Beautiful animation meets mediocre dialogue

Rating: 7/10 (28 November 2010)

Tangled is Disney's take on the classic tale of Rapunzel. The story of a princess stolen away from her parents as a baby and locked away in a secret tower. She is kept there by a woman, Mother Gothel, imposing as her mother. Rapunzel is no ordinary girl however, for her hair holds the power to heal those who touch it, and more importantly for Mother Gothel, keep her looking younger. There is a catch: should her hair but cut, the spell would be broken. As we all know, Rapunzel has very, very long hair.
Just days before her 18th birthday, Rapunzel yearns to leave the tower, because every year on her birthday there is a strange phenomenon that occurs in the sky; a mass of star like objects float up to the heavens. Rapunzel has dreamed her whole life to see in person where these stars come from. Her dreams are answered when Flynn Rider, a thief, stumbles upon Rapunzel's tower while making a getaway. Rapunzel hides his loot and will return it should Flynn show her where the stars come from.
Though not true to the original story of Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm, the story remains intact for the most part. This is true for the majority of fairy tales adapted by Disney, mainly to appease audiences and to entertain rather than frighten children, something all too common theme in Brothers Grimm fairy tales.
That said, you can only go so far in changing a story. The problem with this film is how they start to step on the toes of other fairy tales and films made in the past (and even other studios). One scene that sticks out is between Flynn and Rapunzel in a small row boat in front of the castle. It's eerily similar to the "Kiss the Girl" sequence from The Little Mermaid, even including Rapunzel's little friend Pascal, a tiny chameleon (Sebastian the crab anyone? At least Pascal doesn't sing). I also found some similarities to Dreamworks' Shrek, simply because we have a damsel in distress, rescued by an unlikely hero, and reluctantly guiding her back to a castle. Just a thought.
Another aspect essential to a Disney "princess" movie is the song selection, something The Princess and the Frog nailed last year, There aren't a lot of musical numbers, only four or five, and luckily they're not terrible. It's not their best work, but it's hard for composer Alan Menken to top his previous work, which brought him home eight Oscars (Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, etc.) It helps that Mandy Moore has the pipes to handle the work load, even though every time I looked at Rapunzel I saw Taylor Swift.
What makes Rapunzel special is the animation. This is Disney' Animation Studio's fourth feature done completely with CGI, and their patience paid off. Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, and Bolt all had bright spots, but all fell short. Here they finally captured the most important ingredient to properly animating a CGI film: texture and lighting. If you watch the Pixar films, you can see how with each film they get better and better with texture and lighting. As the technology improves, so does the image. It also helps that they are getting more practice with the medium.
The Disney artists were inspired by Jean-Honoré Fragonard's The Swing, a beautiful oil painting true to its Rococo style, an art movement that focused on ornate, free flowing designs. Much like Rapunzel's hair the artists on this film truly met the challenge of capturing the style of the painting, creating landscapes that were unique and alive. Rapunzel's tower, the forest leading up to the castle, and the town surrounding the castle itself exemplify this style.
Though I enjoyed the look of the film, I wasn't a fan of seeing it in 3D. I found myself looking over the top of my 3D spectacles and see what the film would look like, and I feel like the images would be just fine without it. Though the panorama views look nice, it's not necessary to view them in the third dimension. I understand that the revenue from 3D films is a tremendous boost in box office numbers, but sometimes it's overkill. I felt the same way for Toy Story 3.
I recommend this strongly for families. The kids will love it. Those looking for a deep, thought provoking animated film in the same vain as Pixar or foreign animation, look elsewhere. Unless you can tune your ear out periodically to embrace the images, enjoy. It's hard to say no to a Disney movie, but until they can consistently turn out hand drawn features, I must issue a warning. A slight one, but a warning nonetheless.