Enchanted

Giselle (Amy Adams) lives in the blissful animated world of Andalasia, where animals are talkative companions and musical interludes punctuate every interaction. She dreams of her true love and builds a statue to represent him from her dream with the help of her chipmunk friend Pip and other forest animals. As she sings about true love's kiss (in a song aptly titled "True Love's Kiss"), Prince Edward (James Marsden), a handsome and good-hearted, but somewhat dimwitted and egotistical, prince, hears her voice in the forest and rescues her from a troll. Giselle and Edward get engaged to be married the next day but her fate takes a turn for the worse on her wedding day when his stepmother, the villainous Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), throws her through a magic portal to "a place where there are no happily ever afters" in order to keep her stepson single and thus remain queen.

Giselle's plunge into darkness lands her in the live-action world of modern day New York City, where she meets Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey), a divorce lawyer who takes her into his apartment despite believing that she is crazy and worrying about the safety of his young daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey). The next morning, he becomes angry when he and his daughter find Giselle has called rats and other vermin to clean their apartment and that she has constructed a dress using material cut from his curtains. Nancy (Idina Menzel), Robert's soon-to-be-fiancée, walks in to find Giselle on top of Robert after Giselle had just tripped and accidentally landed on him. Giselle is dressed only in a towel, having just got out of the shower, and Nancy leaves assuming the worst. Robert goes to his office with Giselle, who starts crying after finding out that one of Robert's clients is getting a divorce, thus bringing everybody down and causing Robert's boss to reprimand him. Robert takes Giselle outside the building to Central Park.

At the end of his patience, Robert decides to leave Giselle, but rejoins her after seeing her give the money he gave her to an old woman. During their walk through Central Park, Giselle questions Robert on how he displays his affection for Nancy and spontaneously starts the musical production number "That's How You Know" with everyone in the park performing with her. Giselle sends Nancy an apology on Robert's behalf, along with tickets to the King's and Queen's Ball. Charmed, Nancy accepts. Meanwhile, Queen Narissa's henchman Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) follows Edward and Pip, who have journeyed to New York to save Giselle. They stop at a motel, where Nathaniel questions himself and his relationship with Narissa after watching a soap opera. He sneaks out to give Giselle a poisoned apple, while Pip, unable to speak in this world, has a frustrating time alerting the Prince of the minion's intentions. Nathaniel tries twice to poison Giselle, only to be stopped by Pip, and Narissa becomes infuriated.

As Giselle stays another night in Robert's apartment, Robert tells her he will help her because he does not believe Edward will show up. She becomes aggravated and then giddy when she discovers that she is experiencing anger for the first time. They both stare at each other for a moment and realize they are falling in love. Edward finds Giselle the next morning and, at her insistence, they go on a date around New York. She suggests that they go to the King's and Queen's Ball that evening while Edward gets her to agree to return with him to Andalasia right after the ball. Giselle and Edward arrive at the ball and greet Nancy and Robert. After Nancy and Edward pair off to dance to the song "So Close", Giselle dances with Robert. As Robert softly sings the lyrics to her, Giselle realizes that Robert is her true love. Nancy decides to cut in. Giselle and Edward leave for Andalasia but as she waits for Edward, Giselle is visibly upset.

Narissa suddenly appears as the old hag and offers Giselle an apple that she says will make her forget the whole experience. Giselle takes a bite and collapses on the floor. Narissa then attempts to take her away, boarding the elevator with her, to die of the poison, but Edward stops her at the last second, blocking the closing doors with his sword. Narissa claims Giselle fainted as Robert and Nancy run to her aid. A remorseful Nathaniel appears and confesses to all that she was poisoned with his help. Narissa attempts to bewitch Edward, but Nathaniel restrains her. She reveals that if the spell is not broken before it is midnight, Giselle will die. Robert remembers true love's kiss and Edward tries to revive Giselle with it, but it doesn't work. He is alarmed, for Giselle's sake, but then realizes that Robert might be her true love, and asks him to try the kiss. He hesitates at first, as he has only known her for a few days and does not know how he could be her true love, but at Nancy's encouragement, he kisses her. Giselle awakens and embraces Robert, but Narissa uses the distracting moment to break free. She transforms into a dragon, declaring that she is going to kill them all. She plans to start with Giselle but Robert intervenes and is promptly seized. Narissa snatches Robert and lures Giselle to the top of the building. Giselle chases Narissa up the building, wielding Edward's sword, as Edward releases Pip to help her. With help from Pip, the dragon falls from the roof, and Giselle uses the sword to stop Robert from falling to his death. Narissa tries to transform back into a human, but crashes onto a rooftop before she can complete the spell and dissolves into glitter on the pavement. Giselle and Robert still almost fall off, but manage to catch themselves at the last second, and Giselle and Robert kiss on the roof. Nancy leaves with Edward to Andalasia and they get married. Robert and Giselle open up a boutique, where they are assisted by both humans and animals. Both Nathaniel and Pip become successful authors in the modern world and Andalasia respectively. The last scene shows Giselle, Robert and Morgan playing together and living happily ever after as a family.

Cast and characters

• Amy Adams as Giselle: Adams was announced to have been cast in the role of Giselle on November 14, 2005.^[3] Although the studio was looking for a film star in the role, director Kevin Lima insisted on casting a lesser-known actress. Out of the 300 or so actresses who auditioned for the role,^[4] Adams stood out to Lima because her "commitment to the character, her ability to escape into the character's being without ever judging the character was overwhelming."^[5] Hailing from Andalasia, Giselle displays many traits similar to Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, and Belle but her character's initial personality is mostly based on Snow White. She is "eternally optimistic and romantic" but is also "very independent and true to her convictions".^[6] Over the course of the film, she becomes more mature but maintains her innocence, optimism, and animal friends.

• Patrick Dempsey as Robert Philip: After he was allowed to cast Adams as Giselle, Lima had to find more well-known actors for the other roles for Disney. He brought in Dempsey, whose starring role on TV series Grey's Anatomy had earned him the nickname "McDreamy", and described him as the "modern-day Prince Charming to today's audience".^[4] The role was challenging for Dempsey because he was the straight man, which meant most of the humor came from his reactions to the people around him.^[7] Dempsey's character, Robert, is a divorce lawyer living in New York City with his daughter Morgan.

• James Marsden as Prince Edward: Marsden was announced to have been cast on December 6, 2005.^[8] At the time Marsden was auditioning, the role of Robert had not been cast but he decided to pursue for the role of Prince Edward because he was "more fun and [he] responded more to that character."^[9] Edward is a prince in Andalasia and the step-son of Narissa. He is "very pure, very simple-minded and naive, but innocently narcissistic."^[9] Prince Edward is a kind prince who wishes to marry Giselle at first, but decided that Robert was the

true love for Giselle, so Edward had Nancy instead. He is also extremely absent-minded and unintelligent.

• Timothy Spall as Nathaniel: Nathaniel is a servant of Queen Narissa, who controls him through his infatuation with her and his lack of self-esteem. He first expressed to like Narissa, but then rebelled against her because he

refused to work for evil.

• Idina Menzel as Nancy Tremaine: Menzel, who is well-known for her Broadway musical roles, was offered the role of Nancy Tremaine.^[10] Since the role did not require any singing, Menzel said in an interview that "it was a compliment to be asked to just be hired on [her] acting talents alone."^[11] Nancy is a fashion designer and Robert's girlfriend.

• Rachel Covey as Morgan Philip: Morgan is Robert's six-year-old daughter.

• Susan Sarandon as Queen Narissa: Playing the primary villain of the film, Sarandon had been attracted to the project prior to Lima's involvement as director. Since Sarandon's on-screen time was relatively short, it took only two weeks to film her scenes.^[12] Narissa's mannerisms, characteristics, powers, and aesthetic features are inspired by such classical Disney villainesses as The Evil Queen and Maleficent.^[6]

• Jeff Bennett and Kevin Lima as Pip: Bennett provided the voice for the 2D-animated Pip in the animated segment while Lima provided the voice for the computer-generated Pip in the live-action segment. Pip, a chipmunk friend of Giselle who has no trouble expressing himself through speech in Andalasia, loses his ability to speak in the real world and must communicate by acting.

• Several actresses who have played characters in Disney films made cameos:
  • Paige O'Hara as Angela, a soap opera character: O'Hara provided the speaking and singing voice of Belle in Beauty and the Beast.
  • Jodi Benson as Sam, Robert's secretary: Benson provided the speaking and singing voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid.
  • Judy Kuhn as Pregnant Woman with Kids: Kuhn provided the singing voice of Pocahontas in Pocahontas.
  • Julie Andrews as Narrator: Andrews played the title character in Mary Poppins as well as appearing in The Princess Diaries series as Queen Clarisse Renaldi.