Godmothered

I'm so sick of critics not liking movies that just plain make you feel good and smile! What's so wrong with that??! I thought this movie was adorable and brought a smile to my face for most of the movie! Watch it, you'll surely leave it feeling better than you did.

Cute, fun, wholesome, and heartwarming. Great holiday movie for the kids and the whole family.

As a dad of two daughters, I'm really enjoying this recent crop of films that are starting to encourage young children, especially girls, to think outside the Happily Ever After Disney Princess box. Life isn't perfect, but that doesn't mean it can't be good.

All of the characters are well cast as you'd expect from a Disney offering, and the chemistry between the main protagonists is excellent. Yes, it's sugary sweet, but not sickly. Yes it's predictable for grown ups, but the different take on the genre is refreshing in spite of the customary happy ending. It just might not be happy in the way you'd expect! ;)

As practically everyone that's subscribed to Disney+, I am a Disney freak, I've loved it all my life and it's a very fond part of my childhood. Ever since 2013, when the "Love Revolution" began in the Disney cannon, things have been a little different; no longer are we seeing the message that true love can only exist between a man and a woman, nope, now true love is ONLY found in family. So forget about your Prince Charming characters, throw away the classic Snow White song: Someday My Prince Will Come, and start embracing the fact that everyone outside of your family is trash and will never love you at all. Great message, huh?????

The reason why I bring this up is because it's the main theme in the new Disney+ movie, "Godmothered" starring Isla Fisher and Jillian Bell. The story centers on an overachieving, nerdy, and clumsy fairy godmother in training named Eleanor (played by Bell) who longs to become a fairy godmother BUT in the modern world of today nobody believes in those anymore and there is no need for fairy godmothers. To prove to her superiors that they're wrong and people still need help from magical beings, she travels to Boston in search of a little girl by the name of Mackenzie. But, oops, Mackenzie (played by Fisher), who wrote to the fairy godmother school way back in the day, is no longer a child and is now a 40-something single mom of two girls, who works tirelessly in a local news station and basically has lost all happiness from her life. So, of course, when Eleanor tries to help Mackenzie things go a bit wrong and shenanigans happen and haha it's cute and fun.

The way I see this, it's like taking the story of Enchanted, where a classic Disney character finds herself in the middle of the real world and helps bring light back into another character who doesn't believe in fantasy anymore. However, instead of the charming movie that was Enchanted, we get this... And, of course, instead of the tribute to Disney movies we get in Enchanted, we actually get another lesson about why thinking true love between romantic partners does not and cannot exist because WHY. Don't you just love when the studio behind some of the most beloved characters, songs, stories, love stories, tells you that you're wrong for thinking love even exists between romantic partners?

I still don't understand this vendetta Disney holds over romantic love. It worked on Frozen (2013) because it was fresh back then, it was a little too forced in Maleficent (2014) where they literally turned one of the most important characters in the story into a side character who comes back in the end like "hi, remember me?" and let's not even mention what he does in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)... Somewhere along the lines of this past decade, Disney tried to completely erase romantic love from their cannon completely. When was the last time you watched a movie where romantic love was a theme?

Back to Godmothered, I'd say it was cute and quirky but it missed so many marks. Eleanor was cute and lovable, I loved how she starts with this idea about how things should be and then through the movie is able to change her mind about things. Mackenzie... man they could've done so much more with her. There's an on-going theme between her and her eldest daughter where the daughter lacks self-confidence in a certain subject and needs her mom to show that she supports her daughter and believes in her. In the end, the way this develops is so wrong and so lacking, you'd think Mackenzie actually doesn't care about her daughters. And I hate to sound like such a hater but she's so in her own world that she barely even spends time with her family and then in the end they're squished together as if nothing has happened. And what was the comment about the guy running away with a pilates instructor when, in the end, there was no divorce and her husband died?? What was that about??

All in all, if you're looking for a cute movie to watch where you don't have to think too much into things, go ahead and give this a watch. But if you want a movie that makes you see things from a different perspective and is compelling, cute, lovable, joyful, charming, and has excellent music, rewatch Enchanted.

For sure this was going to be a bit of a challenge for the actors to get right. They are going to be working overtime to convince us to suspend belief. Well, it wasn't perfect, but honestly I thought they did a pretty decent job. I've seen far worse acting in billion dollar franchise films that for some reason nobody can grow a pair and point out in their reviews.

Jillian Bell was so fun to watch and without that the film just wouldn't have worked at all. I'm not saying the others don't matter, but since she is the focal point a certain energy level is required.

About the only fault I have with the film is the speed at which everyone is on board with what is going on. I think they should have provided a tiny bit more exposition in that area.

So sit back and let this warm your cockles. Unless you don't have a heart in which case go watch Star Wars or some MCU film instead.