Enchanted

As cute, fluffy and harmless as this Dinsey picture appears, Enchanted should come with a government warning. It's the ultimate Anti-Date movie.

Because the whole premise behind this enchanting family flick is that you shouldn't be satisfied with the one you're with - there's always a more charming prince waiting to steal your heart away.

More than one couple might enter the theatre thinking of nothing but each other - but they'll leave wondering if they're destined to be with somebody who doesn't chew popcorn quite so loudly.

But romantic concerns aside, Enchanted lives up to it's name - a really sterling product from Disney.

Part of the appeal is how Enchanted turns the Disney formula on it's head. The opening scenes of the movie are set in a beautiful enchanted forest, animated in exactly the same style as Disney's most famous work, Snow White.

And it's the 'baddie' from Snow White, Queen Narissa, who rains on the parade this time as well, casting niave young heroine Giselle down a well into 'another world' to prevent her from marrying Narissa's stepson, Prince Edward.

I remember my father telling me that the first movie he'd ever seen in the cinema was the original Snow White - and that the evil Narissa had terrified him as a small boy. Well, she's up to her old tricks again and when she explodes onto the screen, even not-so-little boys are quite startled!

Giselle tumbles out of her blissful animated world and lands slap-bang in the middle of Times Square, New York. Now she's no longer a beautiful animated princess. She's a 'real' person.

It's actress Amy Adams who voices and plays Giselle - and we see New York through her astonished eyes. She's sweet, bright, optomistic and charming and as she interacts with 'real' New Yorkers, she injects some fairy tale magic into all their lives.

Meeting with astonished lawyer Robert, played by Patrick Dempsey, Giselle struggles to find a way home - but instead learns that New Yorkers have a different kind of 'happily ever after.' Perhaps brave Edward, who follows Giselle into this daunting 'other world' on a hapless rescue mission, isn't the Prince Charming she'd imagined him to be.

Filled with wonderful songs - like a breathtaking musical number in Central Park - and filled with humour and cuteness, Enchanted hits it's target square and true.

There are a couple of bits that are a little too commercialised for my tastes (like when Robert's six-year old daughter steals Daddy's credit card and takes Giselle out on a 'shopping montage' down Fifth Avenue) but for the most part Enchanted delivers everything you'd expect from a Disney film and expands on it.

The highlight has to be when Giselle calls her 'woodland friends' to help her clean up Robert's apartment - and instead of bunnies and chipmunks, New York delivers an army of coreographed rats, pigeons and cockroaches.

It's not high brow. It's not deep. In fact, it's nothing but what you see on the movie poster. But it's immensely satisfying and enjoyable and I think it's been one of the most solid movies of 2007.

Only don't go and watch it with your girlfriend.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Gregory Maguire is famous.

His first book for adults, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, was an enormous hit and grew even more monsterous when it was turned into a hugely succesful Broadway musical. His follow ups, including Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Son of a Witch and Mirror, Mirror have earned Maguire the de facto title of Master of the Revisionist Fairy Tale.

Considering the subjects he writes about, it's very easy to dismiss Maguire as a one-trick pony. Reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister pretty quickly disproves that notion, though.

Maguire's take on the Cinderella story is written in a starkly different style to Wicked. It's a rich and rewarding historical novel, taking place in seventeenth century Holland rather than the whimsical Land of Oz. It starts off pretty grimly, with Iris and Ruth, the two 'ugly sisters' of the story, washing up dirty and hungry in an unwelcoming Dutch village. Right from that depressing start, Maguire pretty quickly establishes that this ain't no fairytale.

He uses the bare bones of the Cinderella story to link his novel's plot. There's a beautiful stepsister, a wonderful ball and a handsome prince. However the 'good' and 'bad' characters in the story aren't quite how you remember them as a child. Iris, the younger 'ugly stepsister', is the focus of the story and she perceives the famous events from a very different perspective than the average fairy tale book.

Iris becomes fascinated by painting - and through description of the painting craft Maguire convinces the reader to reevaluate their own definitions of beauty. The beautiful Clara - the 'Cinderella' of popular myth - is as much cursed by her beauty as she is blessed. Ugly Iris, who is lean-lipped and flat-chested, learns that intelligence, talent and vision can be as attractive as golden hair and a button nose.

Maguire manages to keep the reader guessing throughout the novel, which is incredible considering that his story is based off one of the best known popular tales in the world. We all know that Cinderella attends the ball and wins the heart of Prince Charming. How the established ending comes to pass, however, is a surprise to everybody. Who knew that this was how 'happy ever after' ended up?

If you're a fan of slightly whimsical literary fiction, like the works of John Irving or Audrey Niffenegger, you'll love the way Maguire weaves his tale. It's a beautifully constructed work of fiction and a very worthy follow up to the popular Wicked.