Review of Tangled (2010) by Halfwelshman — 22 Apr 2012

Tangled gloriously showcases Disney's return to top-form. It's deeply heartfelt, smart, funny and looks simply gorgeous. The voice actors' performances are great - Mandy Moore's Rapunzel and Zachary Levi's Flynn Rider have great chemistry, Donna Murphy makes Mother Gothel delightfully amoral, and the most memorable Disney villain in years, and the rest of the cast, including Ron Perlman, Brad Garrett and Jeffrey Tambor all appearing to be having an immense amount of fun in their roles.

The real scene-stealers, however, are not characters with dialogue (though their animalistic expressions are expertly provided by Frank Welker), but the royal horse Maximus and Rapunzel's pet chameleon Pascal - with the possible exception of Meeko and Flit from Pocahontas and WALL-E, they make two of the most entertaining mostly-silent animated characters in film history.

The story is energetic and engaging, the characters compelling, the songs are catchy (particularly "Mother Knows Best" and "I've Got a Dream") and you'd have to have a heart of stone to hold back tears at the tender and beautiful lantern extravaganza scene.

It's always pleasing when Disney get the balance of entertaining both adults and children just right, something they certainly achieve in Tangled. It's a hugely fitting 50th animated feature for Disney, and here's hoping they can maintain this standard in the future, and never return to the mediocrity that has plagued many of their films in the last decade.