Belle who? There’s a New Beauty in Town.
Tangled ****
Rather than your ordinary Once Upon a Time, the story of Tangled starts with a voiceover from Flynn Ryder, our egotistical antihero, warning you that this is a story about how he died. This American Beauty style prologue is a clear indication that although it’s a Disney movie, this story is not without the darkness of Grimm. As Disney’s 50th animated feature film, Disney freaks and general moviegoers alike will be pleased to find that Tangled is worthy of the golden hallmark. It’s beautifully animated, full of surprises, and really funny. I’ll even go so far as to say it has the power to jerk a few tears.
Disney decided to go with an alternate title instead of sticking to the original Rapunzel. It works because this imaginative retelling seems to be a little more than a story about a girl with long hair. It’s also a story about an old woman consumed with a fear of dying. Her name is Gothel, and she’s the figure that sets all the action in motion by kidnapping the baby princess at birth. She did this because she’s aware of the magical properties that lay hidden in our heroine’s golden locks: sing a special song to it, and you can live forever.
Gothel hides Rapunzel away in a tower, raises her as her own, and forbids her from seeing the light of day, urging the world is an evil place. This is creepy within itself, and among all the Disney villains, Gothel is by far one of the creepiest, reminiscent of the mom in Stephen King’s Carrie, from the scary way she keeps her daughter sheltered down to the scary way she is ultimately defeated.
Gothel at least had the decency to provide Rapunzel with a library of books. This has kept Rapunzel occupied for all the 18 years she spent in isolation, and has made her apt at a range of activities some of us may never learn: painting, paper mache, charting stars. Still, she longs to see the world, if only to find the source of the floating lanterns: mysterious lights that fill the sky every year on the night of her birthday.
Flynn Ryder’s not your average knight-in-shining armor. He’s more like Gaston in a Han Solo costume. Poor Flynn is in enough trouble as it is, constantly hounded down for stealing a prized possession from the royal family. Aside from the palace guards, Flynn has to deal with twin goons that resemble Jason Stathem and a tenacious police horse. Next thing you know, Flynn is stuck with a teenage girl in desperate need of rebellion.
Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi provide the speaking and singing voices for our two protagonists, and do a phenomenal job. The voice acting is pitch perfect, just like the music composed by the legendary Academy Award-winning Alan Menken.
I can’t wait to see Rapunzel at Disneyland, not just because she’s smoking hot, but also because it’ll be entertaining to see eight guards following close behind to accommodate her long head of hair. The 260 million dollar budget makes this the most expensive animated feature to date. Considering the magic it will bring to households 50 more years down the road, Tangled is worth every penny.
