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"It's the movie's fault," I told my wife as we pulled out of an ice-and-snow-covered church parking lot on Good Friday evening. We had watched the DVD of Enchanted that afternoon. It was almost exactly the same weather on Thanksgiving night when I went to watch Enchanted with my teenage daughter at the theater. I had been hoping to see the new trailer for Prince Caspian, but ended up being enchanted by the characters from Andulasia instead of Narnia. I was so enthralled, I ended up staying up most of the night to write a review of the movie.

Warning: Spoilers

Much has already been said about Enchanted here on HJ, but I am a bit surprised that no one has picked up on a small detail that I noticed the first time I saw it. There is a scene in the hotel room where Pip is trying to explain to Prince Edward that he and Giselle are in trouble. Nathaniel is on a mission from the evil Queen, and is glad Pip the chipmunk can not talk as well in New York as he could in Andulasia. Edward is unable to discern what Pip is saying, and Nathaniel says the rodent is just "deranged from exhaustion."

Nathaniel puts Pip in the closet and hangs him on a hanger—one of those pants hangers with the two clips. As he hangs there with his front paws in the clips, he is a vision of the crucifixion. Seriously. Take a close look at that scene. He looks exactly like depictions you may have seen of Christ on the cross. Then when Nathaniel puts the "Do Not Disturb" sign over his head, it looks to me like the the sign over the cross and the draping you see over crosses this time of year. Am I just imagining things? Is this just coincidence? I wonder.

Pip, of course, is far from a perfect reflection of Christ—all Christ-figures are by nature imperfect reflections of the True Messiah. Pip seems to find himself in the position of a Savior (more on this later) by accident. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, knew from eternity past what He would do to save us. He did not save humanity by accident. But it is still interesting to see how Pip is a Savior throughout the movie.

Christians throughout the world are celebrating the resurrection of Christ today. Death could not hold Him—He arose. When the chipmunk is hung in the closet, he is not defeated. Pip comes back from certain death a few times in the movie, and this is one of them. He is able to flip the hanger off the closet pole and eventually get himself free. This is a turning point in the movie, as he is able to find Giselle and communicate to her that Edward is in the city.

But Pip's presence is not welcomed in the Pizza restaurant, just as Christ was not welcomed or understood by many while He was here on earth. Pip's next near-death experience happens when a disguised Nathaniel tries to throw him into the oven while he is inside the pizza. He escapes the oven, but ends up entombed in a bottle. Nathaniel keeps him enclosed in a transparent sphere of some kind until near the end of the story. Christ's death and burial!

But Christ did not stay in the grave. Nor is Pip the kind of animal that you can keep bottled up. Giselle finds out from a reporter that the rodent is "probably still alive," and she is sure he is. In fact, she tells Morgan a strange story to reassure her:

I wouldn't worry about Pip. He is very brave. I remember that one time when the poor wolf was being chased by the Little Red Riding Hood around his grandmother's house, and she had an ax. Oh... and if Pip hadn't been walking by to help I don't know what would have happened.

Morgan is a bit taken aback and says she never heard that version of the story before. "Well," Giselle replies, "Red tells it a little differently." How like Christ. He was misunderstood, and His Story has often been misrepresented.

Pip also has a knack for breaking evil spells. If you get the DVD, you have got to watch the bonus material Pip's Pop-up Adventure. (Go to the Bonus Features and click on the small white sign with the chipmunk on it.) This is a hilarious account of how Pip breaks the Queen's spell over Prince Edward and gets him to go to New York to rescue Giselle. There is more to this little rodent than meets the eye.

Pip's presence is essential at the end of the movie as he escapes his tomb and adds the needed weight to topple the Queen-turned-into-dragon. Like Christ, Pip conquers the tomb and evil. How appropriate for him to come back to us this Easter!

On Easter, Jesus Christ conquered death and the grave. He conquered evil so we could have a "happily ever after." Will you let Him work His enchantment on you? As Carrie Underwood sings:

Let yourself be enchanted.
You just might break through
To ever, ever after.