DVD Tuesday: 'Enchanted', 'I Am Legend'
By: W. Andrew Powell, The GATE

Multiple book adaptations arrive on DVD this week, plus two films that focus on two drastically different visions of New York City. Enchanted is however the big release of the week, and happens to be one of the first big signs that Disney still knows how to make a great fairly tale come to life. Also arriving this week are those three book adaptations, including the vampire survivor tale I Am Legend, Academy Award nominee Atonement, and Love in the Time of Cholera. 

Enchanted
From the animated world to the real one, we follow Giselle (Amy Adams) as she hunts for her true love and tries to get back to her home of Andalasia where cute animals are her friends and apparently the handsome Prince Edward (James Marsden) is just around the corner. In her animated land Giselle has the perfect life, and is about to be married to Edward, but his evil stepmother (Susan Sarandon) can't allow the two to get married for fear of losing her throne and pushes Giselle into a well that leads to our world. 

Coming up out of a sewer hole, Giselle finds herself in New York City where she meets Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey). Morgan convinces her father to take Giselle in for the night, and what follows are comic mishaps involving street creatures coming to help clean Robert's apartment, troubles with his to-be fiancé, and the eventual arrival of Prince Edward. Throw in some poisoned apples, an evil henchman (Timothy Spall), and a chipmunk that keeps trying to warn Edward of Giselle's impending doom, and you've got one of the most lively and cute adventures Disney has made in a long time.

This is definitely a film that is aimed at families, but it is so likeable I would recommend it to anyone. The cast is very good, with Spall, Dempsey and Sarandon doing their usual bits very nicely, but it is Adams and Marsden who steal the show, along with all of the musical numbers. Adams has never been better, and there is nothing like watching her dance and sing in Central Park with Dempsey in tow. 

I Am Legend
Based on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, this is actually the third adaptation of the book, and places Will Smith in the role of military scientist Robert Neville. Robert watched years ago as a virus that was meant to cure cancer turned the world around him into vampires, with all the prerequisite primal urges, and the aversion to sunlight. Trying to stay alive in a city filled with the hungry creatures, Robert has created a bunker out of his home and lives there with his only companion--his dog Samantha. Each day they go out, hunt for food, wait for any other possible survivors at the docks, and then go home as sunset approaches. 

Robert is not content to wander the city and live out his days hunting for survivors though. He knows that he is immune to the virus, and has been working on an antidote in his basement laboratory that could cure the virus' effects. He just has to find a way to make it work.

I Am Legend certainly has a lot going for it and Smith is easily likable. He is such a natural screen icon to cast in this role that I literally cannot imagine anyone else as Robert Neville. It is also impressive to see him, along with help from his dog star, fill nearly half of the movie with his presence alone--a tall order for any actor. The action sequences in the film are also original and very tense, with New York unquestionably transformed into a vacant shell.

Where the film falls flat is in the rendering of its monsters, and in the last quarter of the film as Robert meets another survivor. Up until this point the film has everything you could want in an action-drama, including a few decent laughs, but the ending of the film feels like it has no real anchor to the rest of the story. It seems an inevitable ending, but one that lacks a satisfying finale. 

Also arriving this week...

Academy Award-nominated Atonement starring Keira Knightley and James McEvoy two lovers who are torn apart by a jealous sibling. The film has been widely praised as a compelling adaptation of Ian McEwan famous book.
 
And Love in the Time of Cholera is yet another book adaptation, but Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel doesn't quite get the same treatment as Atonement. It stars Javier Bardem and Giovanna Mezzogiorno in a tale of life-long love which covers more than 50 years of our character's lives. The classic tale is rendered flat however by its lack of intensity, which is of course the killing blow for any film about love and passion.