Good, but somehow not great

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2011)

I saw the UK preview screening of this film -- largely, I confess, because I was intrigued by the rumoured 'Errol Flynn influences' -- and feel a little mean in awarding it only 7 out of ten, when I have consciously awarded more obviously flawed films an 8: but somehow I feel that it's good but not great.
Good points: The creators' stated aim was to recapture the "cool, retro look" of the classic Disney animations in the 3D format, and they've certainly done a good job in that. The 3D is much less jumpy than in most live-action films I've seen, and is not intrusive save for a couple of scenes where things start to separate out into 'planes'; whether it actually enhances the film is I think questionable (see the credits sequence for a lively 2D rendition of the same characters), but it doesn't detract. The much-trailed 'post-modern' elements are far fewer and further between than publicity had suggested, and while they grated on this viewer ("I don't do back-story" "So you want to make me the bad guy?") the film more or less gets away with it.
The storyline is dense and well thought-out, neatly explaining a number of issues (why is Rapunzel's hair have to be so long? How can she realise who she really is? How did the witch get up to the tower when Rapunzel was still a baby?) without labouring the point, and setting up all the necessary elements well in advance of when they are needed. The 'Errol Flynn influence' is, I would say, unquestionable (although it's not necessarily presented as being a good thing, so far as the character is concerned!)
In addition, there is no annoying squeaky-voiced sidekick -- one Disney 2D tradition that I can very happily do without! Instead, we get a couple of blessedly non-vocal animals who communicate in the silent-movie tradition of Wallace's Gromit: the chameleon actually manages to be very funny, and Maximus the proud horse is eloquent without a word, in addition to being much smarter than his master...
Bad points: The music I didn't care for. This is no "Beauty and the Beast" -- the best songs to my taste were the entertaining 'character' numbers "Mother Knows Best" and "I've Got a Dream", while the big pop-style ballads don't do a thing for me, I'm afraid.
And American teen-speak in fairy tales really grates, unfortunately. It's not reasonable -- if I can swallow contemporary street slang in 1930s dramas, I ought to be able to handle its modern equivalent in today's Hollywood output -- but for me such expressions as "Stop with the mumbling" and "I am so not going back!" have the same result as Hobbits scampering through fields of medieval European maize: so culturally jarring as to rip me out of the story temporarily.
Overall, that's far more good points than bad, yet I wouldn't rank this film alongside "Mulan" and "Beauty and the Beast", my favourite Disney animations of the recent era. It's slick and quick and well-made, with good moments and thrills (although the latter, ironically, were a little too 'CGI' and large in scale to involve me fully), but I'm not sure it's going to be a classic. For me, something was missing.