Viewed in Theaters in November 2010
I have always been a huge Disney fan--actually, I'm borderline geekdom. Anything with the Mouse, a castle, a princess, or animated animals has always caught my attention. So I was really excited when I walked into the theater to catch the newest Disney princess movie. (In fact, I've known about this film since 2007, when I first saw a teaser poster at Walt Disney World.) When the beautiful sparkling 3D visuals came in and the film opened, I was spellbound. The movie didn't let me go for the entire time, and I was enveloped in the innocent and fun story.
The movie is an updated version of the Grimm fairy tale, Rapunzel, with a few new twists thrown in for a uniquely Disney flair. (It helps that this film was championed by John Lasseter, the brains behind Pixar.) Okay, so we all know the story: Rapunzel is a young girl with unbelievably long hair who is locked in a tower by a controlling and overbearing mother. (A new twist: Rapunzel's hair has a magic quality of healing powers or restoring youth--a quality that her mother takes advantage of and protects.) Rapunzel dreams of exploring the outside world, singing, "When will my life begin?" She sees her chance when a young ruffian comes into her tower looking for a hideout. Flynn Rider is a thief and a self-absorbed egotist. Rapunzel confiscates his loot and demands that he escort her around the countryside--he reluctantly agrees. Soon, Rapunzel's mother finds out that she's gone and begins tracking the two, determined to retrieve Rapunzel and keep her secret.
As much as Disney can abuse its fairy tales, it definitely did right by this one. (THANKS JOHN!) The heroine is very modern in her actions, and yet very old-fashioned in her thinking. She struggles throughout the entire film with her rebellion against her mother--Rapunzel longs to see the outside world and experience everything, but she's haunted by the responsibility of respecting her mother. She goes back and forth between being overjoyed at her rebel side and being heartbroken over "disappointing" her mother. It sparks alot of thought about the role of a child and how to relate to overbearing parents.
The anti-hero Flynn actually winds up becoming a very admirable person. (Okay, okay, this isn't really a spoiler--anyone who's remotely familiar with Disney yarns knows that the handsome rogue can become a valiant hero.) He also struggles with the temptation to be selfish and rich; meanwhile he's intrigued by Rapunzel and her spunk.
As awesome as the music is, I honestly struggled with it. I feel that it's too contemporary, that the feel and style of it takes away from the movie's enchanting qualities. Although I like the music, it brought the movie to a screeching halt every time a character breaks out into song. But just a personal opinion...
The movie was beautiful in 3D, but I don't know if it is one of the best I've ever seen. I feel like it would be the same movie in 2D, that there are only two or three scenes that truly benefit from the 3D format.
Tangled isn't as good as it could have been. The writing is just a tad too predictable, and there are some lines that are eye-rollingly silly. (A horse acting like a bloodhound, sniffing the ground and chewing up pictures of the bad guys? Puh-leeze.) Every so often I found myself groaning, "Ugh, that joke was for the four-year-olds in the audience." However, the kids love it--working in a movie theater, I have the ability to stand in the movies for a while and listen to the audience. The kids who go to see Tangled are enthralled by it and laugh at all the right places; the suspenseful moments in the film are accompanied by complete silence from the audience. It's awesome.
NEGATIVES:
>>Profanity: The worst profanity is one character calling another one a "dummy."
>>Violence: A few characters hit or punch others. Once or twice there's a pretty substantial fall from a great height. Flynn continually faces peril from his former bad guy accomplices--let's just say they all have it in for him. One character is given a mortal wound--we don't see the knife going in, but the character reacts and we see a small bloodstain on the shirt. Otherwise it's just the typical animated action--jumping, falling, bonking in the head with frying pans, flying through the air, and general silly peril. One character ages rapidly and falls from a window, disappearing before the character's cloak hits the ground (it's just weird looking).
>>Spiritual Content: I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say that all the spiritual content in this film consists of the magic of Rapunzel's hair, which is derived from a star that fell from the sky. (No, not kidding.) So, all of the magic in the film comes from the healing and restoring abilities of her hair. To invoke her hair's power, Rapunzel sings a melodic chant.
>>Alcohol and Drugs: You know Disney. There has to be a bad guy song, and it generally takes place in a tavern with huge kegs of beer around. One character seems to be comically drunk.
>>Sexual Content: One character wears a kindof low-cut dress that reveals a bit of cleavage, but it's not inappropriate. One character dresses up like Cupid and wears a diaper--which is more grossly disturbing than sexual. There is the obligatory fairy-tale kiss. :)
Overall, I loved this movie. It was sweet, cute, mostly innocent, and gives great messages about rebellion, responsibility, growing up, innocence, independence, self-sacrifice, desires, and identity. The characters learn pretty huge life-lessons. The story is beautiful and a fantastic updating of a centuries-old fairy tale. Honestly, this film wasn't as good as it could have been, but it definitely is one of the better films that Disney has released in the past few years.
5 out of 6 stars
So that everyone (including myself) may benefit from it, please feel free to leave your own personal opinion of this film.
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