Disney twists up a fairy tale for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving? Why are we talking about Thanksgiving? Shouldn’t we be talking about picnics, and bubbles, and swimming?
Well, yes. And no.
This is interesting because it’s a great peek inside the minds that run the Disney machine. When you look at a movie that becomes much more than just a film, but becomes an entire franchise, you have to wonder how much of that was planned from the beginning and how much of it just happened. At least, that’s something that I tend to wonder. So I find articles like this one about the upcoming Enchanted film fascinating.
The film itself is a big change from the typical Disney let’s-go-sing-with-the-woodland-creatures fare; princess Giselle is your typical girly animated heroine before an evil queen pushes her down an enchanted well. Giselle surfaces… in Manhattan, as a live-action body with a 2-dimensional princess personality. And then, of course, hilarity ensues. (Apparently she falls for a new prince, Patrick Dempsey, who is a not-very-nice lawyer. Very un-Disney-like, one might say.)
“Enchanted,” set for a November 21 release, pokes fun at old Disney films such as “Sleeping Beauty” or “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” where the heroine surrounds herself with cuddly creatures or people whistling happy tunes.
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The irony of Disney flaunting the conventions of the very films on which the company was built was one idea that excited the film’s makers.
“It’s really difficult material,” director Kevin Lima told Reuters following a news conference on Monday. “What it really took is … someone who understood the heritage, who loved it. Someone who wasn’t afraid of it.”
Okay, if I didn’t know what Lima was talking about, I would think he was talking about one of Shakespeare’s more obscure works. This isn’t Timon of Athens, people, it’s a Disney film. That’s going to make buckets of money. And apparently stars McDreamy.
I’m not sure how difficult it’s really going to be. Maybe the franchising will be, but the film itself? Well, I guess we’ll have to wait til November and see.