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When Enchanted released this past holiday season, I had my doubts about it. Namely, I doubted I wanted to see a film that would inevitably give new life to the money-making marketing-machine known as Disney Princesses (a machine which has consumed a lot of my money due to my two daughters). Despite my initial skepticism, I ended up seeing the film and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It was like someone at Disney realized that they used to make really good family films and maybe they could do that again. By capturing the innocence, fun, and magic of the rich Disney heritage, and by using many of the same elements that made so many of their past films classics, Disney created something truly special in today's modern era of films: a movie that actually makes you feel good.

Now I've read some reviews about Enchanted that were upset because it's so formulaic, because it adheres too closely to the template of the past Disney classics, and because it's too... well, happy. My response is: what's wrong with that? What's wrong with a happy film that ends predictably but is still fun to watch? Movies don't always have to dwell on the dark depravity of humanity to create drama, and they don't always have to try and disgust us to be funny. Enchanted is just simple, plain fun, and I don't see anything wrong with that. If you don't want to feel good after a movie, go watch something by the Coen brothers. But if you'd like to be able to sit down with your family and enjoy something that's entertaining for young and old, well then let's be glad that there's movies like Enchanted.

I guess part of what I find so endearing about Enchanted is Giselle's certainty that love is real and she will live happily ever after. In many ways, fairy tales like this remind me of the Bible. Not that the Bible is some made-up story, but that it tells a love story with a happy ending. You see, we're all searching for love and a happy ending, but we just don't know where to find it. We may be like Giselle and think that we know where to find those things, only to find out that we were wrong, which can be disappointing. However, the Bible tells us that we can find love and a happy ending in Christ Jesus. In fact, this brave hero named Jesus has slain the dragon known as sin and has even given his life in order to save us, his one true love. More than that, he promises that some day he will ride in on his white horse and take us to his castle in the sky to live with him; truly happily ever after. I know that sounds like a silly way to talk about the Bible and almost makes it sound like just one more fairy tale, but the difference is this is real. Jesus was a real person. He really died. He really rose again. And he really kept every single one of his promises. When we believe that, we really can know true love and happily ever after. Our lives can end with a fairy tale ending, one that will really last for all eternity. Call me crazy, but that makes me feel good.

While it's nice that Enchanted is on DVD, I'm kind of bummed that it came out so quickly. Quite frankly, it's obvious that Disney is already planning a double-dip of this DVD and therefore are holding back on the special features they've included. This is a movie that pays homage to all of the great Disney films of the past while at the same time exploring new territory. Where's all the insights on that stuff? When the film released I read that there's tons of inside jokes and references to previous Disney classics, but we don't get to hear about any of that on this DVD. What do we get? Average bloopers, deleted scenes that were deleted for a reason, a Carrie Underwood music video, a short little pop-up adventure with Pip, and some mildly interesting features on the musical numbers of the film. There's a lot of material that's left out, so unless you absolutely must have this movie right now, you may be better off waiting for the inevitable collector's edition which will hopefully have more interesting behind the scenes material.

Enchanted was a surprise of the holiday season for me, but I'm glad it was there. 2007 wasn't the most family-friendly of years for movies, and the holiday season was particularly lacking in anything of quality in that area. Enchanted was just what I needed: a film my whole family, from my mom and dad to my two little girls, could enjoy together. I'm glad (and my daughters are particularly glad... yeah, princesses) that it's on DVD, but I would have been happier if Disney could have put a little more effort into this DVD release. As it is, it's a good movie on a very average DVD.

Note: the Good Stuff is apparently available on the Blu-Ray release. Think there's some favoritism going on here?