Enchanted by Enchanted

I just watched Enchanted. It's a fairy-tale movie with a twist: a cynic named Robert meets a hopelessly romantic princess, Giselle. Of course, they fall in love and end up together and live happily ever after, blah blah blah.

Enchanted was okay. On a scale of one to five, I'd have to give it a 3.5 (the .5 simply because I'm a sucker for the musical numbers).

The downsides:

1. It was predictable. Cynic meets dreamer, they have differences in opinion, the dreamer opens the cynic's heart, cynic falls in love, has newfound optimism.
2. Amy Adams' acting was over the top. Granted, her character was supposed to come from an old-fashioned cartoon world, but her manner of speaking was too much.
3. The story was a bit draggy and slow. I did not like the focus on Prince Edward and Nathaniel's adventures through New York.
4. Pip the Chipmunk was not endearing to the audience, as opposed to other Disney films featuring animal sidekicks (i.e., Mulan).

On the flipside:

1. The musical numbers were catchy. That's How You Know got me singing and dancing in our living room. I'm downloading it now as I type.
2. Patrick Dempsey is hot. He will always be Mcdreamy to me. I dunno, there is something about his smile—his eyes—his hair that makes my heart go boom-boom-boom.
3. I could completely identify with the cynic's character.

I guess the last reason is the main reason why I liked Enchanted so much. Patrick Dempsey's cynical, rational character made a lot of statements that I, as a total pessimist especially in matters of the heart, can relate to.

Forget about happily afters. They don't exist. —Robert Philip

The evil queen even references reality as "a place where happy [endings] don't exist". See, how can I not like this movie?

I love 500 Days of Summer because it depicts love in reality. No bullshit, just relationships as they are in real life. However, there are times when even I feel that I'm too pessimistic, too grounded in reality. With a tendency to overlook the good side of relationships, I see Enchanted as one of the few movies that restores my faith in love. It's one of the movies I'll watch when I need to believe in Prince Charmings, obstacles conquered by love, and happily-ever-afters.