Tangled Gives a Nod to Its Roots

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 2010)

As a 28 year-old female, I didn't have much in the way of expectations when I went to see Tangled. I hoped for a return to the animated fairytale landscapes of "Beauty & the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid," with maybe a touch of the hero/heroine dynamic from "Anastasia." I found most (if not all) of what I was looking for, plus some food for thought.
Like "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" (2003), Tangled has a near-tangible philosophical component. The storyline in Disney's latest offering touches on modern themes of over-protective parents, teenage rebellion, "boys only want one thing," friendship/trust, and (most intriguingly) the aftermath of dreams. While the serious matter of 'what if a cherished dream turns out to be not so good after all?' is raised but (disappointingly) swept aside, the characters' answer to the bewildering question of 'once my dream comes true, then what?' more than makes up for it.
I'm not entirely certain this movie can be grouped as a typical Disney "Princess movie" due to the talented efforts at making the story equally appeal to those with a Y chromosome, but I thoroughly enjoyed the well-balanced result.
The humor in Tangled is almost entirely based on physical violence. And there was a surprisingly large amount of violence. The laughs were never forced or out-of-place, however parents of young and impressionable children should probably take a moment to explain the dangers of repeated blows to the head. Lately, the makers of family films enjoy slipping adult innuendo into their dialogue and I am happy to note that no such attempts were made here.
While Disney's requisite Cute Animal Sidekick (a chameleon) is present in nearly all scenes, he never steals the show or becomes annoying. The show-stealing, I must add, is all impressively done by Maximus the horse. Rapunzel receives strange looks when others witness her talking to the animals and no animals actually speak. It's a nice tip of the hat to realism, nicely matched by Rapunzel actively starting the village dancing (rather than encountering such a festive organized dance out of thin air).
Making a break from previous fairytale retellings of the 90's and earlier and, possibly, surpassing the vein of more recent additions to the genre ("Shrek" and "Enchanted" must be named); there is a strong teamwork dynamic at work between princess and hero and a refreshing amount of reciprocal rescues. I can already envision co-operative play video game tie-ins as the characters use a length of hair to navigate around obstacles.
The story of Rapunzel is much older than the Brothers Grimm and many a modern child is first introduced to the story through a printed adaptation. Writing for a moment as a children's librarian, I was very glad to see both the male and female lead speak more than once about how books positively influenced their lives. It was a well-placed nod to the value of reading (which is also reflected in other Disney characters -- most notably, Belle). I also have to wonder if the movie's affinity for frying pans has any origin in spunky heroine, Princess Cimorene, from Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles.
As the movie worked up to its climax at the tower, all the myriad endings I've seen to the tale of Rapunzel made my throat close in on itself in anticipation of what might happen next. Disney's Tangled takes a different route from any version I've encountered before and brings the story of Rapunzel and her Rogue to a satisfying conclusion.
-1 star for the music being not quite as catchy/haunting as past Disney classics' -1 star for Rapunzel's head being disproportionate to her body and the utter, utter disregard for gravity and the laws of physics. Isaac Newton is rolling in his grave.
+8 stars for being a movie that encourages children of all ages to make their dreams come true