Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Characters, story, humor, animation
Cons: None for me
The Bottom Line:
Disney's fiftieth
Rapunzel and her hair make
Perfect family fun
"Alright, Blondie." "Rapunzel." "Gesundheit."
For Disney's 50th animated movie, they have returned to
their roots, sort of. They had added a
new princess to the long line of fairy tale heroines in their stable, dating
back to Snow White in their first movie.
However, instead of traditional hand drawn animation, they've chosen to
make Rapunzel their first computer animated princess. While this doesn't bode well for those who
want to see both forms flourishing side by side, Tangled itself is wonderful.
When the queen was pregnant with Rapunzel, she became sick
to the point of death. The only way to
cure her was to find a magical plant.
The plant was the secret of Mother Gothel (voice of Donna Murphy), who
used it to keep herself eternally young.
Mother Gothel soon discovered that Rapunzel's hair had that
magical property, but if her hair was cut, it lost it. So she kidnapped Rapunzel and hid her in a
giant tower. Over the years, her hair
grew long and continued to restore Gothel's youth.
Fast forward eighteen years, and it's almost Rapunzel's
birthday. More than anything, Rapunzel
(Mandy Moore) wants to see the floating lights that always appear on her
birthday in person, but Mother Gothel is so controlling she won't let it
happen. That's when fate enters the
story in the form of Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi). He's the most wanted man in the kingdom, and
he's trying to hide out in Rapunzel's tower.
Only she blackmails him into taking her to see the lights. Where will this relationship lead?
I must admit, I don't know much of the story of Rapunzel
beyond the basics (young woman with long hair in a tower). A few times the thought crossed my mind
wondering if something was in the original story or not. But as is usually the case with Disney, they
take the basics and make it their own.
While I'm sure most of the elements of the story are new, they feel like
they've always been part of the story.
The prologue, which sets everything up, is a bit on the slow
side. But once the story really gets going,
it's a complete blast. The plot was
fairly obvious from the beginning, especially since it is a fairy tale. However, the story kept moving forward
quickly, which kept me engaged. Plus,
the Disney spins to the story made things much more interesting.
And the humor was great.
Pascal, Rapunzel's pet chameleon, and Maximus, the blood hound horse
trying to track down Flynn, absolutely steal the show. Any scene they are an active part of is a
complete hoot. The humans get some great
laughs as well. I saw this with one of
my roommates, and we were both laughing multiple times.
The only complaint I've heard of the movie was the
music. Yes, this is a musical in the
grand tradition of Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin. The complaint I had heard was that the songs
felt forced. I will admit that they
didn't advance the story as much as they do in the movies I previously
mentioned. However, I did feel like they
were more a part of things than the songs in last year's Princess and the
Frog. A couple of them are hauntingly
beautiful (as you'd expect with Mandy Moore and Donna Murphy singing them), and
there's one that is an absolute hoot.
Zachary Levi does the singing for his character, and he holds his own
with this cast.
There's been some controversy with this film because they
changed the name from Rapunzel to Tangled in an effort to attract boys. Trust me, this is a movie that boys will
enjoy. It's got great action and the
previously mentioned humor. In fact, I
think the entire family will enjoy this one together. Yes, it does have romance to it, but this
feel much like Aladdin to me, a movie that will appeal to everyone.
The computer animation in this film is beautiful. They strove hard to create the look and feel
of hand drawn animation with the computer, and the result is art like we've
rarely scene in computer animation. Yes,
it is still stylized, but it's a huge step forward.
What I think surprised me the most about the film was how
much I came to care about the characters.
Flynn and Rapunzel are so nice, even though Flynn starts off as a
thief. I really enjoyed spending time
with them. On the flip side, I found
Mother Gothel to be one of the most menacing villains in a long time solely
because of her mind games on poor Rapunzel.
I don't think she's scary enough to frighten young kids, but she is pure
evil.
Love this movie!
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