Enchanted is based on the delightful movie of the same name. Yes, dear reader, I have actually seen a movie prior to playing the game for once. It's like a miracle. In Enchanted the Video Game, I actually take turns between playing Giselle, Prince Edward, and Pip the chipmunk.

The game opens with Giselle in her forest home. There's a pretty good tutorial to get you started, but you are going to need some reading skills to follow it. As Giselle, you're going to collect things, mix the things you collect, make dresses, upgrade dresses, make animal friends, and sing. In between doing all this, you'll get to do a lot of jumping, running and climbing, too. Giselle may look like just another pretty face, and she definitely runs like a stereotypical princess, but boy can she be active when it's called for.

Gathering stuff, singing, making animal friends, and making dresses might not sound that exciting, but learning to manage these factors is what makes Giselle quite the little powerhouse. You have six potential base dresses. Each of these dresses grants Giselle special abilities when she's singing. I can't wait for the purple dress - the one at the end of the movie. That one grants her all of Edward's fighting ability!

Once you (or your younger child) understand how to do things, it's pretty easy to follow along. When Giselle gets near something she can gather, you'll see a little graphic on the screen. Use your stylus the way it shows and you keep gathering the item until it runs out - like making a little check mark motion to pick flowers, a swirling motion to collect from spider webs, or a tapping to get dusty things.

Here's my suggestion for the gathering - while the dress you're trying to make only calls for so many of a given item, I gathered everything I could get my little dainty hands on. I don't have inventory or bulk to worry about, and who knows when we'll need a little extra of something. Making the dress, once you have the ingredients, is a matter of following the visual on screen and stirring clockwise or counterclockwise as indicated.

You'll have a lot of chances for Giselle to sing. There are stages all over the woods (and in the city once you go there, too). Just jump up on the stage and touch the little icon to start singing. You'll see a shape on the touch screen. You have to trace all the way around the shape without lifting your stylus and before time runs out to activate the song. If you don't quite manage, you can immediately try again, and there doesn't seem to be any penalty for doing it wrong. You'll see a bar that shows you when a song is active, and how much time you have left, plus you'll hear background music to go along with it.

As long as you follow the prompts on screen, you'll easily make your animal friends. All of your current friends for that area are available from a little radial menu. Just drag the one you want to the center to select them, then tap them on screen to have them join you. Each friend has a different ability so you will be switching between them. The situations make it obvious which friend is needed. If I need a bird to collect something, there will be a little bubble with a picture of the bird pointing at the item I need to collect. To get it I just summon the bird and tap the item.

Most of Giselle's running/jumping/climbing was pretty straight-forward. It's really a kick getting her to leap and grab a pole - get her to swing around it like a crazed gymnast using your stylus, and then have her leap to the next pole. The pole that gave me the trouble was the vertical pole. I got her to climb okay but had a heck of a time getting her to jump off in the direction I wanted.

Edward is definitely an action guy. He's not so much a thinker, but is pretty good with his sword (at least he is if you're halfway decent with the stylus). Most battles start with you having to tap little stars. Doing well gives you an advantage in the battle to follow. The actual sword play will be about tracing the lines shown on the screen and rapidly tapping little targets. I have done pretty well with Edward and his sword so far. It only took a few tries to take down the big troll…

Here's where I was having a problem with Edward. During one sequence he has to ride his horse, Destiny, madly across the landscape. It was easy enough to adjust his speed by drawing a clockwise or counterclockwise circle around him, but I had a lot more trouble getting him to duck under tree branches and Destiny to jump over hedges. This is important too - because each failure costs Edward some health, and at the end of that ride you're facing the giant troll. I finally got Edward to duck by repeatedly jabbing him in the head really hard. Just a light tap didn't do it and a single tap didn't do it. I had a lot of trouble hitting Destiny in the right spot to make him jump. Grrrr. I did do better after replaying the section a few times - but this is one spot where I found the controls a little frustrating.

Playing Pip the chipmunk is the most like a traditional side-scroller game. I had to run him through a maze and collect things for Giselle. He's really funny when you find a little hamster ball in his area. He really zips along then.

Enchanted will auto save after major achievements, but you can do your own saves at other points. Just find a bed for Giselle. Have her climb on it and you get the chance to save - and then you get a choice to end or keep playing. You do Edward's auto save by tapping Nathaniel. I like the ease with which you can save the game. What I don't like is that only one save game is possible. If you want to have more than one game going at a time, you're going to need multiple cartridges.

I feel that Enchanted has been true to the overall heart of the story. Major events have matched the movie, but there's enough other activities mixed in (like the whole sequence where you learn how to climb/jump/navigate with Giselle) to keep you from feeling like you're playing on rails. When Giselle first arrives in New York she still has the encounter with the tiara thief, but then there's also a sequence where you help a woman find her purse and a few items in exchange for her help. It's not part of the movie, but it captures the feel of what Giselle experienced when trying to get help in the city.

The graphics and sound were reasonably good for a DS game. You're not going to hear actual singing, but the music is a good flavor of the songs from the movie. I have enjoyed switching between the characters for different parts of the game. I did have some issues with the controls not being as responsive as I would have liked, but so far that has not kept me from progressing.

I think some of the game is going to be tough for a younger child. If you don't do the combat with Edward just right, or you jump wrong and send Giselle into deep water, for example, you're going to end up starting over from the last save point. On the plus side, at least their missteps aren't going to be too graphic for the younger set.

I have enjoyed playing Enchanted: the Video Game. I feel like it has been true to the spirit of the movie. Younger kids may need occasional help, but there's enough on screen tips to keep them playing independently for the most part. This is actually one of the better movie related games that I've played to this point. Both my daughter (8-years old) and I have had fun playing Enchanted. I think you will, too.