It's been over a year since Disney+ launched, and the streaming service has released a fair share of original movies - a mixture of those planned to debut and those that were pulled from theatrical release due to the COVID-19 pandemic - with the latest being Godmothered. Directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones's Diary) from a script by Kari Granlund (Lady and the Tramp) and Melissa Stack (The Other Woman), Godmothered was always intended to be a Disney+ original. That much is clear from the film, which comes across like the Disney Channel Original Movie spiritual sequel to the theatrically released Enchanted. Godmothered is a campy and heartfelt family-friendly Christmas flick, but ends up feeling like an adult rom-com shoehorned into a kids movie.

Godmothered follows the godmother-in-training Eleanor (Jillian Bell), who ventures out into the human world in search of a little girl she can help to prove that the godmother training school, The Motherland, is still needed. She seeks out Mackenzie Walsh (Isla Fisher), who wrote a letter to the fairy godmothers as a child, but she's now grown up with two kids - Mia (Willa Skye) and Jane (Jillian Shea Spaeder) - and a stressful job at a TV news station. Though Eleanor tries to give Mack the typical fairytale treatment, complete with setting her up with the handsome Hugh Prince (Santiago Cabrera), Mack is much more focused on keeping her job than being happy. Together, Eleanor and Mack will teach each other what it means to be happy and find a happily ever after in the modern day.

Related: Every New Movie & TV Show Coming To Disney+ In December 2020

Isla Fisher in Godmothered

The premise of Godmothered, in which a fairy godmother is confronted by modern views on love and fairytales, could have easily lent itself toward a more adult-geared movie, like a typical rom-com. In fact, much of Mack's storyline plays out like a standard romantic comedy, though it puts a new spin on the classic fairytale ending. Meanwhile, Eleanor helps Jane overcome her stage fright, which is more in line with the usual family-friendly Disney movie story. While Granlund and Stack's script and Maguire's directing attempt to weave these two somewhat disparate ideas into one film, Godmothered still feels a bit jumbled, like it's not totally sure what kind of film it wants to be. The disjointed result is a movie that may leave audiences questioning who exactly it's for, children or adults. Because it's not quite for either, it ends up being not really for anyone.

For their parts, Bell and Fisher try to make it work, and they have enough comedic chops on their own to somewhat pull it off. Bell's optimistic and naive Eleanor is a fine enough fish-out-of-water character, but the line between what she knows and what she doesn't about the modern world is ill-defined to the point that it becomes distracting. Meanwhile, Fisher's Mack is meant to be a grumpy, unkempt working woman and it's not until she gets her hair done (it's just taken down and brushed) and her daughters make a big deal out of it that it becomes clear audiences were expected to think Fisher looked bedraggled (she never actually does). Together, Bell and Fisher are fine, but there's nothing necessarily magical about their comedic chemistry, though Fisher does bring the necessary heart to Godmothered to counteract Bell's more over-the-top antics.

Willa Skye, Jillian Shea Spaeder, Jillian Bell and Isla Fisher in Godmothered

In the end, Godmothered is another middling streaming service release, entertaining enough to hold a viewer's attention for most of the runtime, but doesn't offer anything particularly special. In a year with a dearth of new movies, Godmothered may be worth checking out for those already interested, or families in need of a fresh film to watch together. But those whose interest isn't piqued by the concept or trailer would be fine missing this Disney+ original. There's some neat exploration of fairytales and what it means to be happy that gets tied up in a sweet and heartful, if not entirely earned, ending to Godmothered. And there's some Christmas cheer to Godmothered that makes it an enjoyable festive experience for this time of year. Ultimately, though, this family-friendly film may leave viewers wishing for the higher budget and better executed vision on Disney's Enchanted, and they'd do well to watch that film instead. Godmothered means well, but its camp and cheese is less endearing than it clearly wants to be.

Next: Godmothered Movie Trailer

Godmothered starts streaming on Disney+ Friday, December 4th. It is 110 minutes long and rated PG for some suggestive comments.

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comments section!

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