Summary
It may be lazy film criticism, but I don’t care. Godmothered is Enchanted meets Elf. It’s a funny, well-intentioned family-fantasy film that’s a bright light in a dark year.
“Sharks!” This word made me laugh. Too much, in fact. Probably for no other reason than it was delivered with such with childlike deadpan innocence by the delightful Jillian Bell. Godmothered is a fish out of water story Disney and every other studio has done before. Yet, just because it borrows from such contemporary classics as Enchanted and Elf doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. It’s compulsively enjoyable.
Bell stars as Eleanor, a Godmothered student who lacks experience, but is a real go-getter when it comes to guiding young ladies’ dreams. Problem is that her program is about to close down from a lack of need and roll their students into what their nightmares are made of… Tooth fairy school (kind of when a program loses its accreditation).
Eleanor escapes the Motherland in pursuit to show the headmistress, Moira (Jane Curtin), there is some need for some good, old-fashioned Godmothering. She looks for Mackenzie (Isla Fisher), a woman who, when she was a child, had a wish that was ignored.
Jillian Bell showed great range in last year’s Brittany Runs a Marathon, that had something plaintive and achingly real. She comes back to her comic roots, after a handful of supporting turns in high profile comedies, and is delightful as the innocent godmother to be. Fisher plays her straight woman, and they have real chemistry together. They are an addictive duo.
What is nice about Sharon Maguire’s (Bridget Jones Diary) holiday fairytale is it’s a sweet story about the mothers and daughters, which is rare in family fare these days. It lightly folds in issues of grief, but nothing that will win awards or ruin a nice outing at the movies for families. Godmothered really, in its own cute way, is about the changes in traditional family values to more modern ones.
Godmothered may not be original, but what is nowadays? It’s a nice family film that everyone can enjoy. It’s Enchanted meets Elf. Now, some snobby film reviewers may call using that comparison lazy film criticism, but I don’t care. My job is to give an honest review for the people at home willing to spend their hard-earned money on something special for their family or themselves this holiday season. Godmothered is a funny, well-intentioned family-fantasy film that’s a bright light in a dark year.
