"Magic" in 2007 was a classic Disney fare, with an interesting twist: Princess Giselle (Amy Adams) from the fairy tale kingdom of Andalusia finally came to modern New York City, where she was soon realized Splashed on the face. Now this is a premise, just begging for a bit of adult humor. "Magic" must have played a role in this regard-after the first 10 minutes, a large number of popular culture references, innuendos and surprisingly mature themes appeared. "Magic" includes compulsive shopping, infidelity, and even cruelty to animals. Of course, all this is accompanied by shiny ball gowns and charming smiles, not to mention some mysterious spontaneous dance fragments. But the fact remains that "magic" provides a lot of humor, navigating in the little guy's mind.
With the 2022 sequel of "Disillusionment" coming soon, now is the best time to review this cute and weird movie. These are details, nods and references that only adults can notice in "magic".
"Magic" is a 10-year production process. Countless versions of this movie have been considered, many of which are shocking. As producer Doug Short (Doug Short) recalled in 2008, Gisele and Robert (Patrick Dempsey) had a bachelor party when she met after she was roped off the cake. Director Kevin Lima told Den of Geek that she was really angry when she refused to undress.
Unsurprisingly, these initial scripts were considered too dark, and the film has been struggling in development hell for years. It passed through the hands of many big-name directors including Rob Marshall, Jon Turteltaub and Adam Shankman, and finally collaborated with Kevin Lima. Only when Lima took the helm, they finally cracked the true meaning of "magic". Before that, many people viewed the film from a satirical perspective, publicly mocking the idea of Disney Princess. But Lima realized that the film needed to balance the edge of this imitation with true admiration for the original material. "Let us hug ourselves," Lima recalled, "and write it as a love letter to Disney." Thankfully, we didn't attend the bachelor party. However, the remnants of this attitude still exist, and adult audiences will notice. Who can forget the moment Giselle came out of the shower with only a towel covered with helpful pigeons?
After arriving in New York City, Prince Edward (played by James Marsden) and Nathaniel (Timothy Spoel), the minion of Queen Narissa, partner in the dilapidated Grand Duke Hotel. Edward quickly discovered the miracle of television (he called it the "magic mirror"). Although he is content to watch "Mickey and the Beanstalk", Nathaniel's taste in TV shows is much more mature. Specifically, he became obsessed with a soap opera that reflects his own experience: In the movie, the protagonist Jerry (Danny Mastro Giorgio) is attacked by a man named Angela (Pec O (Hara plays) tired of the obsession of the woman. Of course, this reminded Nathaniel of his unrequited love for Queen Nalisa (played by Susan Sarandon).
Jerry and Angela’s soap operas have a more cynical attitude towards love than any Disney movie. "I don't need self-esteem," Jerry told Angela. "I just need your lips to stick to my lips." The adults in the audience will appreciate how Disney fully embodies the vulgar soap opera atmosphere here, all the way to the dramatic enlargement of Jerry's face.
Adults who are proficient in drama see Idina Menzel's name on the list of "magic" actors and think she is the protagonist. But in fact, she is a supporting actor-her name does not have a song. Of course, this was before Menzel completely confirmed the role of the icy Queen Elsa in "Frozen," but Disney was not unaware of her abilities. "The Evil" and "Rent" have taken Broadway by storm!
Menzel plays Robert's girlfriend Nancy. She is the opposite of Giselle. As a capable professional woman, Robert spares no effort to compare with real-world heroines such as Marie Curie. However, she is not without her own magic: Robert finally chooses the princess, and Nancy chooses the prince. Our last glimpse of her was at her animated wedding in Andalasia, surrounded by animals with gleaming eyes.
Adult audiences may regret her lack of songs, but they will also appreciate Nancy's response to Menzel's most famous performance. Like El Faba in Menzel's Origins of "Evil", Nancy is a hard-working person and is not interested in being rescued. In addition, Nancy's lack of musical prowess is itself an interesting subversion of expectations-just like the rest of the movie. Of course, fans finally have a chance to hear Nancy's singing in "Disenchanted": Menzel confirmed in an interview with US Weekly that she will perform a song with James Marsden.
You might think Giselle is the only Disney princess in "Enchanted", but sharp-eyed adults will find that many Easter eggs refer to past princesses. Robert's secretary, Sam, is played by Jody Benson, the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Sam is by no means a princess: grumpy and world-weary, she will make fun of Giselle without hesitation. Similarly, Angela, the woman in Nathaniel's soap opera, is played by Paige O'Hara, also known as Belle in "Beauty and the Beast." Like Benson, she played a role that was definitely not in the Disney style. In addition, Angela's name and the name of her lover Jerry come from two other "Beauty and the Beast" voice actors: Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Potts) and Jerry Auerbach (Lumier). The most interesting is Judy Kuhn's cameo. As the singing of Pocahontas, Kuhn plays a tired single mother surrounded by three children. She responded to Prince Edward's knock on the door, took a close look at him, and said, "You are late."
"Magic" even found a way to pay tribute to the older princess. A reporter I saw briefly on TV claimed to be Mary Ilene Caselotti. The nickname was taken from the names of the actresses who played Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty: Adriana Castleti, Irene Woods and Mary Costa.
As we all know, "magic" is full of Easter eggs centered on Disney, but even the most savvy adult may not find all these eggs. Perhaps the most ingenious is that the filmmaker managed to secretly add some allusions by composing the picture in a certain way. For example, a shot of Robert and Giselle dancing looks like a similar shot in "Beauty and the Beast." When Giselle scrubs Robert's bathroom, the audience will catch a glimpse of Giselle's reflection in the soap bubbles, just like Cinderella's.
Some of these references are auditory rather than visual. Although it did not appear on the screen, Prince Edward must have been watching the "Dumbo" on TV at the Grand Duke Hotel, because the "Pink Elephant Parade" could be heard. If you listen carefully, when Giselle stares at the fish tank in Robert's workplace, you will hear the hint of "part of your world" playing in the background. Similarly, a variation of the song "Beauty and the Beast" was played in the soap opera clip.
However, none of these Easter eggs are as impressive as the ones from the first 10 minutes. The Andalusian troll appears to be wearing a loincloth sewn from the skirt of a Disney princess. If you squint, you will see Cinderella's maid outfit and Aurora's dress in the woods. Looking up, you will see that his shell earrings are taken from Ariel's unforgettable bikini top.
"Magic" may be a love story, but it solves the topic of divorce positively. The divorce lawyer Robert is resolving the unresolved split between Ethan Banks (Isaiah Whitlock Jr.) and Phoebe Banks (Tonia Pinkins). When we met them, they yelled at each other. To make matters worse, their insults were all for a baseball card. Adults will think that Ethan and Phoebe are such an extreme comic, they seem to have come out of the comic-just like Giselle. They are also a sharp irony of Hollywood divorce portrayals.
Later in the film, Ethan and Phoebe began to look at each other. Obviously, everything was forgiven because Giselle taught them how to love again. This seems a bit unacceptable, because they have always hated the courage of each other. But "magic" is not just a spoof—it's also a tribute to the maturity of optimism, no matter how sweet it looks. Sometimes, as Ethan said, it’s really simple to remember that the eyes of your loved ones “really sparkle”. Adults may wonder whether this newly discovered love will last-sparkling eyes may not be enough to keep them together for a long time. But experienced audiences also have a unique ability to know that sometimes, it is indeed small things that lead to a greater appreciation of a whole person.
Robert, a caring father, allows Nancy to spend time with his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey). But Robert did not expect a princess to appear. Naturally, Nancy appeared at the worst moment, and finally came to a conclusion that only adults in the audience can fully understand.
Upon arrival, Nancy noticed that Robert and Morgan's apartment was exceptionally clean (thanks to Giselle's renovation). "Have you found a maid?" she asked. Morgan replied: "Not exactly." This is definitely a young girl's description of her father's mistress. Giselle was wearing only a bath towel, and when he tripped and landed on Robert, the misunderstanding escalated. Giselle was still giggling and greeted Nancy happily. For Nancy, this seems to be the result of a tryst, and Giselle's bored attitude suggests that she has become accustomed to seeing many girls walking through Robert's apartment. No wonder Nancy accused Robert of not letting her stay overnight because he was "worried about crowd control."
Knowing that he is about to lose Nancy, Robert begs her to take Morgan at least to school for "some adult girls' bonding time." Nancy retorted, "What, so you can have some'adult girl's intimate time'? I don't think so." It's surprising how many allusions are in this single scene.
For most of the movie, Giselle's cheerful innocence drove Robert to death. But gradually, he warmed up to her and became more comfortable around her. In fact, he is so comfortable that in one scene, he only chats with Giselle in a bathrobe. Although Robert has new respect for Giselle, he still feels that he should find a gentle way to explain that her prince will not come. Giselle was frustrated that Robert gave up the happy ending, and the outburst of anger surprised everyone, including herself.
For Giselle, anger is a strange feeling, and she admits that she has only heard of second-hand. We suspect that this is not the only new feeling she must feel at the moment. On impulse, she reached out and stroked Robert's chest. This scene is quite bold for a family movie: Patrick Dempsey’s chest hair is clearly visible, and Giselle always gently hooks his fingers in his bathrobe. However, before things got too hot, the two broke up. There is no doubt that they remember that Robert has a girlfriend and Giselle has a prince. Nevertheless, this experience was enough to make Giselle fall in a chair and whisper: "Oh, my goodness."
After Giselle decided to attend a fancy dress party, she asked Robert's 6-year-old daughter for fashion advice. Morgan's solution was to take out her father's credit card from her father's sock drawer and declare: "Dad said this is an emergency. This is absolutely an emergency." She said this with an absolutely lively and serious atmosphere. . The two visited a bunch of expensive boutiques and came out with shopping bags. When they are there, they will stop at the salon.
There is no doubt that all this luxury shopping (without Robert's permission) will make any adult in the audience bite their toes. Obviously, Disney does not actually support children spending their parents' money on high-end clothing. This whole scene is half-joking. But the youngest kids won’t know this—they just think unlimited shopping looks fun, and may wonder why their parents don’t take them out for a similar carnival. At the same time, their parents sat next to them, praying that "magic" would not convey the message that they could steal their parents' credit card.
The Pip chipmunk endured all kinds of insults throughout the "magic". The unstoppable little creature witnessed Narissa's tricks, which meant that Nathaniel had to shut him up before he could warn Giselle. Nathaniel continued to shut the poor little animal in the popcorn machine, sealed him with a hamster ball, and then pressed a butter knife to his throat. However, he saved his worst torture for the Grand Ducal Hotel.
After Pip tried to convey the message to Prince Edward in the form of a pantomime, Nathaniel caught the chipmunk and hid it in the closet. There, he used the clip on the hanger to make Pip completely immobile. There was nothing wrong with the way Pip was hung up: he was hung from his little wrist, like a victim nailed to a cross. To wipe it in, Nathaniel took a do not disturb sign, which meant to go over the doorknob and put it on Pip's head. If it's not that scary, it's fun. Then he left Pip alone in the closet and whispered, "Get a good night's sleep."
Inability to sleep may be the last thing the audience wants to do. We don’t know how many traumatized children have nightmares after seeing such a common household item used as a torture tool, but we bet this is a non-zero number.
Not everyone in "magic" is paired for their happiness. For Nathaniel, he has never been with Queen Nalitha. Although this is a good thing-Narissa is a real bastard-this movie clearly shows that Nathaniel is still not easy to let go.
The adults would notice immediately that Narissa didn't care about Nathaniel at all, but tied him up to make him obey her orders. Nathaniel has low self-esteem, which is of no avail. After reflecting on it for a long time, he asked Prince Edward, "Do you...like yourself?" Naturally, a jovial person like Edward could not even understand Nathaniel's sense of self-loathing. "What's not to like?" he replied. This will only make Nathaniel feel more lonely.
Slowly, Nathaniel began to accept the writing on the wall. He called a radio talk show and the caller shared their relationship issues and admitted, "I have always treated her like a queen, but recently I started to feel...I don't even know her anymore." The radio host suggested He had a heart-to-heart conversation with Narissa and “understand how she really felt about [him].” But Nathaniel never really faced Narissa, because deep down, he already knew her Never loved him. This is an incredibly original description of heartbreak, which is even more impressive because it is part of "magic".