Skip to content
Give
← All Reviews
WHERE TO WATCH
MOVIE REVIEW

ENCHANTED

A fairy-tale heroine turns New York's cynicism into real, costly love.

2012PGWalt Disney Pictures/Buena Vista/Walt Disney CompanyScience Fiction/Fantasy
Worth the trip.
ENTERTAINMENT QUALITY ★★★★ 4 / 4 Joyful, funny, and beautifully made.
FAMILY CONTENT Family +1 on the +4 to −4 scale Wholesome and morally rich, though the witch and dragon may scare very young children.
CONTENT LEVELS NONE → HEAVY
Language None
Violence Moderate
Sex None
Nudity None
BEST FOR Families with older children through adults, and anyone who loves musicals or fairy-tale humor.
NOT FOR Very young or easily frightened children.
CONTENT IN ONE LINE A scary witch-turned-dragon and cartoon action violence — nothing else worth flagging.
SHARE f 𝕏 ✉ ⧉

Should You Watch It?

Yes — and gladly. Disney takes the fairy tale it practically invented and turns it inside out, trading shallow "true love's kiss" fantasy for something sturdier: real love, real commitment, real sacrifice. It's funny, warm, and genuinely well made, with musical numbers strong enough to earn comparisons to the golden age of movie musicals.

The only real caution is the witch. She's genuinely scary, and by the film's climax she becomes a dragon that threatens real harm — the kind of moment that can rattle a small child even inside a mostly lighthearted movie. The action around it is cartoonish, not malicious, but it's still worth knowing before movie night.

Beyond that, there's little here to weigh against. This is a rare studio fairy tale that quietly argues for marriage, for service, for choosing the harder, truer love over the easy fantasy — and does it with wit instead of a sermon. Watch it as a family; just cushion the witch scenes for your youngest.

The Story

NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISES

In a hand-drawn fairy-tale kingdom, sweet, joyful Giselle finds her prince, Edward — and is immediately swept toward a royal wedding. But Edward's stepmother, the sorceress Narissa, isn't about to lose her crown to a new bride. She pushes Giselle down a well that leads, impossibly, into real-life New York City.

There, lost and out of place, Giselle falls into the life of a jaded divorce lawyer named Robert and his daughter — and begins, without meaning to, turning his cynical world upside down. Back home, Edward follows her into the well. Narissa isn't finished with either of them.

Is It Any Good?

Four stars means this one earns its praise on craft, not just charm. Director Kevin Lima keeps the tone razor-fine — funny and self-aware without ever curdling into the sardonic irony of something like Shrek — while still delivering real heart. The musical numbers are contagious, the dance sequences captivating, and the film manages the hard trick of being cloying on purpose and then gently mocking its own cloyingness at just the right moment.

The cast carries it. Amy Adams's Giselle is pure and naïve without becoming a caricature — a genuinely difficult note to hit — and the ensemble around her gives the film's fantasy-versus-reality joke room to breathe. It's a rare studio film that's both a loving send-up of its genre and a sincere entry into it.

The Worldview

Enchanted sets out to dismantle "Romantic love" — the shallow, love-at-first-sight fantasy its own opening act plays completely straight — and replace it with something Scripture would recognize: love tested by real circumstances, real disappointment, and real choice. Giselle's growing love for Robert isn't built on a song and a kiss; it's built on shared burdens and daily faithfulness, which the film treats as the truer, harder-won romance. Good is shown as good and evil as evil, without the moral fog so many modern fairy-tale retellings prefer.

The film also has a light Christian thread running under its fantasy surface, and it isn't shy about championing a biblical shape for love and marriage — commitment over infatuation, sacrifice over self-interest. One passing detail: Giselle's instinct to serve those around her runs against certain modern sensibilities, and the film knows it; it includes it anyway. That's a conviction worth noting once and leaving alone.

The one blemish is a couple of very light jokes about homosexuality — brief, but present, and worth knowing about going in.

Underneath the comedy, the film is chasing something Scripture names directly: love that lays down comfort for another person, not love that simply feels good. "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Enchanted doesn't reach that height, but it points, unmistakably, in that direction.

Movieguide® worldview codes: BBB, C, Ho, VV, M — preserved for our database, awards research and the annual Report to the Entertainment Industry. What the codes mean →

The Content Guide

The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.

Content Summary

Very strong moral worldview with light Christian elements and messages and a refutation of Romantic love, upholding a biblical view of love, and a biblical relationship between a man and a woman, showing evil as evil and good as good, plus a couple very light jokes about homosexuality; no discernible foul language in movie but one light exclamatory “Oh God” in trailer and dog urinates on man’s boot; lots of action, cartoon violence, with pratfalls, animals fly into windows, people hit their heads, people run over, sword-fighting, and a scary witch tries to poison the heroine and turns into a dragon who causes havoc and threatens the lives of people; several kisses, very simple and sweet; woman steps out of bathtub with towel around her; alcohol use in restaurant and bar scenes; no smoking; and, lying, cheating and mean-spirited villains.

Talk About It

Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.

01

Giselle's storybook love at first sight looks nothing like the love she eventually finds with Robert. What's the difference between falling in love and choosing to love someone day after day?

1 Corinthians 13:4–7
02

The film treats marriage as a real commitment worth working for, not a fantasy ending. What does Scripture say a marriage is meant to be?

Genesis 2:24 · Ephesians 5:25
03

Giselle keeps serving the people around her even when it isn't appreciated. When has serving someone else changed how you see them — or them, you?

Philippians 2:3–4
04

Narissa is willing to hurt an innocent person to protect her own power. What does the contrast between her and Giselle teach us about how power should be used?

Mark 10:42–45

The Final Word

Enchanted takes a genre that's often lazy and makes it sincere, funny, and true — a rare Disney film built around real love instead of a fairy-tale shortcut to it. Cushion the witch scenes for your smallest viewers, and enjoy the rest without reservation. Our verdict stands: WORTH THE TRIP.

THE VERDICT Worth the trip.
WHERE TO WATCH

More Movies Like This

Browse All Reviews →