Tangled (2010)

As I exited a screening of the Disney animated feature Tangled along with a small cluster of fellow audience members, a woman outside the theater inquired if we’d just come from that movie and asked, “Was it good? Will my 5-year-old boy like it?” She followed these questions with one more: “Did you see Megamind?” This was her litmus test for judging our responses, a sort of comparison shopping. Several people volunteered their opinions to her. Had it not been a shivery night with a cold front blustering through, I would have graced her with my own bluster along the following lines:

Label me as a heretic and an apostate if you must, but I’ve never been a huge fan of Disney. As a child, I leaned more towards the snarky, sly humor of Bugs Bunny and his Warner Brothers pals than the sugary sweetness of Mickey Mouse and his minions. Actually, I found the live-action Disney fare such as The Love Bug and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes to be far more entertaining than the often cloying and syrupy animated features like Dumbo and Lady and the Tramp (although I still enjoy the songs from The Jungle Book).

My opinion changed in 1991, when I couldn’t believe the raves Beauty and the Beast was receiving and had to see it for myself. I was transfixed by its exquisite elegance and timeless romance. It is still a beautiful work of art, and a standard-bearer for every Disney animated film since. Their studio has developed patterns within these releases, including many revolving around princesses and fairy tales. Alongside the established formula, technology has developed to the point where the flat, hand-drawn animation of Beauty and the Beast looks relatively quaint–although the computer-animated ballroom scene was a vision of things to come. Now there’s three-dimensional CGI (not to be confused with 3D projection–I’ll get to that).

Tangled is the fiftieth animated feature from Walt Disney Pictures. That’s a pretty impressive achievement right there. Tangled is another princess movie, and based on a fairy tale: Rapunzel. It is Disney’s first fairy tale/princess movie made in three-dimensional CGI animation. And it is absolutely wonderful.

I was worried at first, because Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) has these giant eyes that remind me of those tacky, creepy-looking Bratz dolls. But she has a charming and funny personality beneath her enormous length of magic blonde hair. She’s locked away at the top of a tower with only her pet chameleon, Pascal, for company. Disney will sell a zillion Pascal toys, and who could blame them? He’s a cute little guy, a scene stealer–heck, I’d like a Pascal toy myself.

Rapunzel’s only other company is her “mother” Gothel (Donna Murphy in a star-making voice performance), who keeps Rapunzel locked up because she’s not her mother but rather the old crone who kidnapped her as a baby. Then one day when Gothel’s away, Rapunzel has an unexpected guest–dashing rogue and wanted thief Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi, star of TV’s Chuck). She sees him as her chance to experience the outside world, against the stern orders of her “mother.” And off they go on the adventure of their lives.

In Tangled, there is slapstick. There are vistas of breathtaking color. There are moments of honest emotion, such as a cleverly edited depiction of her manic-depressive mood swings following her decision to disobey Gothel and leave the tower. There is a hilarious collection of hulking thugs, including the voices of Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor, and Brad Garrett. There are remarkable, eye-popping action sequences. There is a horse named Maximus, who steals every moment he’s on-screen and who may be the funniest Disney character ever. There are a few lovely songs by Beauty and the Beast composer Alan Menken (not so many as to overwhelm it into a full-blown musical, but just enough to enhance the experience). There is Donna Murphy, a two-time Tony winner, delivering Gothel’s songs with a marvelous combination of motherly love and silken menace, a seductive voice paired with a fascinating character design whose appearance reminded me of such fearful maternal figures as Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest and Piper Laurie in Carrie. There is everything you could want from a Disney animated classic, maybe a touch formulaic, but it’s a proven, successful design.

Would your child like it? I’m willing to bet that he or she will. Girls will love the princess and the romance; boys will enjoy the action, the thugs, and the horse. I can tell you this: I saw Tangled in a packed theater full of parents and kids, with lots of pre-show chitchat and milling around, kids swapping seats and so forth. But once the lights went down and the movie started, I didn’t see anybody get up, and I didn’t hear a sound out of anyone around me–adult or child–except for peals of laughter, cheers, and a few tears. (I heard one child softly sniffling during the sad part, which you know will come because it’s always a part of the Disney formula.) Tangled held the rapt attention of every person in that screening, regardless of age.

And in my review of Megamind, I argued that great movies can and have always been enjoyed without the need for special glasses and everything poking in our faces. This movie is conclusive proof. Though Disney will continue to push the 3D gimmick with this and other movies, I saw Tangled in conventional 2D projection. And since the movie was made in three-dimensional animation, the glasses and 3D projection weren’t missed at all. Save your money, folks.

Anyway, as it was freezing outside, I just said to the woman, “It’s fantastic, he’ll love it, and, yes, I saw Megamind, but Tangled is much better. Happy Thanksgiving!”