Long weekends for me always call for DVD marathons that last till the sun almost comes up. For this particular weekend, I wanted something light and entertaining so after having a hearty dinner of roast chicken, steamed broccoli, and pasta, I propped myself up in bed and popped in a couple of DVDs that seemed promising.
The first was the Disney film, Enchanted. The movie is about Giselle (Amy Adams) who lives in the conflation of every single Disney trope ever, in an animated, magical fairy-tale kingdom full of songs of her one true love. The evil queen played by Susan Sarandon (who is also a wicked stepmother.. are all stepmothers wicked???) can't have some upstart marry the prince and move in on her territory, so she banishes Giselle from animation to reality: New York, to be precise.
Giselle and her oh-so-unfashionable and very Disney designed dress and sunshine disposition are purely nutty in the real world. Giselle is pretty useless walking around the Big Apple, but she still gets her prince: a dour divorce attorney named Robert (Patrick Dempsey, who seems to have sooo much hair on his head) who's obsessed with the practical and is hapless when it comes to dealing with Giselle's wide-eyed naiveté, which generally plays like dementia in this context; even more befuddled are the other fairy tale creatures who follow Giselle through the rabbit hole aka manhole from which they emerge from. There's Prince Edward (James Marsden) come to save Giselle; Nathanial (Timothy Spall) the queen's henchman; and a furry chipmunk sidekick.
In true Disney fashion (as most Pinoy slapstick movies), the movie wouldn't be complete without breaking into song and dance once in a while. A scene in Central Park turned out to be an entire production number with ordinary people suddenly dancing and singing along with Giselle. It's entertaining for a while until the really cheesy lyrics get to you, then you wish she'd just shut up. The movie had a very sweet ballad though, So Close, by Jon McLaughlin which is worth downloading.
Still feeling a bit lovey dovey after downloading and listening to So Close a couple of times, I decided to pop in Penelope. Belonging to that odd and, lately, quite fashionable category of whimsical fantasy, "Penelope" unfolds like a fairy tale.
The title character, played by Christina Ricci,narrates the film, informing us of a curse placed on her aristocratic family by a horrible old witch generations ago. The curse dooms a particular female offspring to disfigurement - a pig's snout - that can only be cured by the love of a socially worthy fellow, a blue blood in the film's terms. All the aristocratic twits who come to court Penelope flee in horror at her appearance, which exacerbates her ridiculous mother's (Catherine O'Hara) desperation. Of course, the right young man eventually shows up, an impoverished musician (James McAvoy) who, after the usual artificial misunderstandings of comedy, wins Penelope's heart. Although he fails to qualify as the aristocrat the curse demands, he helps Penelope to learn one of those inspiring lessons about loving and accepting oneself and one's really ugly nose. Reese Witherspoon also stars but isn't one of the main acts.
Other elements that seemed off were: - Parents of Christina are said to be aristocrats but they drive around in an old Cadillac, don't dress the part, and speak with an American accent (at least the wife and daughter) even after obviously residing in England for a really long time - The mom hires a dating agency that specializes in hooking up blue bloods so one of them can marry her daughter. If you were blue blood, would you expose yourself to blind dates? What ever happened to pride?
- Piggy stays behind a two way mirror while interviewing the guys put before her. Wacko.
- The house wasn't filled with anything an aristocrat might have. Non-existent are the fine art, heirloom pieces, and a staff of helpers. And they never had tea!
- When Miss Piggy decides to run away, she doesn't take anything with her but her mom's wallet and the clothes she has on - which she wears all throughout her months long runaway phase. If she were really rich, wouldn't she have trunks of better looking clothes?
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