Enchanted

This movie is everything Barbie (2023) wanted to be. Enchanted, and Disney i guess in a very self-satirising manner, manages to deconstruct every stereotypical princess trope through what may be one of the best disney films ever. We first get introduced to an archetype of what every disney princess has ever been (naive, believes wholeheartedly in love at first sight, kind, bit of an airhead), a character subsequently thrown into the mean streets of New York City by an evil queen but later meets and falls in love with a lawyer who acts as the sole voice of reason amidst spontaneous bursts of song and dance. While it pokes fun at the absurdity of talking to animals and the idea that everyone you meet has good in them, it never shies away from embracing it at times when the story needs it most. In what may be one of the best songs in a disney soundtrack yet ("That's How You Know"), the film emphasises the sheer importance of showing you love someone without saying anything at all, actions over words. The main relationship is progressed slowly from beginning to end, laying its scaffolding with loudly endearing symbols like glass slippers and poison apples. This movie interlaces fantasy and real life in a way that shows you the harsh realities of our everyday world without condemning the beauty of childhood dreamscapes to shame. Its messy, its imperfect, but it revels in the idea that no matter what you can take the hardships of reality and turn it into your own fairytale. There is no need to deconstruct the first, idyllic act of the film; it bleeds seamlessly into the next, with our main character gallantly accepting these stark changes and mending the riff between both worlds. (unfortunately the sequel sucks)