Disenchanted, the long-wished-for sequel to Enchanted, begins with a “wink wink” moment. The 2007 original had fun playing with fairy tales – a princess gets lost in modern New York – and the follow-up seems set to conjure that same spirit. “But there is no after ‘happily ever after’. You just get married and then nothing ever happens to you again,” a pair of chipmunks cheerfully proclaim in the film’s animated opening scene. Very droll. Very knowing. Except… this time round, the wink quota seems severely depleted. It’s devastating to say it, but maybe we’d all have been better off without an “after” to Giselle’s “happily ever after”.
The first film, released in 2007, was a risk for Disney that massively paid off. It managed to walk a fine line between being a love letter to Disney princess films, and a pastiche of them, note perfect in its humour and full of clever references. Amy Adams was charming as Giselle, a doe-eyed damsel-in-distress who swept floors, sang to woodland creatures and span dresses out of curtains. “You want me to call someone for you?” asked Robert, finding her lost in the city. “I don’t think they would hear you from here,” she replied sweetly.
