REEL CRITIC:

Disney’s “Enchanted” delightfully combines animation and live acting to bridge the family entertainment gap.

Bill Kelly’s screenplay tells the story of a cartoon princess from a faraway land who suddenly comes to life in nasty New York. The wicked queen throws her into a cosmic sinkhole that propels her into the Big Apple through a manhole cover in the middle of Times Square.

Still wearing her giant hoop skirt, she wanders the strange streets hoping for the kindness of strangers. Many rapid-fire opportunities for comic relief follow her entrance into the real world.

Amy Adams is perfectly cast as the naive but sincere princess who tries to see the best in everyone. She meets a divorce lawyer (Patrick Dempsey) who only complicates his life trying to help her.

Her cartoon prince, the queen (Susan Sarandon) and others fall through the same manhole cover to chase her down. Mad antics ensue that joyfully poke fun at many of the Disney stereotypes. Director Kevin Lima is aiming squarely for the audience that loved “Shrek.”

This film has the whimsy and goofiness to please the kids. And it’s got the real-world humor and satire to please the adults. It’s sure to be a winner in the Christmas-movie sweepstakes.

Adept acting, solid soundtrack liven film

In the mood for some holiday family drama other than your own? “This Christmas” is perfect for you.

It’s an overstuffed stocking full of formulaic plots, but the cast is so skilled — Delroy Lindo, Regina King and Chris Brown roasting by an open fire — and having such a good time that you’re caught up in the fun too.

Loretta Devine plays Ma’Dere, the sweet-voiced matriarch of the photogenic Whitfield family.

All her six children, plus some not-so-significant others, gather at her home and try to keep their secrets and lies from each other.

Of course, everybody finds out everything but it all gets resolved in very satisfying ways.

“This Christmas” is about love and family, and it’s blessed with a terrific smooth jazz/ old school R&B; soundtrack.

How many holiday movies have you seen that end with the ensemble doing a funky Soul Train line to the sounds of Marvin Gaye?

Musical orphan’s quest is like a broken record

If you’re trying to avoid sweets this holiday season, you might want to stay away from “August Rush.”

Two people (Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyer) have an impossibly romantic rooftop tryst that results in a pregnancy. Months later, her daddy dearest figures out a way to make his daughter believe the baby boy died at birth and gives him up for adoption.

That cherubic son, Evan (Freddy Highmore), is more winsome that Oliver Twist. He’s inherited his parents’ musical aptitudes and feels music all around him. Then he meets Wizard (an embarrassingly hammy Robin Williams) who renames him “August Rush” and propels the kid toward fame and fortune.

Before you can say “Yanni,” August is conducting a symphony orchestra in Central Park. What are the odds that the boy, mommy and daddy will be reunited? The answer will leave you schlock-jawed.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.