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The concept is not really new (mixing traditional animation with live action, like Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Space Jam), but now Disney gives it a try again long after the 3D animation revolution (having used this technique in various ways in the past century). Also not new is using the basic fairy tale template, mixed with the dual reality’s contrasting differences. Herein, the search/belief for/in happiness (in- or excluding the “ever after” part) serves as the subtle message, playing out the story just the way I would predict it. Though one thing I didn’t foresee was Disney’s tradition to include musical like songs thoughout the movie, hiring old-school composers Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken to fill the soundtrack. I can’t really take a lot of this, but since I’m becoming a sappy old guy, I couldn’t say I hated it that much. The excessive overacting for the animated-to-reality characters isn’t my cup of tea, though it was necessary story telling device, so I couldn’t really hate that either. One misstep I can hate is the not-so-well cast little girl.
All in all, this movie works best for the teen girls or young couples, as I’m sure it won’t really work outside this demographics, though it had its funny moments.6½.

This entry was has posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 22:24 and is filed under General, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.