The original Shrek film mercilessly skewered Disney, the Disney Corporation, Walt Disney and the entire canon of Disney animated films.

Enchanted takes the high road and pays homage to them. As a Disney film itself, it's a bit of self-love - but as the film proves, this legacy deserves to be honoured. It has given a rich vain of shared history to children's films - and storytelling itself. To sing the praises of these films properly, it needs to be part of the Walt Disney canon.

Let's start at the very beginning - with Julie Andrews as the narrator. Who else but Mary Poppins herself - the first film the combine traditional animation and live action - tells us the story of Enchanted over an animated pop-up book of the fairytale world of Andalusia.

The opening sequence of traditional animation, which steals the look of Snow White and Bambi and a whole host of others, mires us squarely in the right head space: a girl longs for her Prince, the Prince seeks her and along the way slays an ogre. An ogre who bares a Disney-fied resemblance to Shrek, I might add.

Already we can see how silly and slight these old stories are, though I am sure the children in the audience were delighted. If, indeed, traditional 2D animation works for children anymore. No contest, this 2D animation draws on history to set up the story and our expectations.

Traveling to the real world is all part of the hook and no real surprise. What's wonderful is how the translation from the animated to real New York is handled. Giselle's sweet lilt still brings the animals running - though rats and flies instead of deer and chipmunks - but the animals cannot speak. The chipmunk not being able to speak in the real world is smart - leading to some humour and a few nice twists in the drama.

New York - that most heightened and extreme of real world cities - isn't sugar-coated at all. Okay, it's still a Disney film, but Giselle quickly finds herself out of place - getting bustled into a New York city subway, a place the film doesn't even need to show us... but as Giselle emerges she knows she is a long way from home.

The five core actors - Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Idina Menzel and Susan Sarandon - are all incredibly good, whatever is thrown at them. Adams and Marsden truly are animated characters come to life. Dempsey and Menzel look like real people in comparison. (Seriously, what's up with the McDreamy thing? Sure, he's okay, but...) Sarandon enjoys the hell out of every moment she's on screen - whether behind 2D, heavy prosthetics or giving life to a three-dimensional, photo-realistic creature... we are in the hands of a master of the craft.

The film is pretty flawless storywise as well. Subtextualy these things can easily go wrong - and while the film errs on the bright side, it doesn't shy away from presenting some realism early on. And takes pains to explain why hoping and waiting for a Prince is unrealistic - and why getting married right away can be wrong.

Hanging off the story is some great music by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, as well as excellent choreography, beautiful costumes (and excellent costuming choices - with Dempsey dressed as a Prince by the end and Adams in modern day dress) and some excellent verbal and visual comedy from Marsden, in particular.

If there was even a contest, this film is the feel good film of the year. Nothing so fun as laughing at Disney while also - remembering that kid inside - smiling along with it.