About what we might expect

Rating: 7/10 (24 June 2011)

Rapunzel doesn't remember her royal parents(why is it that "destiny" is always a big, positive one?), as she has been locked away in a tower since infancy, trapped there by a witch(who has a habit of disappearing using her cloak, I guess she doubles as a ninja) who pretends to be her mother so she can remain young, using the girl's magical hair and its healing properties(nevermind its ridiculous strength or the changing back and forth between her roots feeling any pain from pull or not). She does wonder about the outside world(albeit she does know things that one wouldn't think she would, given that she's been indoctrinated against leaving), and when Flynn, a young arrogant thief, hides in her place of residence, she forces him to take her outside. There are more details, but that's the gist of it. I haven't watched much of anything by Disney since Hercules, especially since they went from 2D into CGI, and I see little has changed since my last dip in the pool. Don't get me wrong, this does look pretty good. Nice use of brightness/darkness of color, some memorable designs and the general animation is great. I can't comment on the acting, as the cut I viewed was dubbed into Danish. Anyway, the material is "safe". Over the top stuff, silliness, and in general mostly for the kids. I saw most punchlines coming, and this garnered one or two chuckles out of me, nothing more. The plot developments aren't that unexpected, either. We have a horse that acts like a dog(a bloodhound, to be exact), a chameleon as the sidekick(...I don't know, I guess they're just drawing them out of a big hat with "animals" written on the side) even though they hadn't thought of very many gags where that comes into play(even fewer that are at least decent... and you could excise it from the script, with nothing changing by it), and a sweetened take on an old fairy tale that had merit on its own, and will henceforth be known in the mainstream by the sanitized, corporate-approved version. With all that said, the pacing is quite reasonable, and this goes into compelling themes(and explores them rather well), such as the fear of age/death, growing up and youth rebellion. Like I said, par for the course. Not better or worse than the general piece by the studio. There is a little mild violence in this. I recommend this to fans of the work and legacy of ol' Walt, and/or of the original story. 7/10