TANGLED
Directed by: Nathan Greno and Byron Howard
Written by: Dan Fogelman
Starring: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi
TANGLED, Disney’s 50th Animated Feature, is a take on the Rapunzel story that almost works as much as Disney wants it to, but is ultimately too derivative of other Disney movies to really stand apart on its own, and more than anything, this movie made me wanted to dust off my copy of The Little Mermaid and remember how excellent of a film that is.
In this take on the show, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) has Lite-Brite powered hair that looks a bit like the Sands of Time that heals people and that restores youth, which is what causes the witch Gothel (Donna Murphy channeling Bernadette Peters) to lock her up in the tower and essentially raise her as her own.
Rapunzel spends her days brushing her long, long hair, painting, and playing with Pascal, her adorable and hilarious chameleon friend, and who, for me was one of the highlights of the film. Rapunzel is at odds with herself, battling notions of codependency and a desire for independence so intense that it causes her to break into Alan Menken written songs. All of this comes to a head when thief Flynn Ryder sneaks into Rapunzel’s tower while evading the guards. From there, Rapunzel decides to enlist Flynn to help her investigate the magicial lights that come up over the horizon every year on her birthday and because post-modern Disney princesses apparently need to be self-involved, Rapunzel believes that it can only be about her.
One of the things that really threw me with this film was the way that the music was integrated. While the Alan Menken music was great (though not as great as any of the stuff on Aladdin or Beauty of the Beast), the issue I had with it was that I found myself with in this movie is that the songs have the sort of epic scope that songs like “Part of Your World” did, but it didn’t really work when you have a film filled with characters that are self aware to one degree or another and never acknowledge the fact that there’s a huge musical number going on. This struck me most during Rapunzel’s big song once she escapes from her tower. She is running all over the woods, singing her heart out and when the song crescendos to its conclusion, there’s more than just a beat at the end, but there’s a long pause, and we see Rapunzel standing in the clearing, a little out of breath. The pause was almost begging for applause, as though she had just finished performing the song live, which for me rang false, even though the numbers sung by Gothel feel like little lost gems from Into The Woods which perhaps did merit something.
However, there are quite a few things to enjoy about Tangled, though I couldn’t get behind its heroine. The production design of the film is absolutely stellar and the wide vistas of Rapunzel’s Tower, the Kingdom she comes from, and even the forest are gorgeous and completely evocative of fairy tales in the best possible way. The design of the village that she comes from is similar to Belle’s sort of French countryside village, though this one has a sun sort of motif running though it. Like I had mentioned before, Pascal is my favorite character, and though he doesn’t speak, he is more endearing and funny than both Rapunzel and Flynn. I’d also say the same for Maximus, the white horse that has been hamming up most of the trailer, though Maximus is greater parts dog and Dramatic Chipmunk than horse, but he is still very entertaining.
Lastly, if you plan on seeing this film in 3D there is absolutely no reason for you to see it in 3D. The 3D experience does absolutely nothing to enhance your experience of the film, very much like Toy Story 3. Tangled is an admirable attempt for the 50th Animated feature from Disney and a fairly fun time but ultimately gets…tangled up in the way it nods a little too precisely to other moments in better Disney films. I’ll leave you with an image from the film that might just remind you of something else.
3 out of 5
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