by Charles Kirkland Jr.
A fairy godmother in training goes rogue with the intention of saving the fairy godmother realm in Godmothered.
Eleanor (Jillian Bell) is a happy girl. She attends school every day and is enthusiastic about learning. Although her spells need some work, she can’t wait to become a fairy godmother like so many before her. It comes as no surprise that she is heartbroken when she hears that the land of the fairy godmothers is going to be closed because no one believes in “happily ever after” anymore. Naïve Eleanor sets out to prove Headmaster Moira (Jane Curtin) wrong and save the fairies from being reassigned to the being Tooth Fairies. She finds an unfulfilled assignment and sets off to give Mackenzie (Isla Fisher) her happy-ever-after.
Written by Kari Granlund (Lady and the Tramp) and Melissa K. Stack (The Other Woman), Godmothered is a fantasy comedy from the folks who specialized in fairy godmothers, Disney. The movie is directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget Jones’s Baby) and stars Fisher, Bell, and Curtin with June Squibb, Santiago Cabrera, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Willa Skye.
In 2007, Disney released a movie called Enchanted where a princess from a fantasy (animated) land was transported into the real world. Amy Adams played the naïve princess Giselle, who hilariously tried to make sense of this strange new land while affecting everyone she encountered. Godmothered is a movie that falls in lockstep with Enchanted. Where Jillian Bell (Brittany Runs A Marathon) comes from fairyland to make sense of the new world by granting a wish for “Happily Ever After.” Of course, she bumbles along the way affecting everyone’s lives including those of the fully grown Mackenzie’s children.
So Godmothered is not original. In fact, from the moment the movie begins almost everyone in the audience above the age of fifteen knows where this story is going. But with Disney, it doesn’t really matter. Director Sharon Maguire, making her Disney directorial debut, falls right into the pattern of so many other movies from the House of Mouse. She puts all the elements together in the formula and creates a film that is familiar and oddly enough, entertaining.
Jillian Bell, who has made a career of playing characters that are just clueless at best, is playing a role that was made for her in playing the unprepared and unskilled fairy godmothered who messes things up and somehow makes it right. It was a delight to see Jane Curtin and June Squibb, comedic acting veterans in roles that also seem just right for them.
Rated PG for some adult themes, Godmothered is a cute piece of fluff that will be entertaining to watch however, don’t look for originality, inspiration, or empowerment from it. Younger children will enjoy it (if they haven’t seen Enchanted) which is smart for Disney because someone will have to take them. Sorry guys.
Grade: C