Tangled - Review

Can somebody please explain to me how Disney has been telling the same story for 73 years and still manages to make it entertaining. The first animated feature of all time, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was released in 1937, and solidified what is known as the "Disney Princess" routine.

The formula works like this... you have a beautiful yet eccentric princess, colorful characters consisting of either strange looking people and/or semi-anthropomorphic animals, a handsome prince and/or suitor, a scary villain with some connection to the protagonist (typically a step/foster mother), and of course... a happy ending. Whether it be Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, and now Rapunzel, Disney has done little to alter this formula. To be fair, some movies like Beauty and the Beast and a few others have changed it up a bit, but the writing's on the wall. My question isn't why does Disney keep using the same story arc, but rather why does it keep working? Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Tangled is a loose retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairly tale, Rapunzel. An evil old woman named Gothel kidnaps the newborn Princess Rapunzel after discovering the infant's hair has magical healing powers. She raises the young princess as her own, keeping her hidden in a tower while using Rapunzel's continually-growing hair to stay young. On Rapunzel's 18th birthday, while Mother Gothel is away, a cocky thief named Flynn Rider sneaks into the tower after stealing a valuable crown from the nearby castle. Rapunzel takes the crown from Flynn and agrees to return it after he guides her around the kingdom outside the tower. What follows is a journey of self-discovery when Rapunzel steps outside for the first time in her life.

While this is far from the first Disney princess movie, it is the first one to use 3D animation as opposed to its traditional 2D counterpart. While the Disney-owned animation company, Pixar, has been making one classic after the other, the non-Pixar branch of 3D animation from Disney has been more hit and miss. Even though Tangled's storyline isn't nearly as compelling as what Pixar has been churning out, its still a really fun movie. The characters are admittedly generic, the plot has no surprises, and the whole thing feels way too familiar... but for some reason it still works.

Rapunzel is your standard by-the-books Disney princess with a few differences. One thing I've never liked about the typical Disney princess is this underlying theme of them wanting more. Princesses like Jasmine from Aladdin, Ariel from the Little Mermaid, and others are never satisfied with what they have... despite the fact that they live in a palace, are loaded with riches, and... well you get the idea. Rapunzel is technically a princess, but she doesn't know it at first. And seeing how she's been cooped up with her evil mother, you can understand why she would want more. Aside from that, she's quirky, eccentric, all while being beautiful.

The male protagonist, Flynn, is an enjoyable character also despite his lack of originality. He's not a prince, but rather a good-looking and adventurous anti-hero. He's almost kind of a good-guy version of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. He starts off as something of a selfish jerk but by the end turns into a decent and honorable guy. No big surprise there, but for something like this, it works. He does have most of the funniest gags and jokes in the movie, so that's something right there.

Disney villains are usually what I look forward to the most. The roster has ranged from silly and cowardly (Captain Hook & Prince John) to dark and disturbing (Scar & Maleficent). Mother Gothel is just kinda there. She's a woman with the combined traits of the arrogant jerkiness of Gaston from Beauty and The Beast and the psychotic obsessiveness of Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The problem is that she's not as memorably psychotic as Frollo nor is she quite as amusingly arrogant as Gaston. A passable villain, but nothing particularly special about her. Will she go down as a classic Disney villain... probably not.

The music is Tangled is definitely good, but again not up to the standard of some of Disney's previous outings. You first get the typical, "I want more" song from the princess. Only this time its more of a rock or pop ballad. There's also your usual villain song, a love ballad, and a couple of songs for the supporting characters interspersed through the run-time. There was, however, one lyric-less dance number with an Irish-folk kind of sound. It took place about halfway through the movie during an impromptu dance scene. It had a really cool sound and stood as a catchy number in a sea of otherwise decent yet ultimately forgettable songs.

So the script and songs are just okay but if there's one thing Disney still dominates, its quality animation. I can't think of one animated Disney movie with bad or even average animation. Whether it be 2D or 3D, Disney animators are still a force to be reckoned with. The settings are beautiful and the scenes are wonderfully drawn (or rendered?). If there's one complaint I do have with the animation, its that the character models just look a bit too... dare I say... plastic! Sure the facial expressions are great, but I can't help but feel like they were trying to kill two birds with one stone by designing the characters for the movie along with their respective toy counterparts. Its a small nitpick, but its still there. The voice acting is quite great too. Mandy Moore as Rapunzel, Zachary Levi as Flynn, and Donna Murphy as Gothel are all solid. Nothing to complain about there.

I could complain about how Disney still keeps using the same formula, how the supporting characters aren't there for the plot so much but rather merchandising, how the stories have some holes, or how their usually "Happy Endings" don't exactly equate to great screenwriting, but that would kind of defeat the purpose. There's definitely an audience for these kinds of flicks, and for some reason they're just really fun to watch. While I do enjoy seeing family movies that go into darker territories (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for instance), you do need movies like this too. This is a quality movie, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. I would totally recommend it for everyone, especially families. Kids will definitely love it as will the adults who watch it with them.

Despite all the flaws I've nitpicked, Tangled is a solid movie! Go see it!

My Score: 4 out of 5!