Godmothered

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Imagine if 2007's Enchanted had been such a ghastly trainwreck that it wasn't worth watching. That is this film. I would give Godmothered a 1.5/10.

Godmothered follows fairy godmother in-training, Eleanor, as she attempts to save her dying profession by giving a young girl, Mackenzie, her happily ever after. The only problem is that Mackenzie has grown up since first writing her letter; now Eleanor has to help this single mother of two find her fairytale ending before the portal back home closes behind her. This is a film that sacrifices everything in order to convey its plot; which leads to some good delivery in the final act. The idea that helping people become happy as opposed to find them a perfect fairytale ending is remarkably nice; and further pushing the idea that happiness looks different for every sort of person is a nice touch.

 

Santiago Cabrera, who played Hugh, is quite a soft-natured role but stands really firmly with his beliefs about honest journalism throughout; Cabrera has a lot of charm that makes him one of the more likeable characters in the film. Artemis Pebdani, who played Duff, is a bit of a sneaky hit for me in this film; Pebdani's minor camerawoman role is extremely comedic and has this dry wit that makes her the funniest role after Bell.

However, the best performance came from Jillian Bell, who played Eleanor. I liked this character a lot because she got to be the sense of wonder and fascination in the film. Every time Bell was in a scene she would come at it with peak energy, making her this beacon of fun and joy. I liked that she was a little reserved about her spellcasting, bumbling through some spells while confidently casting others. Bell's role is so full of optimism and a love for magic that it's hard not to be spellbound by her, but I liked the lessons she learned by the end of the film even more. Eleanor learns that the rigid ways of fairy godmothering aren't all they're cracked up to be and she becomes a bit of a voice for change in her magical kingdom.

This film conceptually felt like Enchanted but in execution it more closely resembled 2010's Tooth Fairy. It's a very frustrating film because almost immediately we're linked up with this tiresome narration that tells us the story, there is never really any significant narrative beat that isn't painstakingly explained to you in the first ten to fifteen minutes. From there the story goes on to be the most plain concoction I've seen, main character awkwardly inserts herself into the family's lives and after some charming mishaps becomes a part of their 'family'. Because Godmothered has a very shallow way of telling its story, it's very easy to grow bored of the bland slapstick comedy or cringeworthy musical numbers. The film waits to be a third of the way in before it even bothers to indicate that it wants to be a Christmas/holiday film too. Godmothered fails because it presents the shell of a film but never bothers to be a fully realised story. The cinematography looks quite boring for such a fantasy-heavy film, often reflecting the low-budget and the minimal sets. The special effects for this feature are miserable; the portal sequence, explosion over the football field and CGI raccoon made for some horrible eyesores. The soundtrack is a very unpleasant blend of Christmas songs and popular pop music that never quite feel like they fit in the same film.

June Squibb, who played Agnes, feels more disoriented in her scenes than she is actually acting; Squibb doesn't seem entirely sure of her role or what needs to be gained from each of her scenes making for a bizarre role more often than not. Jane Curtin, who played Moira, is this weirdly warped mix of a mentor role and antagonist role; the film never knows which way to angle her more so we get this strange dual persona that makes this character confusing. Stephnie Weir, who played Barb, is this weird comedic take on a right-wing news anchor that never manages to be funny; Weir is absolutely bonkers to watch and genuinely never embodies a character nor draws any laughs. Utkarsh Ambudkar, who played Grant, is this very intense egomaniacal minor antagonist; Ambudkar plays out this extremely over the top scumbag media boss who has this very two-dimensional character motivation. Isla Fisher, who played Mackenzie, was really miscast as the co-starring lead of this film; Fisher never really gets to lean on her comedic ability and instead is confined to this tightly wound, serious single mum character. Jillian Shea Spaeder and Willa Skye, who played Jane and Mia respectively, are quite generic as the kids who start out as distanced but become more like the joyful conscience of the feature as it progresses; Spaeder's angst-ridden approach to performing and singing live is such a black and white take on this very overdone character plot. Mary Elizabeth Ellis, who played Paula, is a role that feels seriously tacked onto this film; the character of Paula doesn't actively achieve anything and just sort of exists within the background of the film.