Tangled

Tangled is another attempt to get back to the classic disney formula of stunning visuals accompanied by sweeping snarky coming-of-age romances and great musical numbers, and may I say they definitely succeeded. This is far from Disney's best movie, but definitely not their worst. Plus, for me its currently tied with Meet the Robinsons for best non-pixar disney CGI movie. This is also quite a different type of princess movie, it being sort of an adventure movie as well. Despite princessdom being the main plot point, Tangled is also an incredibly hilarious and entertaining addition to disney's animated vault.

It seems a trend in the new Disney princesses to actually create a role model that little girls can look up to and that won't instill ridiculous ideas in their heads, and Rapunzel definitely follows that. She's naive, but she's ambitious and victim to mother gothel, who claims to love her. She comes across this guy and they go on an adventure to the palace to see the lanterns that the king and queen release on her birthday. That brings up our so-called Prince Charming, Flynn Rider. Flynn is sort of the anti-prince charming compared to the other past princes. He encapsulates most of the comedy relief and actually has things like lines, a personality and a backstory that characters should have. Needless to say, Rapunzel and Flynn are good well rounded characters and you can't help but root for them.

Mother Gothel is certainly an interesting villain, not a particularly great one but not bad either. Gothel is a selfish bitch that steals a baby (Rapunzel) because of a healing flower. I may have to explain this. Rapunzel's hair now has healing powers, thanks to a magic potion that was fed to the sick queen when she had the baby. Gothel had previously used the flower of which the potion was made to stay young. She stole Rapunzel so she could continue to stay young and plans to keep Rapunzel in the tower forever. She's not really evil per se, but just a selfish vain woman who wants to stay young no matter what the cost.

The original fairy tale of Rapunzel is kind of thin on story, so Disney added some things that didn't seem like filler or padding at all. For instance, they gave Gothel a motivation, not just evilness. Another example is that they made Rapunzel's parents royalty to fit with the whole Princess franchise. They also made the prince a thief and added in some hilarity and entertainment to hold the attention of the audience. Needless to say, the story was pretty well told and is easily one of Disney's most entertaining movies, even if it isn't their best.

The computer animation in Tangled is wonderful, possibly some of the best I have ever seen in a kids movie. I cannot attest to its triumphs in 3D, because this is one of the many movies I have seen in 2D. It also takes into account its predecessors in the princess genre, honoring them and challenging at the same time. Everything else in the movie is pretty good, and I'm sure it would be good in 3D, all that hair swinging around all over the place. Out of all the scenes, my personal favourite is the scene with the lanterns, which was absolutely beautiful.

Now this is a musical, but the songs, however good or bad they may be, aren't particularly memorable. There isn't much to say about them, so I'm just going to wrap this up. Tangled is a pretty good movie and an impressive addition to Disney's animated canon. Definitely worthy of being it's 50th animated feature. Some may not like it, but I would recommend Tangled to anyone who wants to complete their Disney viewing or someone who's just looking for a good movie to watch. I think it's still in theatres, so check it out if you have the chance.