In the fairy-tale land of Andalasia, pretty young Giselle (Amy Adams, pictured) frolics with her woodland friends, and falls in love with the handsome Prince Edward (James Marsden).
So far, so Disney. But when Giselle arrives at the castle to marry her Prince Charming, his evil stepmother (Susan Sarandon) sends the princess-to-be to a place where there are no happy ever afters.
That place? New York City, 2007. Hardly the location for a smiling, singing, dancing fairy-tale maiden. Cynical divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) comes to her rescue, but with the evil queen and her duplicitous crony Nathanial (Timothy Spall) on her tail, can Giselle find her way back to her true love? Or is Robert her knight in pinstripe armour?
This family film is tongue-in-cheek Disney at its best. The mixture of live-action and animation affectionately mocks the traditional Disney fairytales, and several sequences pay tribute to famous Disney scenes. Giselle cleaning Robert's apartment with the help of New York rats, cockroaches and pigeons, for example, is a direct homage to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Whistle While You Work scene.
Kids will love the whimsy and slapstick; adults will love the clever comedy and references.