. It is a comedy and family film.

**Where can I watch Enchanted in Sweden?**

*Enchanted* is streaming on Disney+ in Sweden, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV from kr 39.00. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does Enchanted compare to The Princess Bride?**

*Enchanted* and [*The Princess Bride*](https://film.one/film/the-princess-bride) both send up the fairy tale while quietly honouring it, but the older film is the sharper and more satisfying of the two. *The Princess Bride* has better swordplay and a stronger company of supporting characters; *Enchanted* has the better songs and a lead performance from Amy Adams that holds it together. Choose Reiner's film for adventure, Lima's for a musical.

**What should I watch after Enchanted?**

After *Enchanted*, try [*The Princess Bride*](https://film.one/film/the-princess-bride) (1987, Fi1m 86): The fairy tale sent up and honoured at once, with better swordplay and a grandfather. Then [*Paddington 2*](https://film.one/film/paddington-2) (2017, Fi1m 91): Another innocent loose in a big city, and the city is the better for him; and [*Amélie*](https://film.one/film/amelie) (2001, Fi1m 82): Paris seen by someone who insists on kindness; the same sugar, better distributed.

### Reviews we read (13)

- **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (90/100, inferred): Kermode finds the film a delightful, refreshing family fantasy that appeals across ages. He especially praises Amy Adams for making Giselle’s innocence charming rather than irritatingly cute. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/apr/06/features.review17)
- **The Independent**, Nicholas Barber (90/100, inferred): Barber finds the film wholesome, mischievous and enchanting, calling it Disney’s best cartoon in years. He especially praises Amy Adams’s performance as Giselle, whose straight-faced naivety wins laughs and sympathy. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/enchanted-pg-bee-movie-mr-magorium-s-wonder-emporium-766069.html)
- **Variety**, Todd McCarthy (90/100, inferred): McCarthy finds the film an unusually charming, broadly appealing musical that lives up to its title. He especially praises Amy Adams’s magnetic performance, which gives Giselle’s transformation emotional depth and comic sparkle. [Read](https://variety.com/2007/film/awards/enchanted-1200554452/)
- **Empire**, Olly Richards (80/100, inferred): Richards finds the film a silly, retro blast that works especially well for fairy-tale fans. He singles out Amy Adams’s spirited comic performance as one of the year’s best. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/enchanted-review/)
- **Radio Times**, Sue Robinson (4/5): The critic suggests the film succeeds where the Shrek sequel disappointed. Amy Adams is singled out as Giselle in the story’s shift from animation to live action. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-kv9tzw/enchanted/)
- **Time Out**, Derek Adams (4/5): The review praises the film as an amusing parody of Disney’s own stories. It singles out the playful blend of classic fairy-tale material for praise. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/enchanted)
- **Screen Daily**, Brent Simon (75/100, inferred): Simon finds the film a genial, pleasantly told family comedy that leaves a smile. He especially praises Amy Adams’s radiant, engaging performance as Giselle. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/enchanted/4035974.article)
- **Total Film**, Total Film (3/5): The review calls the film a safe, enjoyable family outing, though not a spectacular one. It singles out Amy Adams’s energetic, dimensional performance as the film’s heart and soul. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/enchanted-review/)
- **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (2/4): Schager finds the film energetic but ultimately regressive in its treatment of women. He praises the humor of Giselle cleaning Robert’s apartment with the help of city animals. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/enchanted/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Kirk Honeycutt (35/100, inferred): Honeycutt finds the film clever in moments but ultimately grating and heavy-handed. He praises Amy Adams for making Giselle’s transition from cartoon to live action believable, while faulting the film for leaving its premise largely unexplored. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/enchanted-review-movie-2007-158018/)
- **Eye for Film**, Val Kermode (90/100, inferred): Kermode finds the film delightful and says its simple premise is executed with charm. She especially praises the leads’ innocent performances and the film’s ability to entertain without irony. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/enchanted-film-review-by-val-kermode)
- **Den of Geek**, Simon Brew (4/5): Brew warmly recommends the film and its Blu-ray presentation, while noting the villain is underused. He singles out Amy Adams’s performance as the film’s standout strength. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/enchanted-blu-ray-disc-review/)
- **Collider**, Brian Orndorf (70/100, inferred): The critic finds Enchanted an entertaining family film, though too self-conscious to match classic Disney. Amy Adams’s committed, energetic performance as Giselle is singled out for praise, while the ending’s overt self-reference and bathroom humor draw complaints. [Read](https://collider.com/enchanted-dvd-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Kevin Lima
- **Director:** Kevin Lima
- **Writer:** Bill Kelly, Rita Hsiao
- **Cinematography:** Don Burgess
- **Editor:** Stephen A. Rotter, Gregory Perler
- **Music:** Alan Menken
- **Production design:** Stuart Wurtzel
- **Costume design:** Mona May
- **Producer:** Barry Josephson, Barry Sonnenfeld
- **Cast:** Amy Adams as Giselle; Patrick Dempsey as Robert Philip; James Marsden as Prince Edward; Timothy Spall as Nathaniel; Idina Menzel as Nancy Tremaine; Rachel Covey as Morgan Philip; Susan Sarandon as Queen Narissa; Julie Andrews as Narrator (voice)
- **Runtime:** 1h 47m
- **Certificate (Statens medieråd):** 7
- **Release (Sweden):** 21 December 2007
- **Genres:** Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Romance
- **Budget:** $85 million
- **Box office:** $340 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwTNJgffMco

## Where to watch in Sweden

- Disney+: streaming, uhd
- Apple TV: rent kr 39.00, hd
- Apple TV: buy kr 119.00, sd

*Checked 2026-09-24.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Family Film 2007: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Family Film (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Princess Bride* (1987), Fi1m 86: The fairy tale sent up and honoured at once, with better swordplay and a grandfather. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-princess-bride.md)
- *Splash* (1984): A mermaid in Manhattan, a straight man out of his depth, and Daryl Hannah eating lobster shell.
- *Paddington 2* (2017), Fi1m 91: Another innocent loose in a big city, and the city is the better for him. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/paddington-2.md)
- *Amélie* (2001), Fi1m 82: Paris seen by someone who insists on kindness; the same sugar, better distributed. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/amelie.md)
- *Stardust* (2007): Released the same year, a fairy tale that takes the magic seriously and the villains lightly.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/enchanted