Tangled
The folks over at Disney Animation know how to make fairy tales proper and, considering history, they should. Beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, their very first animated feature made back in 1937, to last year’s Princess and the Frog, many of the company’s memorable and important films have started off as fanciful tales penned by the likes of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Therefore making an updated version of Rapunzel is a natural and obvious choice that not only falls in line with the status quo but also gives the Mouse House the opportunity to add to their popular Princess line of merchandise. Now the little ladies can purchase Rapunzel hairbrushes and lip balm to go with their Royal Giggles Cinderella Doll.
But the resulting film, curiously entitled Tangled (that’s like calling Sleeping Beauty “Hibernated”), needs to go beyond the marketing possibilities and it’s no-brainer lineage and deliver at least a little of that “Disney Magic” and, for the most part, it does. While it won’t be considered a modern classic there is plenty enchantment that makes this outing well worth the price of admission.
This updated version of the Grimm Brother’s fable tells of a magical flower with mysterious healing powers that can keep its owner forever young. Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy), an evil enchantress, hides the flower in an attempt to keep the power for herself. In a nearby kingdom, an ailing queen who is in a family way is about to die and all the king’s men and horses scour the countryside in search of the mystical flower to save her. They find it. She drinks a potion made with it. Then the queen gives birth to a divine baby girl who possesses the power of the flower in her hair. This is, of course, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) and Mother Gothel is quick to swipe the wee babe and lock her away in a tower.
Many years pass and the naïve Rapunzel, who thinks Mother Gothel her mother and now has about 17 yards worth of glowing, golden hair, is about to celebrate her 18th birthday. While mildly content with life in the secluded tower, she dreams of leaving to see the frightening world that awaits but Mother, of course, forbids it. Enter the thieving swashbuckling adventurer, Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi), who makes a deal with the unwitting princess and promises to escort her through the kingdom if she returns to him a stolen crown he lifted from the castle. Irony alert: it’s her crown. Singing and peril follows as Rapunzel wanders the path to finding her true identity.
There is plenty of the proven Disney Formula here to satisfy. A couple of cute and hilarious animals, Maximus the intense Horse and Pascal the Chameleon, provide much of the film’s laughter. Also, the movie can’t go more than ten minutes without bursting into song to explain a particular plot point with musical accompaniment. Gothel physically looks like the Evil Queen from Snow White and shares more than a strong chin with the classic villain (wait until the end and you’ll see what I mean). Tangled is packed with homage, in fact, and features similarities with Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and a few others. Moore makes Rapunzel a likable character and much of the film’s strength is how much you grow to care about her. Even the initially grating Flynn Rider morphs into a charming fellow by the end credits.
The film does start slow and takes a little too long to get us out of that tower. It plays like the filmmakers needed some time to warm up. The songs, all with music composed by musical veteran Alan Menken (Aladdin, Little Shop of Horrors), are lackluster with not one memorable tune in the bunch. But with good characters and lush, beautiful animation, these are minor problems that the story is able to overcome. Tangled is a surprisingly good film and Rapunzel is a Disney Princess worthy of her own Royal Giggles Doll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyOyBVXDJ9Q