Which Disney references have we missed? Tell us at the foot of this article

It took Disney a long time to pluck up the courage to make Enchanted. The story of an animated princess who falls foul of a wicked stepmother and finds herself in contemporary Manhattan, it is playfully self-referential, enthusiastically plundering the Disney tradition for its own comedic ends.

Indeed, according to its director, Kevin Lima, it is effectively Disney’s first postmodern movie. The clincher came when he managed to persuade the company that there was a way to make the film as a love letter rather than a cynical pastiche. The result is a film that, although a departure for Disney, also has a charming, old-fashioned innocence.

It’s an approach that has clearly struck a chord with American audiences. Enchanted has dominated the box office since its release at Thanksgiving and looks likely to be the hit of the festive season. Lima puts the success down to the film’s refreshingly sweet-natured tone. “With this movie I set out to make Mary Poppins. With that in mind, I had to throw away the meantempered mockery. It has been done so much. The Shrek movies were very successful in turning the screws on Disney in that way. So I was looking for a new way.”

To recapture that traditional Disney magic, Lima found himself scouring the classics for imagery and references. “And then something happened: we came up with the idea of doing Happy Working Song as a set piece and it set the tone for the entire film. From there it just went nuts, it became an obsession. Every single name had to somehow have a relation to Disney, every image had to relate back to the Disney iconography. I drove my entire staff crazy.” Fans well versed in Disney lore will have a field day trying to spot all the Disney references, although, says Lima, “there is a lot of stuff hidden pretty deeply”.

Here we reveal many, but not all, of the Disney references Lima and team have crammed into the film.

The storybook opening

The classic image at the start of Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty is the storybook that falls open to reveal a land far, far away. Lima’s take on the image is updated by making the tome a pop-up book.

Prince Edward hunts trolls

We’re introduced to Prince Edward in the animated world, riding a steed vanquishing a stupid troll. The troll is wearing a loincloth made from shreds of dresses of the Disney princesses Snow White, Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. He’s also wearing Ariel the Little Mermaid’s shells as earrings.

Giselle arrives in the real world

Our heroine, Giselle (Amy Adams), is cast into a well on the morning of her wedding and emerges through a manhole in the middle of Times Square in a marshmallow of a dress that looks good enough to eat. The scene is full of references, most of which are purely coincidental. Lima recalls: “There’s things like the Tarzan poster on the street . There’s a giant Wicked poster, and Idina Menzel was an original cast member of Wicked, and Stephen Schwartz wrote the music both for Wicked and for us.”

The Happy Working Song

Giselle is given shelter by Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan. She wakes the next morning to find the apartment in chaos. Undeterred by her new world, Giselle calls upon her trusty animal friends to help to clean up. Rather than woodland creatures, however, it’s the city’s vermin that answer her call. Lima says: “The entire film grew out of that moment. I thought it might be fun to do a twist on a typical Disney song in the modern world. It plays into Whistle While You Work , then incorporates imagery from other Disney working songs. There’s a little bit of Mary Poppins; she sings to the cockroaches on her finger and they sing back; the soap bubbles and the reflections of Giselle in each bubble, that’s a homage to Cinderella.”

Giselle gets dressed

Cinderella references come thick and fast. First, when Giselle steps naked out of the shower, pigeons drape a towel around her — a direct nod to Cinders being dressed by birds. A few minutes later it is revealed that Giselle has created a fabulous frock for herself out of the living room curtains — again, a reference to Cinderella, specifically a scene in which the animals create a dress for her out of found household objects.

The divorce lawyer’s office

Robert Philip takes Giselle to work with him at the offices of the law firm of Churchill, Harline and Smith — the names of the three songwriters who created the memorable soundtrack to Snow White. “Most law firms have three names, so I went looking for a three-name combo in a Disney film. The divorcing couple are called the Banks and that’s from Mary Poppins. There’s a reporter who says her name is Mary Ilene Caselotti — that’s from the first names and the last names of the three women who play Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Robert Philip’s assistant is named Sam. And Philip’s horse in Sleeping Beauty was called Samson.”

The poisoned apple

It was the weapon that the jealous queen chose to use against Snow White. Enchanted updates the poisoned apple with a poisoned apple martini, served to Giselle by the evil stepmother’s henchman in an Italian restaurant named the Bella Notte — a reference to Lady and the Tramp.

Central Park

A stroll in Central Park with an increasingly bemused but grudgingly charmed Robert turns into a full song and dance production. Giselle’s song, How Does She Know?, asks how Robert’s long-suffering, long-term girlfriend, Nancy, is meant to know that he loves her if he never says so; Robert meanwhile wonders how everyone except him seems to know the words to the song and the accompanying dance steps.

Prince Edward defeats the bus

Deposited in the centre of Times Square on his quest to bring Giselle back to the kingdom of Andalasia, Edward swiftly brings his trollvanquishing skills to the task of tackling the New York public transport system. He dispatches a bus with a flourish of his sword, incurring the wrath of the driver.

Look closely at the driver — her hair is shaped like Mickey Mouse’s ears. Riding the bus is a woman clutching a bag of birdseed, a homage to the bird woman in Mary Poppins.

Prince Edward watches TV

Prince Edward settles down in a motel room to watch the “magic mirror”, aka the television. Lima says: “Everything on the television comes from a Disney film. Every image: Disney’s Robin Hood; there’s an image of Mortimer Snerd, a ventriloquist’s dummy that comes from Fun and Fancy Free. There’s a lot of dialogue that plays in the background that is all Disney referenced as well. There’s a Spanish Mickey Mouse cartoon.”

Disney experts will spot a host of references in a soap opera that moves the henchman, Timothy Spall, to tears, but Lima cautions that we shouldn’t give all of them away. “I think if you set the stage, then audiences will go in looking.”

SCREEN MAGIC: THE FILMS THAT MADE DISNEY

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

The first feature-length animation from the US was dubbed “Disney’s folly” by industry insiders who were convinced it would fail. They were forced to eat their words: the film was briefly the highest-grossing picture to date (the crown was taken the next year by Gone With the Wind).

Fantasia (1940)

A collection of interpretations of popular pieces of classical music, Fantasia was initially a box-office flop but is now regarded as one of Disney’s most inventive releases. The sorcerer was apparently secretly based on Walt himself.

The Jungle Book (1967)

Techniques used in 101 Dalmations were refined in this, the last film personally overseen by Walt Disney himself. The success of The Jungle Book is credited with keeping animation alive at Disney after the death of the company’s founder.

The Lion King (1994)

The original pitch for this massively successful franchise was “Bambi in Africa meets Hamlet”. The writer, Irene Mecchi, abbreviated it to “Bamlet”. Its success transcended the cinema and video release and it ended up as a Broadway musical sensation.

High School Musical (2006)

This made-for-TV movie spawned a sequel (another one is in the works) and became a tween phenomenon. Clean-cut kids dance and sing; stars such as Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale cut their teeth as the leads.

Enchanted opens on Fri Dec 14, 2007

Which Disney references have we missed? Tell us below

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