Back in 2007, when the original Enchanted debuted, the film was chock full of homages and easter eggs paying tribute to the countless princess films before it, all released by the studio. Fans were quick to notice reporter names on news reports in the film that were mashups of princess voices, or even princess voices themselves, like a cameo by Ariel herself, Jodi Benson.
The long-awaited and highly-anticipated sequel, Disenchanted, is no different. Here is a round-up of the ones we caught upon our first viewing. That said, as I describe where they can be found, I will be calling attention to certain story points and scene descriptions, so consider this a SPOILER ALERT. What I will not be listing here are the more obvious plot points that are referenced that themselves are quite meta and send-up many Disney tropes. I.E. A Step-Mother with an evil cat for a sidekick. I’ll be pointing out the subtle (and some not so) homages and hidden things that aren’t pointed out through dialogue.
Let’s start at the beginning, quite literally. We open into a recap scene with a squirrel reading the Enchanted storybook to his kids, saying that’s not where the story ends. It’s the single shot village fly-through that you should be paying attention to. In blink and you’ll miss them moments, you’ll see a king and queen referencing Sleeping Beauty, a square similar to that seen in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and though she’s blonde – a villager reading a book to a herd of sheep, similar to what we’ve seen in Beauty and the Beast.
Plus, the whole sequence (though clearly done with the aid of computers) is similar to opening shots of the iconic princess films of the early days of the Walt Disney Animation Studios, with heavy use of the Multiplane Camera layering effect, especially when zooming past Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-style cottages.
And as we get into the recap, the squirrels also use a firefly to illuminate the room. While the firefly itself is clearly not Ray from The Princess and the Frog, he definitely can be part of his massive firefly family, while the character model looks as though it is pulled right from the design room for the film.
In the real world, Giselle and Robert are moving to suburbia with daughters Morgan and Sophia. When the arrive at their new “fairy tale” home, they meet the new neighbors – three gardening ladies who are clear send-ups of Sleeping Beauty’s Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather. They have a recurring presence throughout the film, even taking care of the baby at one point in time. Though they have little to no dialogue, they are even referenced in the credits as Gardener/Flora, etc, so this clearly was no accident.
As Robert commutes back to the city via train, he encounters some business people also making the trip. These characters claim to be going back for business, but these are the only cameos I noticed the first go-round, and I think they’re going back to Broadway, where these actors seem to have come from. The businesspeople are played by James Monroe Igleheart, Michael McCorry Rose, and Ann Harada.
Igleheart is best known for his role as the iconic Genie in the theatrical adaptation of the Walt Disney Animation Studios film, Aladdin, for which he won a Tony. Michael McCorry Rose has been in Wicked and Anastasia, and is no stranger to a fairy tale or two. And lastly, Ann Harada is most known for her role in Avenue Q. While not necessarily Disney princess or fairy tale fare, Avenue Q has music written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, known more recently for their award winning work on a little known animated feature, Frozen, which also stars Idina Menzel, who reprises her role as Nancy Tremaine in Disenchanted. The three make a bit of a transformation later on in the film and get their moment to sing a bit opening up a song at that point in the film.
Monroeville is home to a beautiful coffee shop that features some fine stained glass work. While nothing noticed was a direct pull from Beauty and the Beast, Malvina’s favorite throne, um, er, Chair, is flanked on one side by a beautiful piece that features a wilting rose, and could be an homage to the Oscar winning animated film.
After Giselle’s wish takes hold and turns Monroeville into the fairy tale land of Monrolasia, a happy fairy tale song kicks off in the morning, and we find Morgan doing her chores alongside a bipedal broom, similar to the one that Mickey Mouse himself created in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence of Fantasia. It’s also in this scene that a dollhouse can be spotted, sporting turrets similar to that of Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany. While that may seem random, remember that this same castle inspired the look of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Walt Disney’s Original Magic Kingdom, Disneyland.
As the town takes on the new life of the perfect fairy tale, villagers erupt into song in the town square, and becomes a treasure trove of easter eggs, some that I caught (I surely missed a few, there are so many):
Smee’s Cheese
Mary Popover’s Bakery
Beauty and the Book
A Whole Food World
Le Chapeau Magique
Lumiere’s Candle Works
Bibbidi Bobbidi Butchers
While the townspeople aren’t the only ones having a blast singing, sassy teenager Morgan gets her own “I Want” song in town that features more homages to different “I want” songs. One notable (read: not subtle at all) moment sees a splash of water a la Ariel in The Little Mermaid’s “Part of Your World.” At one point the crowd even freezes around her, similar to Mirabel’s song, “Waiting for a Miracle” in Encanto, sans fireworks. All of this taking place, of course, while she strolls through the village a la “Belle” in Beauty and the Beast. Even during this, the town prince type, Tyson, has an outfit similar to that of Gaston, and is surrounded by three females. He is also seen sporting outfits similar to Snow White’s prince and Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid and others throughout the film. While we’re on the topic of wardrobes, as Giselle embraces more of her Step-mother role, shall we say, so does her color scheme, taking on notes similar to that of Lady Tremaine in Cinderella and Mother Gothel in Tangled.
Another song sees Giselle and Malvina take on the villain anthem, and while poison apples and famous villain props are directly referenced in the lyrics, keep your eyes open when they start opening cabinets and spot the actual (not just stained glass) rose from Beauty and the Beast, and a vial of liquid that says “Drink Me” similar to those seen in Alice in Wonderland.
It’s up to Morgan to save the day at a certain point in the film, and her step-daughter rags become riches in a transformation scene that is almost shot for shot how Cinderella’s transformation took place in “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo” in Cinderella. Oh, and transformation takes on an orchestral meaning as well as notes also play from “Transformation”, again from Beauty and the Beast. Fitting since we’ve already heard “Be Our Guest” earlier in the film, and the music for Disenchanted comes from Alan Menken.
Cinderella gets another direct reference when Malvina’s sidekicks, Ruby and Rosaleen, are dressed to the nines for the ball, with identical dresses to what the stepsisters of the film, Anastasia and Drizella, wear. And they are just as bumbling while sporting those outfits.
Okay, this one definitely doesn’t count, but I was really hoping for some kind of allusion to The Great Mouse Detective when Robert and Tyson run up into the clock tower. But alas, there was nothing. You can spot the hidden references and easter eggs that ARE there in Disenchanted, now streaming on Disney+.