The princess this time around is a a feisty, bubbly ball of curious energy named Rapunzel(Mandy Moore). As a baby, Rapunzel was kidnapped away from her regal parents by an evil witch named Gothel. Rapunzel's mother became ill during pregnancy, and so to heal her a loyal servant stole a rare healing flower Gothel used to keep herself young and beautiful. Rapunzel was born, and was gifted with the flower's restorative qualities. It also gave her hair that grows faster than newborn sea monkeys. Gothel keeps Rapunzel locked away in a tower in a remote part of the kingdom, completely unaware that she has real parents looking for her on the outside.
Every year on the date of her birth, Rapunzel's parents light up the night sky in hopes that one day she'll see them and come home. For years, Rapunzel has watched this event sadly from her tower window but never knew what the lights were for. Gothel instills in her from an early age that there's nothing but danger and trouble on the outside. People will abuse her, take advantage of her, and the only way she can be protected is to stay locked in her room. I take it Gothel never saw The Virgin Suicides
. That plan never works out well. In fact, it isn't long before trouble literally comes barrelling through into Rapunzel's room in the form of slick thief, Flynn Rider(Zachary Levi). Flynn is a rogue, a sly heart stealer used to looking pretty and getting his way. But he's also a wanted man, accused of stealing a rare artifact from the King. After an awkward meeting, not to mention a few shots to the head with a frying pan, Rapunzel convinces Flynn to accompany her on an adventure to see the lights for herself. You can probably figure out where the story goes from there.The two are pursued by Grothel, various criminal elements, single-minded justice seeking horses, and any number of other elements keen on cutting their journey short. For the most part this is enjoyable stuff, and I love the give and take between Flynn and Rapunzel. It's not often that I feel like Disney fairy tale couples have a lot in common to make them click, but I love the way his ego feeds her rambunctious side. Her curiosity and naivete about the world is what changes him, also. Disney even does the right thing by not overloading the film with too many musical numbers to break up the action. What songs there are use up very little time, short and sweet. The flipside is that none of them are very memorable.
Disney's decision to change the title away from Rapunzel Unbraided was likely a smart one, as was curbing the marketing away from Rapunzel and focusing it a bit more on Flynn Rider. The reasoning behind is that last year's critically acclaimed The Princess and the Frog failed to attract much of a male audience. It still went on to gross upwards of $270M worldwide, but it struggled mightily here in the States. Hand drawn animation is expensive, and Disney wanted to hedge their bets a little bit.Estimates are that over the many years it took to produce it, Tangled might've cost nearly $250M.
Tangled doesn't have nearly the spirit and soul of The Princess and the Frog, but it stands apart because of the sheer beauty of the animation. This is without a doubt the best looking animated feature Disney has ever produced. I just wish I hadn't felt like I had been through this story so many times before.
