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—By Star and Duck
Star: This year, who doesn't need a feminist heroine who breaks pointless rules, follows her heart, is resilient, and brings happiness to people's lives? I'm talking about Eleanor, played by Jillian Bell, in Disney's Godmothered—a Disney+ movie you simply must check out.
Duck: Godmothered is also great for ducks. The film even references a duck up a ladder—and yours truly always appreciates duck visibility.
Star: Duck visibility is scarce, unless you're watching Donald.
Duck: To be clear, that's the duck, not the other guy.
Star: Right. In the film, Eleanor, a trainee fairy godmother, discovers that fairy godmothers are facing extinction, and decides to take matters into her own hands. To prove that the universe still needs members of her profession, she heads to the human world. There, she tries to find true love for Mackenzie (Isla Fisher), who sent Eleanor a letter back when she was ten saying that she wanted to find love. There's a catch though: Mackenzie is now a forty-year-old single mom who no longer wants to find anyone, let alone "Prince Charming," and Eleanor is far from fully-trained.
Duck: But Star Williams, wouldn't you say the ducking awesome truth of the film is that Mackenzie really does need to find true love?
Star: Yes, Duck. Or at least, she needs to recognize true love within herself.
Duck: Yah. She's like a duck who doesn't realize that he has a liver when actually he does—it's just that the liver's inside of him, under his feathers, where he can't see it. But for Mackenzie, it's not a liver she needs to recognize—it's the true ducking love in her heart.
Star: Word. Brave trainee godmother Eleanor is often out of her depths in the movie, and Jillian Bell brings plenty of rocking slapstick and laugh-out-loud hilarity to the role, not to mention a ton of heart. Isla Fisher also offers a performance that is by turns both hilarious and moving.
What's more, Godmothered waves a pleasant goodbye to fairy-godmother characters who seem to know everything, never fluff up, never break the rules (even when they're oppressive), and are stuck on the notion that true love is just one thing.
Duck: Also, single parents who are widowed should star in comedies like this more often. The film does a duck of a good job at showing how Mackenzie's own battle with self-esteem is reflecting on her ducklings.
Star: You mean, her children.
Duck: Yah. And duck me if the buffoonery in this film isn't quackers-good. Ducks love buffoonery, unless it comes from that beak-brain Mallard Jones.
Star: Duck and Mallard are frenemies, folks.
Duck: And Mallard has nothing to do with Godmothered.
Star: True. In Godmothered, we focus primarily on female characters, there's a brief glimpse of two dads with their kid (let's go further with that, please, Disney,) and while there is sort of a Prince Charming, he doesn't have much to do with the happily ever after. I want Disney to offer more representation in terms of marginalized groups, but do I feel that it's turning a corner in terms of gender, feminism, and LGBTQIA+.
Overall, with its hearty dose of feminism, tons of rollicking comedy, and a broad understanding of happily-ever-after, Godmothered will appeal to adults and children alike.
Ducks: And ducks. Don't forget ducks.
Star: Sorry about that, Duck. I recognize that I actually just erased your entire species.
Duck: Apology accepted, Star Williams. And I'm sure that the sequel to Godmothered—God-duckered, or maybe Godfeathered?—is just around the corner.
Star: Now there's another movie we'll both want to see.
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