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Enchanted did so much to separate itself from traditional Disney tropes and tell a fresh story while still ultimately aligning with the values and aesthetics of Disney princess movies. One of the things I really loved about Enchanted was that it fully subverted the "evil stepmother" trope. Giselle and Morgan have a strong positive bond that is never called into question just because Giselle is not her birth mother.

The sequel undoes all this progress by leaning back into these traditional and toxic tropes and it falls into such a predictable story, that I predicted the dialogue between Morgan and Giselle during the climax almost word for word. It was boring and honestly somewhat disappointing to watch the plot unfold exactly as you know it will based on the trailer.

The writing, both script and music, gets a 3/10 from me. It felt like a first draft that never got edited. On top of the predictable plot, there were way too many songs and not a single one is memorable. It seems that when they sat down to write this movie, any place that *could* have a song, they just threw one in whether it ultimately made sense or not. My favorite song, which was a duet between Amy Adams and Maya Rudolph, was rendered useless because they had an entire scene full of dialogue before the song started where they hashed out their feelings, so the song did nothing but reiterate what we already knew.

The visuals of this movie, however, are fully a 10 out of 10. The sets, costuming, and animation are absolutely perfect for the aesthetic of the movie. In every scene, I was noticing little details in the background or in the characters' clothing that made me smile. Not just Easter eggs to other Disney movies, but really just fully understanding the aesthetic of the world that Giselle lives in.

Amy Adams' acting was my favorite part of the movie. 10 out of 10. She is so believable as her character and even though I was bored by the plot, when Giselle started to cry at a climactic moment I felt myself getting emotional with her. All the credit goes to Amy Adams, not the script. You can tell that she was excited to play this character again and that makes you feel excited to watch her.

It's a fun watch, but I don't think it's one that I will return to. It's worth watching once for the beautiful aesthetic and Amy Adams' superb acting.

It seems like a lot of the negative reviews come from people who only watched one episode and barely give it a chance. Yes, this show was created in order to sell dolls, so obviously there is a focus on fashion and aesthetics. But that doesn't mean that it's shallow or lacking morals. In fact, I think this show does a better job than many other children's shows I've seen in showing how to resolve conflict, especially among friends you don't want to hurt. There is a distinct focus on teamwork and collaboration throughout the show.

I noticed a lot of the negative reviews criticize the focuses on fashion and social media. Fashion is a visual art form that people use to express themselves, and it's not inherently shallow even if that is the cultural stigma attached to it. And there is only one character obsessed with social media, the rest are not, but she receives pushback throughout the show for the times where she overstepped boundaries or ignored others' feelings because of it. And while fashion and social media feature heavily in the first episode, if you continue to watch you'll notice many of the characters are musicians, painters, actors, etc. We even get to see behind-the-scenes creative jobs like set and costume design.

Is the show flawless? No. But is it significantly better than these reviews would have you believe? Absolutely!

Beautiful concert version of Les Miserables, with an incredibly talented cast. Norm Lewis is a personal favorite and he makes a very compelling Javert. All the performances are strong, emotional, and very compelling. The only exception, being Nick Jonas. I'd like to be clear that Nick Jonas is not a bad singer, but when you put him next to so many infinitely more talented singers, his performance seems very out of place and weak. He sings in tune, but with no vibrato or natural projection. He is outshined by anyone he sings with. He is very much a pop singer and doesn't belong in this production. That being said, this concert was still very well done and very enjoyable. I definitely recommend watching.