I was going to blog today...

[alanajoli]

...but instead I read a chunk of Maiden of the Wolf (Hallowmere #4, by dragon_egg, which I had to return before I went to Greece and just picked back up) and watched Enchanted. The first is just as engaging as it was before I left, and the second was darling--certainly bordering on saccharine, but appropriately so. And James Marsden is adorable as a doofus. (One real complaint, though: why didn't they have Idina Menzel sing? I mean, seriously?)

I suspect given time to digest, I might actually have something to say about the nature of fairy stories and the way we like our fairy tales to work these days (eg. Giselle becomes so much more likable as a character after she's "broken"--once she starts to question happily ever afters). But that may take actual pondering, and tomorrow is guest blog day. Given that I've just gotten back and I'm fresh out of new guests for now, I'll probably share bits of one of the very cool tour books I got of Naxos, which is the home of Ariadne and Dionysis.

Comments

[kemlo.livejournal.com]

Nice to see someone else enjoyed Enchanted! It seemed to get largely overlooked when it was released, overshadowed by the over-hyped and (whisper it quietly!) poorly-written Stardust.

Despite the fact that Stardust had Gaiman's name stamped all over it, its humour hardly ever ventured above the level of slapstick buffoonery whereas, for all its saccharine charm, I felt Enchanted also had a fair share of genuine wit. Enough, in fact, for even a hardened old cynic like me to enjoy it!

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I didn't ever see much Stardust hype here, and it didn't do terribly well in our box-offices, so I wonder if part of your disappointment isn't due to that over-hype rather than the movie itself. (Not that you're not entitled to dislike it on its own merits!) I also very much enjoyed Stardust and felt that it was the movie adaptation of a book that wasn't very movie-like without changing the core of the story. Since I'd enjoyed the novel version (I've yet to read the original illustrated novel and am not sure how different it is), I was impressed with the shifts that were made to keep the story itself (if that makes sense) while adjusting it to better suit the medium. It reminded me a bit of the Princess Bride in tone, where Enchanted was both homage and response to Disney animated movies.

Of course, I've also seen people write that they dispised Enchanted and that the perfect response to fairy tale movies is Shrek (which, again, I enjoyed), so I may just have a broader spectrum of appreciation inside a genre that many folks group together. ;) (That, or lack of discernment. It does go both ways.)