Beautiful, but tonally haphazard

Rating: 7/10 (1 December 2013)

"Tangled" is a fine movie. In some ways fantastic. Visually it's gorgeous. Animation top notch as expected. Maximus the horse is a riot, and Rapunzel is a great character with whom I relate and sympathize.
Flynn on the other hand is the movie's weakest link. I can't take him seriously as a scoundrel because he's just a Joey from "Friends" and everything he says & does is for laughs which is exactly what I'd want from a tertiary character like the horse. His change of heart is predictable but unconvincing, because he NEVER WAS convincing.
The Mother is just annoying. Evil great! But she belittle's Rapunzel, to the point that I'd expect Rapunzel to leave the tower out of sheer spite. A captor like Madame Medusa, Cinderella's step mother or Judge Claude Frollo could give lessons on keeping a captive while acting benevolent.
And what's with that stupid flower song? It's a magic flower, one of a kind apparently that no one knows about, except an old lady who found it by accident, fine. But who taught the flower to do its magic after a VERY specific jingle, and who taught it to the old lady? An enchanted flower could do that, but this flower is a freak natural occurrence. And when the Queen fell ill, everyone went in search of a miracle and somehow knew it was magic flower tea from an uncatalogued plant? Fix that story! I could forgive the origin if that stupid jingle weren't a persistent thing.
Lastly, they play their best song ("When Will My Life Begin?") at the beginning. Really, it's excellent! And they know it. Despite the Best Original Song Academy Award going to "I See the Light." What song gets reprised in the movie, as well as played on the DVD's main menu? It's "When Will My Life Begin." 'Cause it's the good song. "See the Light" isn't bad, but it's no "Kiss the Girl" and "Mother knows Best" & "I have a dream" are just hokey.