Tangled

Tangled

Well, I have to admit, Tangled was a surprise. I was not expecting much; it looked like every other Disney princess tale, complete with songs and cute animal friends. I should have been rolling my eyes throughout this whole movie, but I actually found myself falling for Tangled's spell.

An adaptation of the fairy tale story of Rapunzel, Tangled is about a princess with magic hair who was kidnapped when she was a baby. Now a teenager, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) lives her life under the dominating shadow of her evil 'mother' (i.e. kidnapper), played with devious relish by Donna Murphy.

Rapunzel sees a chance to escape when a thief named Flynn Ryder (Chuck's Zachary Levi) sneaks into the tower with an invaluable treasure he has stolen from the palace. Rapunzel knocks him out, hides the treasure, and makes a deal. Flynn will guide her in the outside world so she can see a lantern festival at the castle, and then she will return the treasure. Reluctantly, he agrees. Complications ensue, bad guys chase our heroes, young love blossoms, the princess is restored to her rightful place, blah blah blah. We've seen it all before and this story should be just as stale as my description. But something about the way Tangled goes about its storytelling is very impressive. Maybe its the influence of Pixar's Michael Lassiter over at Disney Animation, but Tangled seems fresh, lively and genuinely exciting.

First off, the voice casting is right on. Zachary Levi shows mountains of charm as Flynn Ryder, delivering a roguish wit that he never gets to display in Chuck. It must have been fun for him to break away from that typecasting and he approaches the role with gusto. Mandy Moore also does a great job, giving Rapunzel the perfect blend of determination and naivete, and never going too far in either direction. The animation is beautiful, the humor actually really works for both kids and adults, and the action is genuinely exciting.

If there is a weak link in Tangled, it is the songs. Alan Menkin's score is quite good, but I think Disney has to accept that the lofty days of the Disney songs are over. There has not been a good song since 'Reflections' in Mulan, and that was over a decade ago. Seriously, Disney, stop the songs! It just drags the movie down!

In general, Tangled also got me thinking about how we view Disney, in general. We hear Disney and we all roll our eyes. They have a formula, they are annoying, and we don't like them. But I think this is some sort of 'we hate them because they are successful' type of thing, and of course a reaction to their all-encompassing, over-the-top marketing/empire building. But people sometimes take their distaste with Disney's empire and project it onto their films, which isn't really fair because when I think of Disney's canon, they have made WAY more good movies than bad. Seriously, think about all those Disney films that were great - Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, Rescuers, Great Mouse Detective, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Mulan...are there bad movies, yes, of course. Brother Bear and Home on the Range made my eyeballs churn. But you gotta admit, there are a whole lot of classics in this canon. Tangled reminded me that when Disney is firing on all cylinders, they put out some of the best entertainment out there. I definitely suggest you check it out.

MVP: This one is actually easy for me. There are a lot of people after Flynn Ryder, including the evil thugs he betrayed and the palace guards he stole from. And also Maximus, the Guard Captain's horse. This horse is like the frikin' Terminator. He just will not stop. Even after the guard gives up, this horse just keeps on plowing ahead, like a stubborn bloodhound, relentless in his righteous fury! I've never quite seen an animal character like this in a Disney film. The animals are always too busy being cute and supportive. But not Maximus. He just keeps on coming, like the faceless posse in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And he won't stop until Flynn is caught, dead or alive.

SPOILER: What seals the deal is when Maximus has a sword fight with Flynn on the edge of a cliff. Yeah, you read that right right. The horse picks up a sword in his mouth and duels with Flynn. That's pretty awesome and probably the biggest laugh in the movie. SPOILER OVER.

Admittedly, the character softens in the last act of the film. It was inevitable and eventually he sort of returns to the roll of most supportive Disney critters. But for much of Tangled's screen time, Maximus' awesomeness dominates.

BEST LINE:

Hook Hand Thug: "Go. Live your dream."

Flynn: "I will."

Hook Hand Thug: "Your dream stinks. I was talking to her."

OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Best Song ("I See The Light") I guess the Academy liked the songs more than I did...

TRIVIA: After the box office disappointment of The Princess and the Frog, Disney decided to change the original title of this movie, which was simply Rapunzel. They figured a name like Tangled would attract more little boys and not just girls.