Enchanted/Headscratchers

Why didn't Giselle just go back down the manhole from the very beginning?

 * Because she was too disoriented to think straight, and by the time she could slow down enough to consider that it might work, she was hopelessly lost.
 * Because that would've been one hecka boring movie.
 * She had no reason to believe it would work. What does she know about magic or magic portals? Would it be reasonable to assume all magical portals work both ways?
 * She's a Fairy Tale Distressed Damsel whose mindset says to wait for your Knight in Shining Armor to rescue you.
 * She couldn't get the dress back down the hole.
 * It smelled of sewage.
 * People have been going into that manhole for years, as evidenced by the workers. It simply doesn't work that way.

Why did Nerissa even bother with the Portal Pool? Why not just give Giselle a poisoned apple in the first place?

 * She didn't want to dirty her hands at first because she wanted to have Plausible Deniability, but when her Pawn proved incapable of doing the job, she got fed up enough to come finish the job herself.
 * Poisoned apples are difficult to find. First she just tried to save them.

How did Giselle know what a vacuum was (while singing "Happy Working Song")?

 * They have Fairy Tales in Andalasia about worlds with freaky things like vacuums?
 * Because as shown with the crowd song scene, fairy tale songs are spontaneous- the characters don't need to know what words mean, as long as the song does
 * She read the label on the box.
 * How did she know how to pronounce "vacuum"? It's not a typical spelling for someone in an English-speaking fairy tale world to know off the top of their head.
 * If you listen to how she sings the word "vacuum" in Happy Working Song, she pronounces it "va-cu-um", which was probably to accomodate for meter, but it could be that she was mispronouncing it. If it's the latter, she might have read the box and may have seen Rob or Morgan use it at an earlier time and figured out what it did.
 * She also knew what a shower was in that scene, but not in the next scene.
 * It's never stated she didn't know what a shower was, she just wanted to know how it worked, and thought it was wonderful, to give Nancy a reason to start the break-up process...
 * To be completely pedantic, it SHOULD be pronounced va-cu-um.

How did she get downtown?
Elaboration: she gets on the subway at Times Square and gets off way downtown. Bowery, I think. There's no way to make that trip without transferring at least once. Why would she have bothered? (And how did she get that dress through the turnstile?)
 * A bunch of people got off with her and/or transfered, and she couldn't really fight the tide? Or perhaps she just thought she'd get back to Andalasia eventually if she kept riding and got off when she'd thought she'd gotten far enough. As for the dress? Maybe someone just pushed her through. I dunno.
 * But unless she jumped it or went through the turnstile at the same time as another person, how could she get through the turnstile even in a more practical dress? She probably wouldn't be able to jump it in her dress, and not knowing what a subway even is she probably wouldn't think to jump it. And the dress is too wide for her to go through with another person.
 * The W, N, Q, and R lines stop in the Bowery (the neighborhood), quite near Bowery Street. Also, people who are unable to pass through the turnstiles can use the emergency door in the subway station.

How do those apples work anyway? Why did it immediately burn through the helmet? By the time Robert kissed her, at least 1/4 of her body would have been burnt through.
It's an old cartoon gag; poison is always seen burning things like acid just to show how dangerous it is. And since Andalasia's magic follows (Disney) cartoon rules...

Where are the forest animals getting all that jewelry?
Probably some lost treasure. Hey, it's a Fairy Tale world!

Why did Narissa still go after Giselle after

 * She wasn't taking any risks of a possible reconciliation.
 * When she gave her the apple, Narissa knew Giselle was still planning on going with Edward, so she still had to eliminate her. Afterwards, she wasn't going after JUST Giselle -- remember, Edward had straight-out told her that he was going to make sure she was deposed and stripped of her crown. She was cleaning up loose ends there, and being spiteful and vindictive (and very large), she wanted to go after the girl who started the whole mess in the first place.
 * Furthermore, remember that she outright stated her plan: kill them all, then go back with a sob story about how her dear sweet son, his loyal servant, and his darling fiancee were all slaughtered by a terrible monster in another world, with her the sole, shaken survivor.
 * Narcissa was a vengeful lady. Even if Giselle didn't end up with Edward, there's no way she would have let Giselle just go off and have a happy life, not after all the trouble she went to, trying to kill her.

Why did Giselle accept the advice of someone (Nerissa) she knew had tricked her once? She even looked like a witch!!!

 * Looking like a witch might not mean much to Giselle -- remember her comment about how not all stepmothers are evil? As for accepting the advice, I think the whole point of the moment is that Giselle is feeling unhappy enough to want to do ANYTHING to take the pain away.
 * Disney princess, remember? Snow White took an apple from a much freakier looking old lady.

Morgan's babysitter should be fired.

 * So we know Robert has no idea Giselle is still in town for the ball, because it's just more romantic for him to be shocked to see her there. However, it's troubling that Giselle was able to whisk his daughter away to go shopping earlier that day without his knowing. This means either the little girl was left home alone (very unlikely, Robert's shown to be a very protective father, and somebody had to have let Giselle in the apartment) or her babysitter let a stranger take off with the kid and did not inform her father, let alone ask permission.
 * Morgan would have indicated she knew and trusted Giselle. Depending on how familiar the babysitter was with Robert's social life, she would either simply have to trust Morgan or be suspicious, in which case Giselle could probably whip out a "Let Me Take the Kid Shopping" song.
 * Plus, the babysitter might have thought Giselle was Robert's fiance. And so felt it was safe for Morgan to go with her.

So, a kiss to a Disney princess is roughly equivalent to sex?

 * (See: the discussion about what Nancy thought Giselle and Robert did...) so, all those sweet, innocent kisses on the foreheads of the forest animals...?
 * I took it as, even if there's sex in Andalasia there is no way she could comprehend someone doing it outside of marriage, especially with someone who has another "true love". As for Disney Princesses and sex...depends on the princess. I could see Giselle and Snow White as completely oblivious, but Jasmine and Pocahontas are not going to settle for 1st base.
 * Probably more of the "true love's kiss between couples" kind of kissing, not "affectionate kiss to friends" kind.
 * I took it as Rule of Funny. They were poking fun at the older princess' niavete by implying that Giselle had never heard of sex before.

Why does Giselle have a fish to in her mouth to spit out into the glass?

 * I know the scene's there to help cement her oddness, but she's from a world of Talking Animals...
 * Because she lives in a forest, drinks from a stream and sees nothing wierd about having fish in the water supply? She was drinking from the fish tank, after all.
 * Maybe she just thinks it would be nice if the fish could visit other places from time to time.

What sort of ID did Giselle show to open up a business? How is she going to pay taxes?

 * Possibly Robert helped her out with that. He's a lawyer, and even a divorce lawyer would probably have the expertise necessary to at least get the paperwork started. Or, alternatively, there was just a Big Fucking Dragon on the top of the Empire State Building or whatever. Andalasia might be recognized by the UN as a country by this point, and Giselle is an ex-pat.
 * Now there's some weapons-grade Fanfiction Fuel.
 * Maybe they stole Nancy's ID?

What are Nancy's parents going to think of Robert finding a new girlfriend right when their daughter disappears off the face of the earth?
== During the singing montage in the park, what happened during the unshown intervals? They're shown singing one lyric in one area, and then the very next lyric a very long distance away. Does everyone in the crowd stop singing, race to get to the next locale, and then resume singing as if nothing has happened? == == After Giselle finishes singing the "Happy Working Song", Morgan rushes to wake her dad to show him what happened, only to find the rats, pigeons, and cockroaches roaming about. How the heck did Giselle have enough time to get to the bathroom, get out of that poofy dress, and figure out how to work the shower? ==
 * That's assuming that Nancy actually does "disappear off the face of the Earth." Maybe the portal stayed open. Maybe it became part of the Manhattan Transit Authority, with transfers to Times Square and Andalasia. Besides, Nancy and Robert were already on the outs when Giselle showed up. Her parents probably knew that, and weren't surprised when he showed up with a redheaded strumpet.
 * That actually makes it more suspicious. If a man on the outs with his fiance gets together with a new woman almost immediately after his fiance disappears, I'm pretty sure that makes him suspect #1 in her murder investigation.
 * Maybe she's estranged from her parents or is an orphan. Might also explain why she's ready to up and leave her life in New York so suddenly, without getting anything in order.
 * She called them. Her phone gets reception in Andalasia after all.
 * Yeah, but right after she found that interesting tipbit out, she threw said phone away. We even saw it smash.
 * This troper laughed out loud when she read that. Made of Win. I wish they'd shown that - it would have worked with the whole Affectionate Parody scheme, too.
 * Seconded, I literally broke into laughter at that thought. Maybe the song was really much longer and they cut it down to only show certain parts? God, I can't get the image of the hundred people running from place to place.
 * Repeat choruses. Lots and lots and lots of repeat choruses. Or possibly humming.
 * Maybe she got some of the animals to turn the water on for her while she was cleaning. They also helped her out of the dress.
 * Still doesn't explain how she had the time to do all that. Morgan and Robert only took a moment to clear away all the critters.
 * Giselle is magically clean, no matter what happens to her. Taking a shower must be just for fun, and could be very short. Hell, she can make an hand-crafted dress while you take a coffee.

Why in the world would you call the part of the night when people have to switch partners the King and Queen dance?
== So Disney hires Idina Menzel, a renowned Tony Award-winning broadway starlet, to be in their movie, and she doesn't sing once? Sure, maybe some planned songs for her got cut, but it still irritates this troper nevertheless. ==
 * If I were there I'd be a wee bit disgruntled (or at least bemused) at being expected to separate from my date during a dance with a clearly coupley name and romantic song.
 * Perhaps the idea is to fit in with the fairy tale concept of finding love through a chancey and serendipitous event, much like how Giselle and Robert and Nancy and Edward fell in love?
 * I guess "And now time for the Deus Ex Machina dance, where everyone dances to the most romantic song with the person they really wanted to come to the dance with" was too on the nose?
 * Remember, Giselle managed to get a park full fo random bystanders to join her in a song-and-dance number. Deus Ex Machinas are pretty much needed for Disney princesses.
 * More to the point, why is it called the "Kings and Queens Waltz"? It is quite clearly in 4/4 time, and therefore not a waltz.
 * True, but the song does use swing and triplets to give it a waltz-like beat, or even a sped-up 3/4 time. Plus, I doubt anyone at the ball really cared whether it was an actual waltz or not; it worked well enough for the mood.
 * I can't speak for the director, though I seem to recall either reading somewhere or hearing on the Making Of feature that they did consider having her sing but cut the songs for time. But I do know this: Idina Menzel says she was actually flattered they didn't have her sing, because that means they hired her based solely on her acting talents.

Doesn't Narissa turn into a dragon during the climax? Why can't she fly?

 * When she hit the building for the first time, she was partially engulfed by the smoke that signaled her transformation. Maybe the physical shock of hitting the side of the building was causing her to revert to human form, and she was too distracted by trying to hold the dragon shape to fly?
 * This really bugged me too, but I think the animators actually thought of this. If you notice Narissa does have wings, but they're fairly not big. Basically they'd be useless. You notice that never once to be see her fly. In fact all she does is climb.
 * There might be an argument that she was flight-capable back in Andalasia, but real-world physics are less forgiving.

We're supposed to believe only pigeons, rats, and cockroaches live in New York?
I mean, they went through a huge park earlier! There's got to be some chipmunks, rabbits, racoons, skunks, or other kinds of birds, maybe a even fox or two (they're fluffy wood land creatures as far as she knows). Heck, she even had two birds (that I'm pretty sure weren't pigeons) deliver flowers to Robert's girlfriend. Couldn't they have just mixed the "gross" animals into the other ones and had her still be shocked? Or had one of the ones that would usually be harmless to her snap at her or something? == Why were they so confused over Giselle being from 'Andalasia', when there's a place called Andalusia, and they could have believed that they'd misheard? Of course, it would be a bit difficult to get a very American sounding woman all the way from Andalusia to America, but there's still the possibility. ==
 * Well, rats are small so can make it through tiny holes, so there's a possibility the larger animals couldn't get into the apartment building.
 * Rule of Funny, maybe?
 * Because she repeatedly says it's Andalasia. She also says it past the *Place I don't remember* and "The Valley of Contentment".