Tangled

RATING 7.5/10

Bottom Line
Disney’s 50^th animated feature film is somewhat feistier and fun than sentimental, making it a fresh, enjoyable romp, despite the dramatic weakness of the villain and Rapunzel’s plight.
The Good
The traditional fairy tale of Rapunzel forms the basis of this new animated film from Disney. The usual story is there, but the overall execution is much more fun and modern, with a feistiness that makes the whole endeavour fresh and engaging to watch. Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is more a tom-boy type heroine who, despite being afraid of disappointing her apparent mother Gothel (Donny Murphy), is not so afraid of the world and goes on an incredible adventure outside her tower when dashing Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi) shows up in her life. Although the film is computer generated, the filmmakers in this instance modelled their work on traditional oil paintings which gives the film a unique look; a somewhat quasi-hybrid of CGI and old-style animation. The results are spectacular, and the film manages to successful combine these elements, offering the best facets of each in every image. Disney’s animated films are notable for their music, but the songs this time are not as in-your-face as in previous efforts, allowing the film to keep its more modern feel, an aspect which works very much in its favour. One of the reasons for this adjustment in tone may be that John Lasseter from Pixar was involved as a producer and may have imbued some of his sentiments in to the final product. “Tangled” is a lot of fun, is beautiful to look at, and quite thankfully does not dive in to overt sentimentality, even when the happy ending arrives, with Flynn finishing the film with a witty piece of narration.
The Bad
The weakness in the film largely stems from the villain, and by extension, Rapunzel’s obstacles that she has to overcome. Although Gothel is quite obviously not nice, she is not made particularly evil throughout the film, despite a few moments in the climax. As a villain therefore, she can be quite weak in terms of presence. Given Rapunzel’s free-spirited nature and lack of fear of the outside world, it does not seem to take much for her to defy her mother’s orders to stay in the tower. This is compounded by the fact that Gothel goes off for days at a time and all Rapunzel has to do is use her hair to escape to freedom. The film makes up for a lot of this by the adventure and banter between Flynn, Rapunzel and a number of other characters, but the lack of a strong villain is a weak point in this film.

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Throughout the course of this review, I am going to attempt to make as many references as possible to hair and puns involving hair. Let's see how I do.

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.

The movie Tangled is not only Disney’s 50^th animated  movie, but a fantastic return to form.  This movie will take you back to  your childhood and remind what Disney animated movies were famous for,  being top notch entertainment that makes you laugh, cry, and sing.
Something that Disney and animated films have long forgotten that  made movies like Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast so famous and  memorable were the songs.  You can’t think of Lion King without “The  Circle of Life” and when you think of The Jungle Book you think of “The  Bear Necessities”.  Tangled brings back that Disney magic with catchy  songs that have you singing along.
Along with great songs, Tangled brings colorful and loveable  characters like the cute and energetic Rapunzel, played by Mandy Moore.   The newest additional to the Disney princess line, Rapunzel makes your  heart melt with her wondrous and feisty nature as she forces Flynn  Rider, played by Zachary Levi, a egotistical and selfish thief to lead  her out into the world after she hides the crown he stole. Her Journey  to the outside world is chock full of genuine laughs and thrills for  everyone to enjoy.  New characters that the kids will love are Pascal,  Rapunzel’s pet chameleon, and Max, the horse.
Tangled is light hearted family entertainment at it’s best. This is  an amazing movie that you can’t pass up.  For those with families,  couples, or just long time fans of Disney movies.  This is a definite  must see for this holiday season.
-MovieFloss.com