It even warmed my cold, cynical heart

As a modern gal, it's considered normal to rip into the whole princess notion. Princesses are boring -- I mean, all they do is sleep, get into trouble by eating or pricking their fingers on something poisoned and yammer on and on about how someday their prince will come.

Not to mention, the whole Disney marketing machine for its Princess line has driven me crazy. Cinderella? She managed to have the right shoe size to get hitched! Snow White? Kinky girl who lived with seven short guys. I've said that if BD got into the Princess line, I'd rather that she go for Mulan -- there's a girl with spunk (and she's a tough soldier to boot).

So why am I still humming "That's How You Know" from Enchanted? Why am I feeling like even Giselle may be a good role model (in her naive, overly optimistic way) for BD -- even though she fell for her prince after one duet?

I think it's that the movie also shows the growth of Giselle (I don't want to say too much, but let's just say that if you know the plot, you're not going to be surprised at all by the ending). It was sweet seeing what I'd consider the Rose Nyland of Disney characters become more aware and gain knowledge in New York, but at the same time, keep that puppy-dog sweet nature.

Maybe it's because Amy Adams never dropped the sweet girl portrayal. There was never a wink at the screen. Giselle is just that good and nice. Which is hard to believe when you're an adult, but I suppose that it's possible. Maybe that's why a lot of us secretly like certain princesses -- they're representations of the goodness and sweetness we all wish was still around when we were little kids and everyone you met was a potential new friend.

There were some great touches by transporting the usual Disney things to the live-action screen. The Happy Working Song is awesome simply for the mix of New York vermin and friendly-forest-animal-cleaning-up act. Susan Sarandon simply RAWKS as the evil queen. My only complaint? The sublime Idina Menzel should've gotten a chance to sing. However, I like that Idina's character wasn't just a bitchy girlfriend -- she was someone who was kind of sympathetic and normal.

I'll admit that sometimes, when drunk and particularily sentimental, I can be a romantic. I'm not that cynical. And I suppose enjoying this movie was one of those indicators of that sentimental streak. But it's well worth watching if you grew up loving Disney films -- even if you feel like you're too old to be a princess.