It’s always a really awesome moviegoing experience when you get to see a star-making performance right before your eyes. It happens once, maybe twice a year. We are so inundated in most mainstream movies with stars we know and love (or hate), but there’s no magic. When we go see The Brave One, we know to expect from Jodie Foster. We’ve been there before. It can be really fun, therefore, to experience something fresh and new, even in a movie that’s a little bit rough around the edges. The new live-action family film Enchanted, certainly the best Disney has made in the last few years, features a wonderful performance from its main star Amy Adams. She’s the big reason to go check out the movie.

The premise is a cute one. The movie opens in animated form, in a kind of land that incorporates seemingly every classic Disney environment and character ever. Giselle (Adams), the Princess, popular with woodland creatures (of course) falls in love with a handsome prince and plans to be married at once. Unfortunately, there’s an evil stepmother (no!) who won’t allow the marriage to happen, instead pushing Giselle down a well, all the way into, good old fashioned live-action Earth world. She’s a fish out of water in New York City, eventually finding the help of a wealthy lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey), whose daughter instantly recognizes her as someone from a fairy tale land. Soon the other follows her in the real world, including The Prince (James Marsden) and the evil witch (Susan Sarandon).

This is a safe movie, definitely not a great one, but it passes the time easily, and there are genuinely charming moments. The 2D animation at the beginning is welcome, because it’s so rare anymore to see such animation, particularly in a Disney movie. Even though a lot of the animated material is just poking fun at the classic Disney stories, it doesn’t go too far in the direction of Shrek where hot new movies of the day, like The Matrix, are spoofed. Disney sticks to its own library, which makes for a film that will have a longer shelf life and not have kids in twenty years saying, “Mom, I don’t get it.” There are a handful of musical numbers, which were unexpected, and wonderful to behold. Song-and-dance scenes set in New York always have a certain kind of charm, and the ones here use NYC to great effect.

Two of the main actors are glorious. Amy Adams, who was nominated for an Oscar for the little indie Junebug a couple years ago, is gloriously entertaining in this movie. Whenever she is on screen, this is a four star movie. She gives one of the most charming performances I’ve seen in a movie in a long time, ranking up there this year with Nikki Blonsky in Hairspray and Ellen Page in Juno. Just think if this part had been played by someone like Hilary Duff or Jessica Alba. It would’ve been unwatchable. But that’s not the case here. Adams is fearless, never breaking character, never winking at the camera, completely selling the idea that she’s an animated character in a live-action human world. Is it possible for Adams to get a second Oscar nomination for this? People often forget Julie Andrews won Best Actress in the 60’s for Mary Poppins. It’s possible. James Marsden is also wonderful in this, proving with this and Hairspray that he is greatly talented. People often think of Marsden as an action hero from movies like X-Men and Superman Returns. This year has allowed him to try different things, and I for one prefer him in these lighter comedic films. He has a genuine sweetness about him that is infectious.

The two other major actors in the movie are subpar and bring the movie down a few notches. Why, oh why, did Patrick Dempsey have to play the lead male character? I guess it’s important for Adams to play off of a bland guy for some of the jokes to work, but Dempsey is just so ultra dull in this. Sure, he’s fine to look at, but he’s not exciting as an actor. He does what the part requires him to do, and he doesn’t really inject anything new to the role. Marsden is so silly and energetic that I was rooting for Giselle to stay with the Prince. The biggest casting mistake, though, is Susan Sarandon as the wicked stepmother. She’s OK, I guess, and it’s nice to see her do something a little different, but she plays the role too nice. This character should’ve provided some scares in the end, allowing Giselle to have to fight for her life. And she looks like a drag queen. Just saying.

The movie also gets a little too over-the-top in the end, with a giant climatic chase up a building featuring a big purple dragon. The scene recalls to mind the great climactic scene from Sleeping Beauty, where The Prince has to fight a dragon to get to the women he loves. In this though, Dempsey is the guy to save her, in a situation that doesn’t really call for a Prince. The scene is heavy on the CGI and doesn’t really go with the sweetness of the rest of the movie. We are then given insight as to what happened to all the characters, most of which is a little too cutesy for its own good. But these are minor problems I had with the third act. There’s not much to complain about in the earlier parts of the film.

Enchanted isn’t a perfect family movie, but it’s for sure one of the better ones of 2007 and maybe even the best option there’s been all year for young pre-teen girls. Amy Adams’ Giselle provides a wonderful character for young girls to look up to, and moms and dads can feel completely comfortable bringing all their kids. It’s an entertainment that works and that doesn’t cheat its audience. For me, it’s mostly a vehicle that proves how exciting it will be to see Adams grow and prosper in future films. I can’t wait to see what she does next. She’s showed her sweetness here and in Junebug. Now I want to see her maliciousness. Ooooo, how wonderfully enchanting that’s going to be.