Grade: B+
Directors: Byron Howard and Nathan Greno (director and storyboard director, respectively, of Bolt)
Writer: Dan Fogelman, based on “Rapunzel” by the Brothers Grimm
Starring: Voices of Mandy Moore as Princess Rapunzel, Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider, Donna Murphy as Mother Gothel and Ron Perlman as the Stabbington Brothers
Tangled is the second-most expensive film ever made, tallying in around $260 million. Considering that the film took six years to make, the title changed late in the game and the main cast members and directors changed, it makes sense. I have a hard time believing that Avatar only cost $237 million to make. But my very strong dislike of James Cameron’s sprawling environmental epic is for another blog. Regardless of it’s budget, Tangled is an adaptation of the classic Brothers Grimm tale “Rapunzel,” but with a musical and humorous tinge.
An elderly witch named Gothel (Murphy) takes eternal life from a flower created by a sun drop hitting the ground. After the local queen becomes sick during pregnancy, the flower is found and heals the queen, who gives birth to the most beautiful baby girl with magical blonde hair. Envious of the child, Gothel steals the child for herself and puts the child in a tower where the old lady, who is constantly made young, lives as well. Over time, Rapunzel (Moore) grows up and longs to leave the tower to see the lanterns that float in the sky on her birthday, not knowing the king and queen light those in memory of their lost daughter. The day before her 18th birthday, Rapunzel finds a thief named Flynn Rider (Levi), who has stolen a royal crown, hiding in her tower from the palace guard. After knocking him out a few times, Rapunzel negotiates that Flynn will take her to see the lights and then he will get back his crown, which she has hidden from him. Another difficulty: Flynn had stolen the prized possession from his partners in crime, the Stabbington Brothers (Ron Pearlman). The two set off from their tower, Flynn keeping an eye open for the patch-eyed brothers and Rapunzel for Gothel, who several times told Rapunzel to not leave the tower under any circumstance. So the drama begins…
Tangled comes across as a lovely little animated musical with a great deal of humor. The interactions between the two leads and the leads and their animal and human friends are quite hysterical most of the time. One of my favorite scenes involves a trip that Flynn and Rapunzel take to The Snuggly Duckling, the most misleading of all names. Inside are a group of ruffians. Rapunzel is fearful until she gets the group to burst out in song, called “I’ve Got a Dream,” about the criminals’ dreams, of which include interior design, concert piano playing and collecting small ceramic unicorns. The voices of Brad Garrett, known for Everybody Loves Raymond, and Jeffrey Tambor, whose antics as the family patriarch in the twisted family comedy Arrested Development is second to none, feature in a big way, in a smart way. But the real heart of this movie is the romance that (obviously) blossoms between the locked-up girl and the rogue thief. The song Flynn and Rapunzel sing while watching the lights, appropriately titled “I See the Light,” is one of the best original songs I’ve heard out of a film in a long while. The only other one that sticks in my mind is “Gaston,” the theme of the villain in Disney’s 1991 classic Beauty and the Beast. Something of note: Alan Menken was the composer for Tangled and worked with Howard Ashman in the same capacity on Beauty and the Beast. The score of Tangled couples wonderfully with the film and its lyrical pieces and is one of the best of the year.
The voice cast was beautifully chosen as well. Zachary Levi’s voice fits the bill of Flynn Rider wonderfully. The cockiness transfers seamlessly into the drama when necessary. Mandy Moore, a singer-songwriter herself, and her beautiful voice are perfect for Rapunzel. I first heard her singing in one of my favorite romance films of all time, A Walk to Remember. Yeah, I know, it’s a Nicholas Sparks book movie, but I love it. Her cover of Switchfoot’s “Only Hope” was not as good as the original, but still pretty darn good. Donna Murphy is treacherous enough as Mother Gothel.
Despite all of these things, it is not the best animated movie of the year. Toy Story 3 was incredible and How to Train Your Dragon was as smart and as funny, if not more so, than Tangled. It just got stuck in a year with two other fantastic animated films. It should secure one of the three Best Animated Feature spots come Oscar time. But in the end, the originality and humor of TS3 and How to Train Your Dragon will win out. The animation, while beautiful in Tangled, has nothing on that of those other films.
That’s not to say I don’t absolutely love this movie. I like it more than How to Train Your Dragon, actually.
What a mess to get tangled in.
