There are very few times that an animated movie, not made by Pixar, generates a huge amount of buzz in my head. They usually tend to cause a lot of frizz. But for some reason, when I saw the first trailer for Tangled, I actually wanted to see it. I actually considered spending money on it! Preposterous, you say, no one over the age of 13 would comb through their wallet for money to sit in a theater with loud, annoying children! Well, I did, and I can honestly say I am glad that I did. (Even though I had to shell out extra cash for 3D. Stupid expensive movie tickets).
Rapunzel, excuse me, Tangled is the story of Rapunzel. Everyone knows about the princess locked in the tower, who grows her hair out to incredible lengths so her true love can climb up into the tower and rescue her from, I don't know, being bored to death I guess. Well, I researched the original tale of Rapunzel and am pleased to announce that Disney has retold the story in a very cool way. Once upon a time a drop of sunshine fell to the Earth. Where it landed a flower grew. A very old woman, Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy), discovered the flower and for some reason sang to it, probably because it glowed constantly. After singing to it Mother Gothel's youth was restored. She tried to keep the flower a secret so she could live forever. But in the kingdom Gothel lived in, the Queen had grown very sick during her pregnancy. The men of the kingdom searched far and wide for a miracle cure and whatdoyaknow there's a magical flower. They boil the flower and serve it to the queen as tea. She gives birth to a daughter with very blonde hair, even though both the king and queen had brown hair (Check the mailman!). Mother Gothel knows that the child's hair is magical and tries to cut some of the girls hair for herself, but as soon as she cuts it the girl's hair turns brown and loses its magic. Gothel steals the child away for herself, locks her in a tower, and raises her as a mother would. Only Rapunzel can never leave the tower nor cut her hair.
As anyone could imagine, spending eighteen years in a tower is kind of awful. Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) wants to ignore her (fake) mother's wishes and visit the floating lights that appear on her birthday every year. She gets her chance when a thief, Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi, Chuck) tries to hide in the tower to escape his pursuers.
Brushing off the incredible psychological trauma that would occur after living in a tower your whole life with no contact from anyone besides a diabolical fake mother and a chameleon (coincidentally, the cutest sidekick of any Disney movie) Tangled is a fun movie.
The six year old next to me certainly enjoyed it. The dialogue was very fast and amusing and the love that was quite obviously going to brew between Rapunzel and Flynn didn't feel as forced as it was in The Princess and the Frog. Flynn is equal parts daring, charming and roguish with wayward strands of goodness in him. Rapunzel is so doe-eyed cute that you could forgive her any faults, if she had any. The supporting animals, a horse named Maximus and the aforementioned chameleon named Pascal, have almost as much personality as people without having any dialogue at all.
The 3D did not add much to the film but I have to say that the 3D was used very well in terms of depth. 3D used to be a gimmick that would throw a T-rex at the crowd so the audience would be shocked. I'm pleased that it is being used more along the lines of creating depth within the film. Makes the experience that much more enjoyable.
There isn't much that is bad about the film. The voice overs at the beginning and the end could be brushed out. Or at least reworked in an amusing way because they were god-awful. Also, one song felt kind of awkward.
But I loved the film. It is perfectly enjoyable for both kids and adults. If Toy Story 3 hadn't come out this year Tangled would definitely be in the running for a best animated feature Oscar.
Only 4 references, phooey.
3 and a half out of 4 stars
-Christopher O'Connell
SPOILER ALERT
For those who have seen it, Rapunzel looks way better blonde than brunette.
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