A Disney Classic in Every Sense

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2010)

Despite the modern-sounding title, "Tangled" is perhaps the most classical-styled Disney film since the days of Disney himself.
What really makes this movie feel like a classic is that it digs back, way back, all the way back to Disney's roots, back in the days where the most common main character that you saw in every Disney movie was along the lines of "A completely innocent main character discovers the world." I'm talking Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi. And now we can add Rapunzel to this list, because this is what Tangled is really about: Rapunzel finally stepping out of her tower after 18 years of experiencing absolutely nothing but her little room at the top, and seeing the whole world in wide-eyed wonderment. To some degree, this makes Tangled feel even more "Disney" than even the stellar films of the 90's Disney Renaissance. We fall in love with Rapunzel right from the beginning because we want her, such a kind and loving character, to live her dreams and find beauty in this new world she is experiencing. This aspect of the film is absolutely brilliant. Rapunzel is almost like Snow White in her kindness, and yet she also actually has a real personality! I can't say enough about Rapunzel's character. She is easily near the top of all Disney princesses, mixing the love and kindness of Snow White with the realism and believability of Ariel and Belle.
From a visual standpoint, this is definitely a throwback to the classics as well. The colors are vibrant and lively, and the buildings warm, rounded, cozy, and inviting, as if they themselves have been custom-chosen to convey the sense of wonderment that Rapunzel feels, like she is a child visiting Fantasyland at Disney World for the first time. This adds greatly to the tone of the film, and combines to make the whole world of this movie feel lush, romantic, and inviting. Because of this, the whole thing is a joy to watch even in its imperfect moments. There are some especially amazing scenes, most notably the floating-lanterns scene where the whole kingdom slowly lights up little by little until the whole thing looks like it is glowing from the inside. (It will no doubt be remembered as the "iconic" scene from this movie, like the ballroom scene from Beauty and the Beast.) Pretty much, nothing about this movie is "negative." It has very strong main characters with some really well-done complex relationships amongst themselves, great sidekicks, some good-natured humor, a great classical song-filled musical score that has had me humming it for the last two days, and the plot is staged without a single thing feeling boring or clichéd. And in that manner, I believe that this is the first Disney film in nearly 15 years that can truly be called a Disney classic.
On the film-geek side of it, there is some amazing technical wizardry going on here. This is the best CGI hair ever put on film thus far. For the first time, we have computer-generated hair that can truly be called "beautiful." It shines, it stretches, and has weight that just looks right. Plus just getting the world itself to look warm and inviting is a huge accomplishment, as CGI is generally much more inclined toward producing hard mechanical edges. Great stuff! IMO, this is the biggest step forward in animation since "Tarzan" introduced deep-canvas technology.
One other thing that makes this movie just like the best Disney classics is that it works on all levels. For the adults like us, there is some great thematic subtlety going on beneath the surface, touching on classic coming-of-age themes, mother-daughter relationships, and in Flynn's case, how often the over-confident ruffian is really just hiding personal shortcomings and really doesn't know what he wants. Plus the characters really feel like real people, and never just archetypes or caricatures. And for the kids, there is some really good-natured humor that doesn't talk down to them, a great romance story, and the film was near-perfectly-paced, with not a moment of the running-time wasted, and yet still taking time to breathe to let us see some of the acting "ticks" that really let us get into the heads of the characters.
The only reason I am giving this a 9 is because of some minor contrivance nitpicks that keep this film just below my favorite Disney movies. The only one that I feel is really worth mentioning is the excessive use of cartoon physics. Flynn and Maximus fall off a 100-ft cliff and emerge completely unscathed. Flynn is catapulted from a wheelbarrow over 50 feet through the air and lands perfectly on a horse. And that horse then jumps over 30 feet off of a rooftop and keeps running unphased. That bugged me, and made it feel slightly like this film was taking place in a cartoon universe rather than the real world like most Disney movies, taking away slightly from its credibility. Also, there was something that kept it from feeling as "complete" and "epic" as almost every Disney movie feels, but I can't quite put my finger on why. But ultimately, these things were all minor in the grand scope of things. This was really a character-driven movie rather than external-plot-driven, and the characters are absolutely amazing.
So in one department, I felt that this was as much a classic Disney movie as any ever made, and near-perfect. Due to some slight contrivances, I feel like the physical plot was a step below Disney's best, but in general I feel like Tangled is the first Disney movie in over 15 years that can truly be called a masterpiece. I actively loved almost every second of it, and immediately wanted to go back and see it again. In a world populated by movies that are either too silly or too serious, "Tangled" is a bright ray of sunshine that is a joy to watch at every second.