A classic staple of the Disney formula; the fairy godmother, is the subject of Godmothered, the latest film from Bridget Jones’ Diary director Sharon Maguire. What should be a subversive, inventive twist on a genre staple generally cast as a side character unfortunately descends into tedium in one of the most aggressively bland Disney features in recent memory. Squandering a solid cast led by Jillian Bell and Isla Fisher, there isn’t much magic to be found here with a jumbled narrative, poor special effects and some seriously underdeveloped characters that serve less purpose than the spaghetti from Lady and the Tramp.
Bell gamely steps into the role of Eleanor, a fairy godmother who dreams of delivering happily ever afters to those in need in the human world, studying the code of her people day and night in preparation. The other fairies, led by Moira (Jane Curtin), do not share Eleanor’s optimism, as human’s belief in the fairy world and happiness in general has been steadily on the decline (2020, am I right?), threatening the entire occupation of Eleanor’s people and forcing them to consider lives as tooth fairies. Once Eleanor discovers this, she commits herself to a daring journey to the human world, determined to bring a happily ever after to Mackenzie (Isla Fisher), who dreamed of a Prince Charming as a child but who now finds herself stuck in a difficult grind as a single mother to Jane (Jillian Shea Spaeder) and Mia (Willa Skye).
By far the best part of the film is Jillian Bell’s portrayal of Eleanor. She brings such an infectious enthusiasm and positivity to the role that it is hard not to get caught up in it at first. Her eyes light up with childlike wonder at every turn as she experiences this whole new world for the first time and Bell almost oversells it at times, going all in on that giddy Disney optimism. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Isla Fisher. She plays the straight woman to Bell’s over-exuberance as well as she can, but there just isn’t anything to her character. There are attempts to draw a sympathetic response from the audience by implying that she missed out on her happily ever after when her husband died and comments are made about the stress of her job cutting into her relationship with her children, but the film doesn’t really commit to pulling on any of these threads in much depth, leading to a whole mess of tonal shifts and plot realignments. Let’s explore shall we?
We’ll start with Eleanor’s mission. It is never established what a “happily ever after” encompasses and so the film relies on those classic Disney staples we all know. Find your Prince Charming. Have him sweep you off your feet. It’s a choice seemingly at odds with the film’s “girls can do anything” message. You have Eleanor aiming to do her best and save the day. You have Mackenzie working tirelessly to support her children and keep a roof over their heads. Jane, the eldest daughter of Mackenzie, is struggling with her own confidence issues in leading the school choir and gaining her mother’s support. Yet their problems can be solved by Mackenzie finding a man, specifically co-worker Hugh (Santiago Cabrera)? The film likes to tell you these girls can do anything and it is an excellent message to instill in young women, but it never really enforces the message by actually showing you. We have some fun bigger moments and some mopey, “looking at old photos forlornly” moments designed to give the impression of a story but nothing that really shows you these girls kicking ass until the very last few scenes. The big finale attempts to counter the whole Prince Charming can solve everything argument but it rings a little hollow after you’ve spent the preceding hour and 40 minutes following Eleanor clumsily attempting to set Mackenzie and Hugh up.
Then there are the gags themselves. The film is incredibly poorly paced, stretching on for what seems like an eternity between the many big set pieces. Some of these are better than others, from a magical mishap at a football match to a snowy misadventure that should end in more carnage than it does. The lesser ones are painfully blunt (Eleanor transforming the house to look like a Disney castle, complete with racoon and piglet helpers) or preachy to a point where you’re just beyond caring (a school concert which quickly turns into a self-help seminar). The elongated run-time full of filler also makes the incredibly choppy editing stand out that much more, with random cuts of the same character moving between two places with no connective tissue leaving scenes feeling inorganic and disjointed. The land in which the fairies live should be a highlight, a cross between that iconic opening credits Disney castle and the land of Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent films, but the visual effects on display make it all look a hazy mess and it is quite clear that the budget simply wasn’t enough to accommodate the scale of this world. This would also explain why majority of the fairy plot is left in the dust after the opening, with a haphazard attempt at reconciling these loose ends raising more questions than it answers.
Godmothered fails in a lot of different ways, most notably poor plotting, the colossal waste of Jillian Bell’s talents, bad visual effects and jokes that land with a deafening thud. Its greatest failure, however, comes in the lack of that trademark Disney magic. This is a film that should feel fresh, the rare film from the mouse house that isn’t a sequel or remake of a beloved classic. Yet the potential of the fascinating, previously untold story is never reached, and director Sharon Maguire seems content to simply check fundamental movie boxes rather than infuse any life or wonder into the proceedings. While younger children may find some enjoyment in some of the more slapstick moments and the fairy world, everyone else will likely have changed the channel or be suffering from severe neck pain from checking their watches during this overlong bore-fest. Fairy tale? More like Fairy fail.
Godmothered stars Jillian Bell, Isla Fisher, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Santiago Cabrera, June Squibb, Jillian Shea Spaeder, Willa Skye & Jane Curtin – Streaming on Disney+ now.