Tangled (2010)

Movie Info

It will be mine…oh yes, it will be mine!

Snatched from her parents as a baby, Rapunzel has only known life in an isolated tower where she was raised by her kidnapper Gothel who uses her for her hair’s magical healing qualities.  When a thief on the run named Flynn Rider encounters Rapunzel, Rapunzel sees it as her chance to escape for her eighteenth birthday…and a quest to see the mysterious floating lanterns that she doesn’t realize are in honor of her.

Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, Tangled was original entitled Rapunzel but had a name change before its release allegedly to try to not discourage boys from being interested.  Based on the classic Brothers Grimm fairytale, the film allegedly is one of the most expensive films ever made at the time and is the fiftieth entry in the Walt Disney Animated Classic series behind traditionally animated The Princess and the Frog from 2009.  The movie had a huge draw at the box office along with strong reviews and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “I See the Light”.

Pascal the Chameleon was in therapy for years

After the critical success of The Princess and the Frog, Disney was on a roll again, but needing a bigger financial success.  With tons of money poured into Tangled, the movie found it and was hailed for both the animation and its light and fun story.  Tangled succeeded in helping Disney restore some of its shine that it lost in the 2000s.

Tangled is a fun little film.  I love traditional fairy tales and Disney (when they stick to the story) does a pretty good job with them.  The Rapunzel story is altered here, but it kept the primary ideas and took out some of the odder points of the story (like the eyes of Rapunzel’s lover gouged out by thorns and restored by tears).  By streamlining the story, Disney was able to create a good adventure with a strong female lead…I just wish that they could make a more “stand alone” female hero like some of the Japanese animated films.

Ok, Rapunzel…you’re a little kinky

Despite having a ton of characters, it feels like Tangled is a pretty small cast.  Mandy Moore stars as Rapunzel with Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider.  Donna Murphy is fun as the evil and manipulative Mother Gothel.  Most of the “star” cast is in supporting characters like the thugs at the Snuggly Duckling which features Brad Garrett, Jeffrey Tambor, and Richard Kiel.  M.C. Gainey plays the Captain of the Guard and Ron Perlman voices Flynn’s partners the Stabbington Brothers.  The movie went for the non-speaking animals in Maximus and Pascal both “voiced” by animation star Frank Welker.

And then it was revealed that Maximus wanted Rapunzel for himself!

Visually, Tangled is also a strong film.  This is the first “princess” film to receive the computer animation treatment and the bright blonde hair of Rapunzel provides for some great visuals and color in the lush green landscape presented.  The kingdom and the lantern celebration scenes are amazing complex and have a ton of variety…something that Disney needs to adopt for all their films.

Tangled is a great looking film with a good story.  The movie isn’t the best Disney film of all time but when combined with The Princess and the Frog and the recent Frozen show a marked improvement over some of the other recent Disney films.  Disney followed Tangled with its second film based on Winnie the Pooh in 2011.

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