Following the premiere of Disenchanted this month, original Enchanted director Kevin Lima has opened up on getting left out of the sequel’s production. Released in 2007, the original Enchanted was helmed by Lima, who also directed other Disney movies like A Goofy Movie, Tarzan, and 102 Dalmations. The Bill Kelly-penned film stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and Idina Menzel, all of whom reprised ther roles for Disenchanted.

While the Enchanted sequel brought back many of its lead cast members, however, Lima was replaced in the director’s chair by Adam Shankman. In a new chat with THR, Lima shared his thoughts on the situation, revealing that he was never so much as given a phone call to discuss the possibility of helming the follow-up film. Lima says he was “shocked” by the snub, attributing the change to executive shake-ups at Disney along with behind-the-scenes politics. He says the whole thing just made him “very sad,” and he hasn’t been able to bring himself to watch Disenchanted on Disney+.

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Despite his lack of involvement with the sequel, Lima is still proud of Enchanted and the film’s accomplishments. Feeling that the original film accomplished its goal of effectively paying homages to classic Disney movies, Lima suggests that Enchanted itself has since become a timeless movie in its own way.

Disenchanted Wasn’t Met With Open Arms by Critics

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The sequel to Enchanted is not quite the heavy hitter with critics that the original movie was. Over at Rotten Tomatoes, the film was slapped with a rotten score of 39% after getting pummeled with bad reviews. Its audience score was still rotten, though a bit better at 59%. Compare that to the certified fresh score of 93% for Enchanted, which boats an audience score of 80%.

Disenchanted was directed by Adam Shankman and written by Brigitte Hales, though its story was crafted by J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, and Richard LaGravenese. Returning cast members include Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and Idina Menzel, while new cast members include Gabriella Baldacchino, Maya Rudolph, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jayma Mays, Oscar Nunez, and Griffin Newman. Alan Menken and Stephen Scwhartz also returned as the songwriters of the film with Menken composing the score.

In Disenchanted:

Disenchanted is streaming on Disney+.