Nothing New from Disney’s 50th. Nothing Bad Either!
“Tangled” (3 Stars out of Five)
Thanks to movies like “Toy Story” and “Shrek” the days of drawn animation may soon go the way of the Western. In fact, aside from Disney’s recent “The Princess and the Frog” release cartoons as we’ve known them in the past are few and far between. Such is the case with “Tangled,” which is Disney’s fiftieth animated feature, and latest installment into their Princess line. It follows the more famous Disney Princesses like “Snow White,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella”. While “Tangled” should not be included in the upper echelon of past Disney releases, it officially brings the old-school Disney type films into the CGI landscape, and does hold a certain appeal that keeps it cute enough and funny enough to suggest a viewing.
Mandy Moore, one of few bubble gum pop chicks to escape the early two thousands with some sense of dignity, is the long, golden haired lead named Rapunzel. She’s got magical hair that is able to heal and keep people young. Mother Gothel steals Rapunzel from the cradle when Rapunzel is a newborn babe, keeping her locked in a tower for her entire life while she poses as Rapunzel’s mother and uses the power of the hair to stay young. Rapunzel however is actually a Princess; her parents lift lanterns to the sky every year on her birthday as beacon of hope for their missing daughter’s return. Rapunzel thinks the lanterns are beautiful but she doesn’t understand their true meaning. She has always had one wish, to leave the tower and see the lanterns up close and in person. She’s never been able to pinpoint the reason, but she’s always felt a special connection to the lanterns she sees flying high in the sky from afar every year. For her birthday, she hopes to ask her mother for permission to go see them. Gothel knows if Rapunzel finds out the truth of the lanterns, than the magical hair could be lost to her forever. Mother Gothel’s only objective is to stay young so Rapunzel is not allowed to leave.
Meanwhile, local thief Flynn Rider (voiced by “Chuck’s” Zachary Levy) has broke into the castle and stolen the heavily guarded royal crown belonging to the missing Princess. He and his two lackeys manage to escape to the forest where Rider promptly breaks from the other two and ends up finding Rapunzel’s tall tower. Mother Gothel has gone out to collect a birthday present for her daughter, for Rapunzel is upset that she isn’t allowed out. When Rider arrives, Rapunzel is alone and she thinks that the thief is there to do her harm. After knocking him out and storing him away, Rapunzel feels a certain rush that she’s never felt before. If she can take care of an intruder in her home, maybe she can survive in a world outside of her tower. Her mother is not set to return for three days, so Rapunzel decides to use Flynn Rider as a means of getting to the lantern ceremony, the hope being that she can be there and back again before her mother gets wise.
Plans breakdown quickly as Mother Gothel returns home too early, only to find that Rapunzel has gone. Soon Gothel is hot on the trail. Rider has agreed to take Rapunzel to the lantern ceremony because she took the stolen crown and hid it while he was unconscious. The deal is simple; he takes her to see the lanterns and she’ll give him back the crown. Little does Rapunzel know that Flynn Rider doesn’t exactly have a lot of friends. In fact, he’s made quite a few enemies, any of which will gladly turn him into local authorities for a bounty. Together and with the help of a horse named Maximus and Rapunzel’s chameleon friend Pascal, the thief and the Princess quest to return to the royal city in order to catch the lantern ceremony.
The plot is nothing new. Obviously Rapunzel learns of her “mother’s” true intentions, and learns that the crown Flynn has stolen as well as the lantern ceremony belong to her. Obviously the lone-wolf thief named Flynn Rider finds love in the long-haired beauty Rapunzel and goes from fighting her to fighting for her. Obviously horse and chameleon characters have far too many goofy human qualities. Obviously there’s song, dance and fanfare. After fifty such movies from Disney, we can’t expect anything less. But a recycled old Disney plot is still a good Disney movie. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud comedy moments and satisfyingly quotable lines (“…here comes the smolder…”) it is not that Disney has failed here; it is that their fiftieth cartoon installment is the same as all the rest. Good battles evil, good triumphs and love and redemption is found by all. This is the type of film that rainy days, sick days, and little kids are for.
“Tangled” is rated PG: It contains mild action violence. The PG rating probably belongs to one single character death sequence which may be too intense for small children. (Key word *may*)
