“Tangled,” Walt Disney Pictures 50th full-length animated feature film, tells the story of two people trapped in difficult situations. Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) leads the life of a thief that is on the run from the royal guards, the partners he double crossed and the Captain of the Guards very determined horse Maximus. He stumbles into a hidden valley with a tall tower that is the home to Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), a young girl about to turn eighteen with hair 70 feet long. The two set off on a classic Disney musical fairy tale that is a worthy addition to the legacy.
The story varies from the original tale wherein Rapunzel was born to a poor couple and then taken by a witch in exchange for her father’s life after the witch catches him stealing from her garden; in this film she is born to the King and Queen and then stolen by Gothel (Donna Murphy), an elderly woman who had been able to maintain her youthful appearance with the help of a magic flower. When the pregnant Queen falls ill the flower is discovered and served to her as miracle cure, its healing powers passed to her infant daughter in the form of her glowing hair. Gothel takes the baby and hides her in the tower keeping her there with the ruse of keeping her safe as she uses the girl’s magic hair to keep herself young. Each year on her birthday everyone in the kingdom releases floating lanterns in to the sky. Rapunzel has grown up seeing these “lights in the sky” and longs to find out what they are and where they come from. She sees her meeting with Flynn as a way to make this happen. Having discovered a tiara he has recently stolen she hides it from him and will give it back if he will take her to the lights. When Gothel discovers Rapunzel is now missing she set off to bring her back before she becomes old again.
The film was quite funny and clever, particularly a sequence in which Rapunzel alternates between her excitement about being out of the tower and her guilt about disobeying her “mother.” Like the previous Disney fairy tales this is a musical and while the songs, by Disney legend Alan Menken with lyrics by Glenn Slater, are entertaining they are not anything you’ll be humming as you leave the theater. The animators did a remarkable job of capturing the look and feel of those classic hand-drawn animated film in the CGI format. Both the vocal and visual performances of the characters were quite engaging. The film feature an interesting collection of supporting characters including the previously mention horse Maximus, Rapunzel’s pet chameleon Pascal, Flynn’s ex-partners the aptly named Stabbington Brothers, and host of rogues who populated the seedy “Snuggly Duckling” pub.
 |
| Original concept art for "Rapunzel Unbraided" |
” the concept was changed in favor of a more traditional story but still making use of the 3D While I can’t quite say it was worth the ten year wait and I did not enjoy the film as much as I did last year’s “The Princess and the Frog
” I did still like the film quite a bit and I do look forward to seeing it again. I think the choice to return to a more traditional fairy tale was a wise one. Years from now when the pop culture jokes of the Shrek films lose their meaning for new audiences this film will seem as timeless as the Disney fairy tales that came before it.
” I did still like the film quite a bit and I do look forward to seeing it again. I think the choice to return to a more traditional fairy tale was a wise one. Years from now when the pop culture jokes of the Shrek films lose their meaning for new audiences this film will seem as timeless as the Disney fairy tales that came before it.A NOTE FOR PARENTS: The film is rated PG for blood on shirt when a character is stabbed in a sequence near the end of the film.
No comments:
Post a Comment