Director Nathan Greno & Byron Howard
Released 2010
Plot A young princess with magical hair is stolen away at birth and raised in a tower by an old woman obsessed with staying youthful. She only strays out from the tower when a local thief happens across her there and accompanies her as she discovers the world, and who she really is.
Best on Film Rating ★★★★ FLUSH
Aaah, Disney. Is it me, or has it been a long time coming, a good old-fashioned Disney fairytale? Suffice to say, it's been a long, long, longy long long time since I last saw a proper Disney on the big screen (and when I say "proper" I mean, you know, the old-school Sleeping Beauty class of Disney).
But yes, the hiatus has ended: we went to see Tangled in 3D last night, and what fun it was. For one thing, we were two of about ten people in the cinema in total, of which eight, including us, were adults. There was certainly something illicit about going to see a Disney with no kids, especially if that involves wearing 3D specs. Certainly not something I'd recommend for a date situation, anyway... but I digress.
So, Tangled starts with that cosy warm Disney feeling, in a land far far away, and by the looks of it, a long long time ago. An unusually but wonderfully dry narrator fills us in on the back-story: baby born with magical hair, baby gets snatched by wicked witch, baby grows up in tower... you get the idea. And so we meet Rapunzel, about to hit her eighteenth birthday, and she delightfully sings us a song about what she does all day (which is helpful, as I couldn't help but wonder how she'd got this far without Facebook).
Truthfully, at this stage, I was a little worried: this was a bit too twee for my liking. Was it Mandy Moore's overly tween-angsty singing voice? Was it that I had been so long without Disney that I'd grown unaccustomed to the sweetness of it all? Who knows, but something felt off.
I needn't have worried though: the dry tone the narrator started the film with reappeared as soon as Rapunzel escapes from the tower with the dashing (hot!) young criminal that is Flynn Rider. From this point the scriptwriters seemed to remember the adult audience, offering us sight gags, genuinely funny comebacks and a very amusing horse. Even Alan Menken, usually ol' reliable when it comes to Disney scoring, adjusts his songs, and these just got better as the film progressed (although unfortunately I can't actually hum anything the following day, which is a bit disappointing).
The villain of the piece I must confess I was confused by: Maleficent or Ursula, she was not. I would imagine the old woman who stole Rapunzel for her magical youth-giving hair classes as the villain here, but she lacked a certain je ne sais quoi with regards to being really evil. Maybe Disney were trying to add character layers to her this time, which, if true, was a mistake, as for this genre you need a hundred percent evil if it's going to work. I half expected for her to turn good by the end of the film, which as a Disney scriptwriter you don't want your audience to be feeling.
As for Rapunzel herself, I'm relieved. She could have been overly nicey-nice, but thankfully she turned out to be much more fleshed out character-wise: strong, determined, yet delicate. Skilled in more ways than one with a frying pan.
All in all, I can't go so far as to say this is the best Disney film - good gracious, no - but it holds its own whilst telling quite a difficult story, as, let's face it, Rapunzel is not the most gripping of fairytales out there. Plus, it fulfilled its job description as a Disney, as we left the cinema with the Disney-copyrighted warm feeling inside, not to mention laughing over scenes from the film for the rest of the evening. Job done!
I definitely intend on seeing this again and buying it on DVD when it's released, so that should tell you everything you need to know about this film. The kids will love it, the grown-ups will enjoy it, and watch it in 3D if possible for that extra bit of fun and ooo-factor. Plus, I now plan on learning how to use a frying pan in armed combat. Apparently, it's very useful. As Flynn Rider aptly put it; "Who knew?!"
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