Why Enchanted Is The Most Underrated Disney Movie | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Entertainment

Why Enchanted Is The Most Underrated Disney Movie

How does she know?

773
Why Enchanted Is The Most Underrated Disney Movie
We Got This Covered

Enchanted is a film produced in 2007 by Walt Disney Pictures and it's gross in the box office was $127,706,877 making it the 82nd highest grossing Disney Film. The 81 movies ahead of it are all well-known titles and most of the Disney films produced in the last ten years profited higher.

Giselle (Amy Adams) who is the princess in Enchanted isn't a character at Disneyland. This could be argued that it's because Giselle is a live-action character instead of an animated one but that doesn't stop characters like Mary Poppins and Bert (Mary Poppins), Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), and Star Wars characters to appear.

Disney never granted Giselle the Disney princess title and she remained a mere female Disney character like her counterparts Jane (Tarzan), Meg (Hercules), and Kida (Atlantis). Not every Disney female exudes the criteria for a Disney princess, but Giselle is bubbly, naïve, and wants to find her true love which is a classic Disney formula.

Some say numbers don't lie and the success of films could be directly related to the profits of the film. However, I think Enchanted deserves more credit and higher ranking despite it's 82nd place grossing and ignoring by Disney.

Even though Giselle seems like a typical Disney princess (though she isn't titled as such), Enchanted skewed the tropes of fairytale happily ever after love storylines. This may not seem that original now but this film came out before Brave and Frozen and Moana where there are also princesses defying gender roles and damsel in distress tropes.

Enchanted in some ways satirizes the typical Disney experience and fairytale. Although Giselle is very Disney princess-like, she's also almost a Disney princess to the extreme and trivializes the Disney princess. Then she is placed in a dirty, bustling, live-action New York City where you can't survive acting the way she does.


This tries to depict the "real world" and that life isn't a fairytale. This is also exemplified when she meets Robert (Patrick Dempsey) who is anything but fairytale and doesn't have time for someone like Giselle who doesn't fit into the mainstream. You have to do more work to have the life you want than just sit in the woods and be a princess. Giselle learns a lot from her experience in New York and realizes that true love isn't just a state of being but that you can truly love someone. She discovers it's more important to be with someone you love than with someone because you think that's what you're supposed to do which I think is an important lesson.

Giselle also questions in her song That's How You Know, how you know if someone loves you and that love can sometimes be actions and not just words. She thinks that it's important to be clear when you love someone that you love them with little things you do and not take them for granted. This is something that everyone should pay attention to and understand what it means when someone really loves you and how you should treat the people you love.

Enchanted also shows that love doesn't always work out. Even though Giselle had mostly a happy ending, even if it wasn't the one she thought she'd have, Jon McLaughlin's So Close embodies the idea that some romances aren't meant to be. It's easy to pretend and fall into the romance of a relationship but not every couple is meant to be together.

Maybe breaking the Disney narrative is why Giselle turns out to not be a Disney princess, but we know more and more characters are doing this as well. Enchanted simply isn't getting the recognition that other Disney movies get for similar storylines. Enchanted is a fun, whimsical, Romantic Comedy but I think it can be enjoyed by all ages. Move aside, Elsa, because Giselle is my favorite princess.

And seriously, what Disney male love interest is dreamier than Patrick Dempsey?

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Lifestyle

11 Things Summer Nannies Can Relate To

There are plenty of obstacles that come when taking care of kids, but it's a very rewarding experience.

634
kids in pool

As a college student, being a nanny over the summer is both enjoyable and challenging. Underneath the seemingly perfect trips to the pool or countless hours spent playing Monopoly are the obstacles that only nannies will understand. Trading in your valuable summer vacation in return for three months spent with a few children less than half your age may seem unappealing, but so many moments make it rewarding. For my fellow summer nannies out there, I know you can relate.

Keep Reading...Show less
girl thinking
thoughtcatalog.com

There are a lot of really easy, common names in the U.S. and while many of those simple names have different spellings, most of the time, pronunciation is not an issue that those people need to worry about. However, others are not as fortunate and often times give up on corrections after a while. We usually give an A+ for effort. So, as you could probably imagine, there are a few struggles with having a name that isn’t technically English. Here are just a few…

Keep Reading...Show less
Daydreaming

day·dream (ˈdāˌdrēm/): a series of pleasant thoughts that distract one's attention from the present.

Daydreams, the savior of our life in class. Every type of student in the classroom does it at least once, but most cases it is an everyday event, especially in that boring class -- you know the one. But what are we thinking while we are daydreaming?

Keep Reading...Show less
Jessica Pinero
Jessica Pinero

Puerto Ricans. They are very proud people and whether they were born on the island or born in the United States by Puerto Rican parent(s). It gets even better when they meet another fellow Puerto Rican or Latino in general. You’ll know quickly if they are Puerto Rican whether the flag is printed somewhere on their person or whether they tell you or whether the famous phrase “wepa!” is said.

Keep Reading...Show less
girl

If it hurts now, it'll hurt again. Not because you're gullible or naive, only because you fall fast, hard, and you do it every time.

We fall each and every time with the complete and utter confidence that someone will be there to catch us. Now that person we SWORE we were never going to fall for has our hearts, and every time we see them our palms start sweating. The butterflies in our stomach start to soar and our hearts are entirely too close to bursting out of our chests.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments