The latest in our series of writers picking their go-to comfort films is a tribute to Amy Adams and what might be her greatest performance
M
uch is often made of Amy Adams’ “always the bridesmaid” Oscar record, as she’s yet to claim a win from six nominations. While this is egregious for an actor of her calibre, the bigger snub is that she wasn’t even nominated for her best performance yet. Enchanted’s Giselle introduced Adams to a mainstream audience and was possibly considered too frivolous for Academy tastes, but her pitch-perfect take on a real-life Disney princess is a masterclass in full-bore commitment, and the gravitational force around which this winningly charming Disney film revolves.
I was instantly won over by Enchanted on its 2007 release, but having since revisited it many times (including with my own kids), I’m convinced it’s close to a platonic ideal of family-friendly feelgood viewing, and there’s been nothing in this vein that’s come close to matching it since (including, sadly, 2022 Disney+ sequel Disenchanted). It’s also so much better than the Disney’s many official live-action remakes.
Much of its success is down to Adams’ performance, utterly without guile, as the fairytale princess who becomes a fish out of water in ’00s New York – “a place where there are no happily ever afters” – but the tone is just right from the off. Its throwback to the leatherbound-storybook framing device segues into a 2D-animated prologue introducing Giselle, who’s an amalgamation of Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty’s Aurora. Optimistic, friendly with woodland creatures, prone to spontaneously breaking into song and eagerly awaiting her true love’s kiss, Giselle is due to marry Prince Edward (James Marsden) before she’s shoved down a well that turns out to be a portal to Times Square.
