Adam Shankman on deconstructing ‘happily-ever-after’ in Disenchanted: ‘I wanted to know what comes after it’

Disenchanted, the sequel to the 2007 musical drama Enchanted, takes forward the story of Amy Adams’s Giselle and Patrick Dempsey’s Robert. The film takes place ten years after the prequel, focusing on Giselle and Robert’s married life with their children. As the title hints, the musical fantasy deconstructs the idea of ‘happily-ever-after’. Giselle and her family have to deal with new realities such as house renovations, school life and troubling commutes to work. Giselle makes a wish, hoping for the ‘perfect fairytale’ life for her family, leading to events to spiral far out of her control.

Speaking to indianexpress.com, Disenchanted director Adam Shankman explains what ‘happily-ever-after’ means to him and why he chose to expand on it in his latest film. He said, “I love the idea of happily ever after, so I wanted to know what comes after it. Does that mean life ends? We’ve lived in very complicated times. We’ve faced a lot of challenges in the past few years. So, what is happily-ever-after? Unless nothing ever happens, does it mean something that we can aspire to? So how do we cope? That happy ending is not just about marrying the right person.”

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He added, “She realises that things change, and things grow, and that’s the best part about this film. What’s great about this film is that she realises that happily-ever-after is accepting, and if you try to hold on too tightly, you’re bound to be miserable. She understands that if she can just accept and love the way life is, she has a great chance of happiness.”

Talking about how it felt to work with Enchanted cast again, he said, “I love them so much. I was all friends with them before I made this movie. The idea that I got to be in this sandbox with my friends. It was an opportunity that was too good to be missed. Getting Adina to sing, and Amy is one of my closest friends, and working with James Marsden—it’s all worked out to be a chef’s kiss.”

Disenchanted is streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar.