Fridae

Enchanted is a delightful musical-comedy that combines traditional hand-drawn cartoon with live-action drama. It begins as a Disney animated fairy tale set in a faraway kingdom, where a fair maiden meets a handsome prince and falls in love. Just as they are about to be married, the prince's evil stepmother tricks the maiden and casts her far away from their cartoon kingdom.

She emerges in the real-world as a very beautiful real-life woman (Amy Adams) who must now navigate the madness of that modern city called New York and find her way home. That is, until she meets a real-life man (Patrick Dempsey) who captures her heart and plants doubts about her own simple fairytale assumptions...

Directed by Kevin Lima, Enchanted is quite, well, enchanting. The concept of having the simple values of fairy-tale characters clash with cynical values of modern-day Man is an inspired idea that yields plenty of delightful gags and one-liners. Especially funny is a musical number where Amy Adams starts singing in a Manhattan apartment and is joined by a chorus of pigeons, rats and cockroaches.

Indeed, Amy's peachy, perky performance will charm you thoroughly. She reminds you of all the storybook princesses you may have liked from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty to the Little Mermaid. The men aren't half bad either, with the swoon-worthy Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden (as the fairytale prince) occupying the other two corners of the requisite love triangle.

Amusingly naive, sweet and magical, Enchanted is the best guilty pleasure to be had right now. So skip that the Ben & Jerry's after-dessert and watch this movie instead. We guarantee you this is tastier.