The real and animated worlds collide in “enchanted”

A classic Disney animated fairy tale meets with the modern, live-action romantic comedy in Walt Disney Pictures' "Enchanted."

Featuring an all-star cast, the film follows the beautiful princess Giselle (Amy Adams) as she is banished by an evil queen (Susan Sarandon) from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. 

Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer (Patrick Dempsey) who has come to her aid -- even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince (James Marsden) back home – she has to wonder:   can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world? 

"Enchanted" is directed by Kevin Lima ("Tarzan") from a screenplay written by Bill Kelly ("Blast From the Past") and will feature original songs from the reunited team of acclaimed composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz ("Pocahontas," "Hunchback of Notre Dame").

Kevin Lima says "Enchanted" is a monster-of-a-movie, requiring a complete juggling act to keep the tone right. "On the one hand it's a romantic comedy, but then there are raucous, Disney send-up moments; there are also five songs and swashbuckling, action-adventure elements, including a marauding dragon," explains Lima.   "Finally, it's a live action film as well as having eight minutes of 2-D animation and quite a lot of CGI work."

 Of the film's romantic premise, Lima offers "Everyone is out there looking for their true love's kiss, their dream come true, but what Giselle learns is that things are much more complicated in the real world.   `Enchanted' embraces the idea that your dreams really can come true even in our cynical modern world," adds Lima, whose previous credits include the live-action "102 Dalmatians" and the animated "Tarzan." "What audiences are telling us is that they love that message."

The film is sprinkled with 14 minutes of hand-drawn romantic adventures that pay humorous tribute to the likes of Snow White and Cinderella, which might remind audiences how much they have missed Disney fables of yore. "We are tweaking clichés, but it's done with a lot of love," says James Baxter who supervised the animation segment. 

"We all grew up on Disney classic animation," Lima says. "Even if you have grown out of it, it is still within you. To have it go away is painful. But to have it return is like an old friend, coming to sit on the couch next to you."

Opening soon across the Philippines, "Enchanted" is distributed by Buena Vista International through Columbia Pictures.