Review of Tangled (2010) by Raji K — 07 Oct 2016

Disney presents its 50th animation film, Tangled. Unlike the other animation films, Tangled is not hand drawn and it is computer animated. The story for this film is based on the tale of Rapunzel and as the legend goes, Rapunzel is locked up in a tower and she uses her long hair to let people climb in and out of the tower. In this rendition of the tale, Rapunzel's hair is magical and can heal people as well as keep them eternally youthful. Her hair is 70 feet long, as she is unable to cut it, or it will lose her power. She uses her hair to bring in and out of the tower Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy), who is actually a woman who kidnapped Rapunzel at birth so she could use her power for her own gain.

Mother Gothel keeps Rapunzel in the tower and warns her of all the outside dangers in the world to keep Rapunzel isolated from the world. Rapunzel like Princess Aurora many years before grows weary of being locked up and in the dark and becomes more and curious about the outside world. She questions these lanterns that light up the sky every year on her birthday, and wonders their purpose. Her mother insists on keeping this from her knowing this will lead to Rapunzel's discovery of her abduction. On the day before her 18th birthday however, a young thief known as Flynn Rider shows up in her tower in attempt to hide from being captured. He agrees to show her the source of the lanterns as long as she give him back a tiara of his, which he himself stole from the castle. The two set off on an adventure, and come across double crossing bandits, soldiers, and a super cop horse all as she is pursued by her wicked mother kidnapper.

The animation of this film is stunning as this was Disney's most expensive animation piece at the time, costing 260 million. It was good to see that Disney did not abandon its animation attempts especially after the success of Pixar. The story for Tangled is somewhat ordinary, but Rapunzel herself (Mandy Moore) is a charming character that keeps the movie interesting. Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) does his best to handle the comedic element of the film and does so to varying levels of success. There are a few times where the story seems a little disjointed, and the Tangled sorely lacks a good side kick character that many other Disney films have. Rapunzel owns a chameleon that travels with her closely, but he does not speak, nor does he add much value to the plot. The story really focuses in on the 3 main characters and does not leave much room for interest or development of anyone else. In the grand scheme of things these 3 can carry the picture, but the film does not have a sense of grandeur that other Disney films are able to conject.

Alan Menken provides his musical talents again and the song I see the Light was nominated for an Oscar. This was in a nice scene that has Rapunzel and Flynn singing on a boat illuminated by the lanterns, and was clearly the Aladdin equivalent of "A Whole New World" for this picture. The rest of the songs do not particularly stand out, nor do any of the orchestral works. Overall Tangled is a welcome addition to Disney's animation library. Tangled will likely appease the female audience more, with a princess heroine. The film will not likely have a lasting impact as some of its masterpieces (Lion King, Aladdin, or Beauty and the Beast), but it is certainly a vast improvement over some of it's the more recent films produced by Disney.

-10.08.2016.