One of Disney's best

Rating: 10/10 (4 February 2011)

Tangled is advertised as Disney's 50th animated movie. In many respects, it is also the first - the first movie to tell one of the traditional fairy stories (in the way that the classic animated tales, starting with Snow White, did) using the classic type of Disney character design, but to do so using CGI and 3D.
I thought this film was great. It looked like a classic Disney movie, but with the CGI lushness which today's audiences have come to expect. The slender story of Rapunzel is fleshed out nicely with additional story elements, none of which betray an audience expecting a traditional fairy story, and it races along, full of excitement, action, humour, suspense and emotion. And yet there is sufficient in the way of modern sensibilities that a 21st century audience will not feel adrift.
The characters are extremely well realised. All the supporting characters are fun (particular the animal sidekicks and the den of thieves), and the three main characters are exceptionally well done. Villain Mother Gothel is splendidly duplicitous, often funny, great looking, and wonderfully voiced by Donna Murphy. Flynn Rider is a lovable rogue straight out of the textbook, but with sufficient character not to be simply a cardboard cut-out. And Rapunzel herself is beautiful, and heart-achingly human in facing the dilemma of doing what she is driven to do while facing the fact that this is a betrayal of her mother's wishes (essentially the same dilemma Ariel faced in The Little Mermaid, but realised far better - and I thought Mermaid was a nearly perfect film!).
The songs are satisfactory, but Glen Slater is no Howard Ashman - the lyrics are good, but they don't sparkle.
And did I mention that this film looks fabulous? Every aspect of the visuals is perfectly realised, and looks simply stunning. The 3D is ever present but not intrusive. It enhances - sometimes significantly, but not to the extent that the film is poorer for its absence.
If I may get a bit spoilery, there is an element towards the end which reminded me of both Beauty And The Beast and Shrek - one of the characters displays an unexpected element of self-sacrifice and, in so doing, cuts off an escape route, following which something wonderful happens and all ends well. In each of these cases I was aware of being emotionally manipulated. But, by gum, it works! My 9-year old companion was wiping tears away, and so was I, even though I was expecting the miraculous turn-around which followed.
I loved this film.