Green Gift Ideas

By Mayre Press

'Tis the season to be green and give gifts that use fair trade sources and/or recycled materials. Fine examples are the stunning designs by Moonrise Jewelry (moonrisejewelry.com). The two designers use only fair trade and "ethical-source" vendors for their raw materials (metals and gemstones). Recycled, reclaimed and renewable natural materials can be found in their necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

For the man or woman who prefers basic black accessories, a vegan wallet from Used Rubber USA (usedrubberusa.com) is a great gift. Made from reused truck inner tubes and stitched with heavy-duty industrial thread, these wallets can withstand an accidental run through the washing machine. Available in both standard and billfold styles with windows and pockets, the wallets are sleek-looking and waterproof.

Home décor items, such as the handmade sustainable products crafted by Enlighten Style (enlightenstyle.com) offer dozens of unique options. Bamboo lamps are available in hanging, table and floor styles, and compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL) are recommended. Reclaimed wood gets a second life in the form of picture frames available for standard-size photos such as 3x5, 4x6 and 8x10.

Few children can resist a teddy bear. Wildlife Works (wildlifeworks.com) sells an eco-friendly one named Mikey. This adorable bear is handmade from organic cotton terry and is stuffed with scraps of organic cotton from the company's "Eco-Factory" in Kenya. The ears and footpads are made of tree bark cloth. Wildlife Works sells clothing for men, women and children, and home furnishings such as wildlife prints.

Perhaps someone is gung-ho about going green but is not sure how to start. Look no further than the Eco-Friendly Gift Bag from GoGreenGift.com. Packed inside an organic cotton grocery bag are household items: a low-flow showerhead and two CFLs; taste treats (organic fair-trade coffee, organic tea and fruit leather); natural body care (organic shampoo and conditioner, organic lip balm and a flower and herb-infused salve); informational resources (Mother Earth's EcoGuide, E-The Environmental Magazine), plus coupons and resource literature.

A sustainable gift deserves to be wrapped in nothing less than tree-free paper or gift bag. Peaceful Valley Earth Friendly Clothing & Gifts (peacefulvalleygreetings.com) sells an assortment of hemp, banana leaf, kenaf and other tree-free papers. All gift-wrap designs are printed with vegetable-based inks on recycled paper. Peaceful Valley also has a selection of 2008 calendars printed on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper.

Of course, these ideas are just a few of the thousands of options available for shoppers who want their gifts to be sustainable. Look for more holiday gift ideas next time... In the meantime, happy green shopping!

Contact Eco Gal at info@evanstonroundtable.com or ecogal247@yahoo.

Comcast Awards $45K to the Youth Job Center.

The Comcast Foundation recently awarded a $45,000 grant to the Youth Job Center of Evanston. The grant was given to Strategic Corporate Alliances, the YJC's most rigorously structured job training and placement program. The foundation will administer the grant in three $15,000 segments over the next three years.

Julie Hamos, State Representative for Illinois' 18th District said,
"The Youth Job Center has earned an outstanding reputation for helping young people acquire needed job skills and abilities through training, counseling and employment support. At a time when the rate of teenage and young adult unemployment is on the rise, the services of the YJC have never been more necessary. I commend Comcast for supporting such a vital organization."

The Youth Job Center of Evanston prepares youth ages 14-25 for success in the workplace through job-readiness, placement and employment support in partnership with employers.

Pictured left to right are Gwendolyn McNutt of Comcast, YJC executive director Sacella Smith, Debra Martone of Comcast, YJC board president Jeff Coney, and YJC founder Ann Jennette. Photo courtesy of YJC.

Green About Town

By Ellen Galland

The green of the holiday season may well pale in comparison to the climate action plan for Evanston, the brainchild of the Network for Evanston's Future and the City of Evanston.

The Nov. 13 kickoff drew more than 100 persons, who then attended break-out sessions in the following areas: transportation, telecommunications and access; energy efficiency and buildings; renewable energy resources (of which this writer is a community co-chair); waste reduction and recycling; forestry, prairie and carbon offsets; policy, research and education; and communications and public relations.

The climate action plan will be the framework for the City to meet the obligations of the Kyoto Protocol, which the City Council adopted through its approval of the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement. One goal of the Kyoto Protocol is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that is 7 percent below the 1990 levels by the year 2012.

To do so, said Carolyn Collopy, the City's sustainable programs coordinator, the emissions must be reduced by nearly 15 percent over the next four years.

Changing behavior is one low-tech way to reduce emissions, said Linda Young of the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago. Two of her suggestions were adjusting thermostats upward in summer and downward in winter, and retrofitting rather than building new. "Many [Chicago] residents want to retrofit, but they don't know how and are intimidated by contractors," she said. She enumerated several measures taken by the City of Chicago to promote sustainability, such as zoning breaks and the "green permit process" - a fast-track process - for contractors incorporating sustainable elements.

In the suburbs, said Ms. Young, cars are major culprits: "About 91 percent of the people are in cars. ... We need to reduce the vehicle miles traveled (VMTs)." At present, she added, "We need to just maintain mass transit. Evanston is [a] perfect [place] to promote this."

In Evanston about 10 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation, said Ms. Collopy. Her office recently completed a greenhouse gas emission inventory for the City. In 2005, the baseline year, Evanston produced an estimated 1,307,875 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Co2E), she said. Electricity for residential and commercial uses produces about 64 percent of the emissions, according to the inventory, and natural gas about 26 percent.

State Representative Julie Hamos said what Evanston is undertaking is "exciting. ... State policy needs to support local actions." One sustainable highlight at the state level, she said, was the creation of an Illinois Climate Change Advisory Group. Another was the creation of an agency to purchase energy in bulk for municipalities who so wish, she said. More information about sustainability efforts on the part of the City and the citizens can be found at www.cityofevanston.org/green. To join one of the groups, contact Ms. Collopy at 847-448-8069.

The timetable for the Climate Action Plan is for the individual groups to meet and formulate their interventions, based on research into the most important interventions in each specific area, the resources (including organizations) available in the community and best practices of other communities that are adaptable to Evanston. Ms. Collopy says she hopes to have a draft "sector action plan" ready in time for April's Earth Month events. The plan would then be revised with community input and presented to the City Council a few weeks later.

First Fries, Then Shuttle Buses

Northwestern University engineering students who participated in the climate action kickoff have already come up with a biomass alternative to fueling Northwestern's shuttle buses. Ritu Gopal, a member of the renewable energy resources subgroup, submitted a possible alternative to the $28,000 the University spends each year on fuel for shuttle buses.

The shuttle runs approximate 150 miles per day, more than 1,500 miles per week, producing 3.5 tons of carbon dioxide each year. Sodexho, the University's food service, already separates food waste and oil waste and pays for the barrels of waste vegetable oil (WVO) to be hauled away - about 150 gallons per week. Engineers for a Sustainable World at Northwestern would like to convert unused oil into about 150 gallons of WVO fuel per week. A shuttle powered with WVO fuel would reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions by 50-90 percent, and reduce the cost by about 40 percent, saving the University about $11,000 annually, said Liz Voeller, a member of Northwestern's WVO team, according to the biomass report.

Mayor Recognized for Nurturing Economic Development, Youth

By Victoria Scott

When the private economic development organization Evanston Inventure presented Mayor Lorraine Morton with their Economic Development Award last month, speakers at the ceremony painted a picture of an Evanston reawakened during her 15-year tenure in office.

And right in the middle of that picture they placed the mayor, an octogenarian with an undimmed vision of the future.

In praising Mayor Morton for what the invitation termed her "stewardship and leadership during the economic revitalization of Evanston," the evening's presenters made clear that she was not incidental to what they see as the town's metamorphosis.

Calling her "the face of Evanston," Ron Kysiak, executive director of Inventure, said in an interview following the ceremony that Mayor Morton's "spirit and attitude about modernizing [Evanston] " led her to "establish an attractive environment" for development in the City.

She is only the second person to receive Inventure's development award. The first, Jay Lytle, was the Evanston mayor who asked Mayor Morton to fill an unexpired term on City Council in 1982. She served as 5th Ward alderman for two terms.

At about the same time - 1984 - Evanston Inventure was founded "to implement a long-term economic strategy" for the City, says Mr. Kysiak. Their strategy took a three-pronged approach: retention, attraction and creation of Evanston businesses.

Though Inventure helped persuade publisher Houghton-Mifflin to stay in Evanston, says Mr. Kysiak, other large, non-technical companies, like Washington National Insurance, migrated north toward a more readily available pool of workers.

In the 1990s, he says, Inventure launched a campaign called Smart Move to "sell Evanston" to businesses that could utilize the City's well-educated work force. It was successful, he says: "We have gained jobs back." One-half of them are in education, health and social services - the service sector -- and, he says, "Evanston is looked on as an entrepreneurial place."

To assist entrepreneurs in realizing their dreams, Inventure helped create the business incubator once housed in the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park and now located on Davis Street. As of last year, says Mr. Kysiak, 270 companies had come through the incubator, which offers reasonable rent and legal expertise to start-ups. Many have stayed in the area, some of them in Evanston.

Steve Engelman, who served on the Planning and Development Committee and chaired the City's Economic Development Committee as well as the board of the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park under Mayor Morton, described her as a key player. He told an audience assembled under the slogan "We Dig Lorraine" that the mayor serves "in the tradition of Golda Meir or Margaret Thatcher. She is a woman of courage and conviction."

He pointed to an Evanston whose downtown has seen the addition of 4,500 residential units, a new movie theater and hotel complex and myriad restaurants since Mayor Morton took office. He said neighborhoods, too, have prospered, some transformed from tired industrial wastelands to live/work loft communities, others to renewed shopping areas.

"What Mayor Morton really provided was an atmosphere of hope, a feeling of welcomeness, a sense of accomplishment and a belief in the future," said Mr. Engelman. "She makes us feel good about ourselves and in so doing creates an environment of cooperation and support that facilitates the removal of obstacles, promotes responsible investment and encourages development. ..."

The optimism the mayor brought to other arenas was clear as the program turned its focus to her lifelong commitment to young people.

A young police officer and a lawyer, former participants in the mayor's summer youth employment program, expressed the gratitude of countless young beneficiaries of her years in education (as a teacher at Foster, Nichols and Chute schools and principal at Haven Middle School) and public life.

By doubling the ticket price for the Oct. 25 dinner, says Mr. Kysiak, Inventure was able to set aside money to honor the mayor. To date, Mr. Kysiak reports, $30,000 has been raised for The Lorraine Hairston Morton Fund for Youth. As an endowment of the Evanston Community Foundation, the fund will provide grants in Mayor Morton's name to organizations and projects aimed at increasing employment and educational opportunities for Evanston youth. ECF plans to continue adding to it in the future.

Mayor Morton, says Mr. Kysiak, responded to the evening's tributes with a gracious speech of her own. Then, overcome in the presence of the crowd of more than 275 gathered in her honor, she added a spontaneous encore, breaking into song with "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You."

"There wasn't a dry eye in the house," says Mr. Kysiak.

Trees aRound Evanston

Introducing the Birches (Betula Species)

The most spectacular and unmistakable bark of native North American trees belongs to the birches. Their family, Betulaceae, is a close relative of beeches and oaks. The word "birch" can be traced back to Old English and High German, meaning "bright white," for the bark of the European white birch.

The numerous birch species, cultivars and hybrids make identification something of a challenge. Two species, paper and river, are represented in Evanston. In their native habitats, both birches are graceful, multi-stemmed trees.

Birch branches are so flexible that, when she was little, my Yankee mother-in-law played a game called "birchy benders," pulling the branches low and then letting them swing her up high as she held fast. Birch twigs were so supple they were the switch of choice for whipping recalcitrant pupils.

Leaves of birches are alternate, simple, small, thin and oval. They are lustrous medium green on top and whitish underneath. Their small size allows light to penetrate to the ground. Leaf edges are doubly toothed, the river birch more consistently so. The white birch has longer, skinnier leaves than the river birch.

Birch seeds develop in catkins, small unisexual flowers huddled tightly together in a thin, elongated shape that dangles from a branch.

Catkin. The very name conjures up something soft and furry. As a child, I thought catkins grew only on birches. I learned they were named after the German word for cat, because of their resemblance to kitten tails. In love with kittens, I extended my affection to birches. As an adult, I learned that catkins come in many varieties on many species, including walnuts, willows, hornbeams, hop hornbeams and oaks.

Birches are usually monecious, with male and female catkins growing on the same tree. Male catkins produce the pollen; females produce the seeds. Most catkins are wind-pollinated, and male catkins, which produce prodigious amounts of pollen, have been implicated in allergy conditions. Male catkins develop in fall and mature in spring, when they grow plump and open into tassel-like flowers. In some species female catkins emerge in spring; in others they appear in fall. The scaly female seed-bearing catkins may hang onto the tree until winter. Their typical fruit is a tiny hairy winged nutlet easily blown about by the wind.

Because their seeds are wind or waterborne, birches are pioneer trees in areas disturbed by flood, fire, logging and other natural or unnatural disasters. In these openings, they set down their roots and grow in even-aged stands. They are soon out-competed by taller trees that block their sunlight. The spongy horizontal lines along the bark are lenticels, pores that allow the tree to "breathe." Their trunks darken with age; birches are old at 150 years. As one source put it, "Birches grow fast and die young."

The native range of the paper birch is circumpolar, growing in North America throughout Canada and the upper Great Lakes states. Paper birches once illuminated the north woods with their bright white trunks, but the bronze birch borer took its toll on all but the hardiest. The species name papyrifera comes from papyrus, the early writing "paper." Another nickname, "canoe" birch, represents the tree's waterproof bark that was peeled off in sheets by the American natives and turned inside-out to cover their canoes.

Herman Pepoon, a well-respected botanist who taught at Lake View High School and published "An Annotated Flora of the Chicago Region" in 1927, says a substantial stand of canoe birch grew in the early 1900s in Rogers Park, some with diameters of 30 inches.
The river birch, in contrast to the boreal paper birch, is a southern tree, favoring the muddy floodplains and deep acidic soil of streams and bogs. Its native range is the southeastern quarter of the United States up through the lower Mississippi River valley, with pockets as far north as southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Illinois, and Indiana east to southern New Hampshire, but not including Cook County. It tolerates wet soils and heat, but not drought and dense shade. Under ideal growing conditions, it can reach 90 feet, but usually it averages 60 feet with a slightly smaller spread. The river birch is the most resistant to the bronze birch borer.

The beautiful light tan bark of young river birches peels and curls sideways from the trunk, revealing cinnamon-colored layers beneath. Its species name, nigra, means "black," describing the dark color of the mature tree.

Unlike other birches, whose seeds ripen in fall, river birch seeds ripen and disperse in spring. The annual crop is ready just in time to ride high water to sunny mud banks and sandbars downstream. There, they will germinate, often forming thickets and holding the soil. Because they provide erosion control, they are planted to hold the impoverished, acidic soil of strip-mined land.

Neither birch species thrives on our parkways, and they are no longer planted there. Both can be found in our parks and Ladd Arboretum. A striking row of river birches lines the ramp to Evanston Public Library on Church Street.

Robert Frost was among the poets enchanted by the flexibility and beauty of the paper birch. Filled with metaphor, his poem "Birches" is his ode to childhood, imagination and reality, life and death, and the tree itself.

Here are the closing six lines:
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

Rotary International and Gates Foundation Together Commit $200 Million to Eradicate Polio

Rotary International announces a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will inject a much-needed US$200 million into the global campaign to eradicate polio, a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that still paralyzes children in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East and threatens children everywhere.

The Rotary Foundation has received a $100-million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary will raise funds to match, dollar-for-dollar, over three years. The Evanston-based volunteer service organization will spend the initial $100 million within one year in direct support of immunization activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF.

"The extraordinary dedication of Rotary members has played a critical role in bringing polio to the brink of eradication," said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Eradicating polio will be one of the most significant public health accomplishments in history, and we are committed to helping reach that goal."

The polio eradication grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given by the Gates Foundation and the largest grant received by Rotary in its 102-year history. Polio eradication has been Rotary's top priority since 1985. Since then, Rotary has contributed $633 million to the eradication effort.

"Rotary members worldwide have worked very hard over the years to reach this point, and it is rewarding to see our approach validated in such a significant way by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," said Dr. Robert Scott, who leads Rotary's polio eradication effort and chairs The Rotary Foundation, the not-for-profit charitable arm of Rotary that will administer the grant. "We hope that this shared commitment of Rotary and the Gates Foundation will challenge other donors - including foundations, governments and non-governmental organizations - to step up and make sure we have the resources needed to rid the world of polio once and for all."

BOOK REVIEW

"World Without End"

A Book Review By Sue Brooke

'World Without End'

"World Without End" is the fascinating saga by Ken Follett that continues his critically acclaimed "Pillars of the Earth." It covers 35 years of British and European history as seen through the eyes of four main characters.

The story takes place in the 14th century, a period of much turmoil. King Edward II of England was murdered by his wife and her lover so that young Edward III would inherit the throne.

England and France were constantly at war. The wealthy and omnipotent Catholic Church had very conservative views on architecture, medicine and families.

Then the plague wiped out a third of the European population, leaving the nobility with their land but without laborers to bring the harvest to market. Life for the serfs was about to change.

As the story unfolds, four children - Merthin, Ralph, Gwenda and Caris - wander off to explore the woods during one of the village's feast days.

Merthin and Ralph are brothers, born into the family of a nobleman who has lost everything. Gwenda is the daughter of a poor serf and thief. Caris is the daughter of a wealthy wool merchant.

Through their adventures on that one day, they form a bond involving a much- guarded national secret. Although their paths take them in diffent directions as they grow older, they remain connected, even through bitter disputes.

Ken Follett has done his research, and through his characters' eyes the reader enters 14th-century Europe. It was a harsh time for sinners, and penalties were severe. Even more horrific was how arbitrarily one could be declared a sinner.

Strong women were not tolerated in the man's world. Their only recourse was to marry and be at the mercy of their husbands or to join a nunnery and be at the mercy of a prioress. Serfs could not own land but had to farm from sunup to sundown, often without wages. The serf owed obedience to his lord.

Craftsmen became entrepreneurs but could not flourish outside their guilds. Merchants were controlled by the church and the king.

But a lot of the old rules were beginning to bend, and England was changing during this tumultuous century. This historically informative book will give readers much to think about.

Holiday Season Begins with "Evanston Symphony Christmas."

On Dec. 2, the sounds of "An Evanston Symphony Christmas" will fill the auditorium of Evanston Township High School with joyous songs celebrating the beginning of the holiday season. This fourth annual concert, a North Shore favorite, is made possible by a generous donation by the Evanston investment firm of Romano Brothers & Co.

Under the baton of Music Director Lawrence Eckerling, the Evanston Symphony Orchestra will present both traditional favorites and seasonal delights. Harry Porterfield of ABC 7 News - Chicago will act as master of ceremonies. Evanston Dance Ensemble, led by artistic director Béa Rashid, will perform selections from "The Nutcracker." The 150-member Evanston Symphony Festival Chorus, directed by choirmaster Sue Young and made up of singers aged 15 to 85 from church choirs and community groups from Evanston and nearby suburbs, will perform choral music and lead the audience in a sing-along of favorite Christmas carols. The "Hallelujah Chorus" and a visit from Santa round out this old-fashioned family holiday program.

"An Evanston Symphony Christmas" was conceived to fill the need for a local high- quality family holiday concert. It has proven its popularity with both the size of the audience and the number of local participants. ESO Board President, Penelope Sachs said, "This is so special - it's a pleasure to be able to celebrate the season with such a wonderful gift to the community."

Tickets for this 3 p.m. concert at ETHS, 1600 Dodge Ave.,may be purchased online at www.evanstonsymphony.org or by phone at 847-864-8804. Tickets are $22 for adults and $10 for children.
Photo courtesy of Evanston Symphony Orchestra

PLAY REVIEW

'Sinbad'

A Play Review By Brian Murphy

Sinbad! Cast members from left, Mark Sharp, Laura Wilkinson, Deborah Craft and Liz Larsen-Silva.

The Piccolo Theatre has a knack for creating productions as unique as their surroundings. Physically set in a recently renovated space on a train platform atop the Main Street Metra Station, the theatre is currently running an outrageous and maniacally funny panto version of Sinbad the Sailor.

While the theatre is usually a place for passive entertainment, pantomime theatre generally requires audience participation. Artistic director John Szostek encouraged the audience to avidly cheer the heroes, boo and hiss the villains and participate in the action loud and often, which they did.

This fantastic tale pits Sinbad (Deborah Craft) in a surreal world of genies both good and evil; of giant menacing birds called rocs; of dastardly pirates; and of wayward whales.
The Piccolo version is Chicago-centric: Al Capone pops up as a villain, and Lake Michigan and the Chicago Bears are the butt of many jokes.

Sinbad embarks on a quest to capture a roc for the father of Princess Shaheen (Liz Larsen-Silva), the woman he wants to marry. However, the evil Al Capone (Ken Raabe) enlists the help of genie Ali Gator (David W.M. Kelch) to thwart Sinbad, so he can have the Princess for himself.

Pop culture references abound in this revisionist tale, often to humorous effect. Princes Shaheen conjures her own genie, Ali Kazam (Vanessa Hughes is a delight), to rescue her beloved. Ali enters wearing Barbara Eden's pink getup from "I Dream of Jeannie," while singing Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Be, spouting puns both side-splitting and groan-inducing. They attack the musical numbers voraciously and elicit laughs from the audience through improvisation.

Costume designer Joshua Allard has created a colorful, outrageous wardrobe perfectly suited to the play and its madcap characters, while scene designer Anders Jacobson delivers well-constructed backdrops and zany set pieces.

A review of "Sinbad" wouldottle."

Every player here offers a kinetic performanc not be complete without a mention of Glenn Proud's sensational, over-the-top performance as Emphysema. Clad in shiny garments and spackled with makeup, Mr. Proud employs constant nervous tics, crazy eyes and an unforgettably high-pitched voice in a role where he is given free reign to chew up the scenery. He does so with aplomb.

Other fine performances include those of Leeann Zahrt, Mark Sharp, Laura Wilkinson, Laura Skokan, Sarah Pretz, Jessica Puller and Amy Gorelow.

"Sinbad" is fun for kids and adults, and an uproarious success for the Piccolo Theatre. Ali Kazam-whoosh!

The Piccolo Theatre is located at 600 Main Str., in the Evanston Arts Depot. The play runs through Dec. 8. For tickets call 847-424-0089.

FILM REVIEW

'Enchanted'

A Film Review By Joe Linstroth

Amy Adams gives a star-turning performance in Walt Disney's "Enchanted," a family-friendly charmer that has fun with poisoned apples, glass slippers and many other trademarks of the classic Disney fairy tales.

The movie opens in old-school Disney animation, as the fair maiden, Giselle (Ms. Adams), and her merry band of forest animals sing and frolic in her hollow-tree house. She longs for a prince to live happily ever after with and soon joins one named Prince Edward (James Marsden) in a love-song duet.

But fearing a threat to her crown, the evil Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) banishes Giselle to a live-action land where there are no happily ever afters - present-day Manhattan.

Aimlessly wandering the streets in her massive wedding gown, Giselle is rescued by a divorce lawyer named Robert (Patrick Dempsey, "McDreamy" of "Grey's Anatomy") and his young daughter (Rachel Covey). Robert is unsure of what to make of her simplistic optimism, at one point even telling her, "It's like you escaped from a Hallmark card or something." But at the urging of his daughter, he reluctantly tries to help her return to Andalasia. If only he can figure out where that is before they fall in love.

Amy Adams is perfectly cast as the naive Giselle. Despite her Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in "Junebug," Hollywood stardom has eluded Ms. Adams. Her onscreen presence in "Enchanted," however, should change that. With her large, expressive eyes and natural beauty, she radiates innocence and charm, carrying the movie through its uneven moments.

Susan Sarandon turns in a fun, campy performance as the evil queen, and Timothy Spall provides some comic relief as the queen's duplicitous henchman who joins Prince Edward (and a CGI-animated chipmunk) in New York on his quest to retrieve the fair maiden.

Like most fish-out-of-water movies, "Enchanted" runs out of steam before the end. After a promising start, it devolves into a series of winks and nods at Disney movies past, which are fun for a while until it becomes clear the jokes are at the expense of providing a deeper, more meaningful conclusion.

Instead, the film relies on special effects, in the form of a CGI dragon, for the culmination.

There are a number of Broadway-style musical interludes, including a grand song-and-dance extravaganza in Central Park, but director Kevin Lima's failure to commit to a full-scale musical makes them seem slightly awkward and forced.

Though it lacks the subtle adult humor of other successful family movies like "Shrek" and "Monsters Inc.," nevertheless, "Enchanted" has plenty of laughs for the kids, and Amy Adams' performance provides enough fun for everyone to enjoy.

1 hr., 48 min. Rated PG for some scary situations.