We had the opportunity tonight to see Charlie Wilson’s War as part of a sneak preview, but due to Red Line delays, my a-few-minutes-too-late departure from work, and a large crowd, Rudi and I just missed getting in. The ticket agent from the studio was very nice, took everyone’s names and addresses, and promised to send us free passes to a different show. I thought that very sporting of her, particularly since she wasn’t obligated to do so.

Since we were already out, Rudi and I decided to see Enchanted, Disney’s new animated/live action movie. Instead of having to sit in the front row with a craned neck, we got to spread out with about eight other couples in a nice sized hall. We ate popcorn and drank cherry coke and mulled over which of the previews will make our must-see list. (New Year’s Eve is now less than a month away and it’s worth considering which movies we’ll try to catch…) For the record, Alvin and the Chipmunks will not be making the list, although it looks slightly less appalling when seeing a full-length preview as opposed to the 30-second commercial version.

But back to Enchanted.

The movie starts out in an animated fairy-tale land, with a proper Once Upon a Time beginning by Julie Andrews. A lovely maiden (played by the adorable Amy Adams) living in a forest cabin with her animal friends longs to meet her true love. A handsome prince, living under his evil step-mother’s thumb, hears her singing and rides off to meet her. He saves her from an ogre and she agrees to marry him. Mmm-hmmm. It’s that kind of life.

His step-mother, played by Susan Sarandon, doesn’t want to leave the castle, so she devises a devious plan to thwart the nuptuals, sending fair maiden Giselle plummeting into a present-day, real-world Manhattan. Wide-eyed and optimistic, she wanders the city trying to figure out what’s happened and where her prince is until she’s seen knocking on the billboard door of a casino castle a story above the street by the young daughter of a divorce lawyer played by McDreamy? McSteamy? Patrick Dempsey.

As you might imagine, hilarity ensues when the “happily ever after” princess is taken in for the night by the single “just the facts” dad. And that’s before Giselle is pursued by her Prince Charming, her chipmunk best friend, and the queen’s henchman.

Let’s just say there’s a song-and-dance number in Central Park that must been seen to be believed.

The scriptwriters are to be congratulated for coming up with a story that balanced humor with romantic date fodder, ending up with something that felt familiar yet fresh at the same time.

I think this one might be one worth owning.