Tangled

Rating: 7/10 (4 February 2020)

To open the current decade, we have Disney's fiftieth animated classic, Tangled, which marked the debut of their first computer-animated princess. The story of Rapunzel was briefly considered for adaptation in Walt's time, as far back as 1938, but the idea was ultimately discarded and did not resurface until 1996, when legendary animator Glen Keane and producer Roy Conli began planning an adaptation of their own. At that time, the project was going to be done in the usual traditional animation, but the studio was deep into the frenetic Renaissance period and the idea ended up being temporarily shelved once again while everyone was focused on other projects.
However, this time, Rapunzel didn't completely fade away; by 2002, Keane and others were tinkering with it again. Between that year and 2006, a more satirical take on the story began to emerge which was planned for the emerging technology of computer animation - Eisner's studio was trying to move away from the perceived "staleness" of the classic Disney style in favour of a more hip, contemporary "DreamWorks" approach, so Rapunzel's film began to be subjected to the same treatment. That film was set for release around 2007, but then came the change in management in 2006 which brought John Lasseter to the studio.
By that time, Keane was working with Dean Wellins as co-director of the project and was (wisely) trying to steer it back towards a level of sincerity, as he felt audiences would respond better to a less snarky take on the fairy tale. Lasseter agreed, and he gave Keane the option to return to the traditional animation style for the film if he wished, but Keane had accepted the challenge of doing it in computer animation and decided to do his best to bring the artistic qualities of hand-drawn work to the digital age. After suffering a heart attack, however, Keane made the decision to step down as director and instead became the executive producer as well as animation supervisor for the film; Lasseter appointed Nathan Greno as his replacement, and when given the choice, Greno picked Byron Howard to be his partner.
The new directors embraced the classic Disney "formula" and turned the film into a musical in the style of the Renaissance fairy tales, with the whole tone of the project being re-worked into something lighter and more balanced. The title, which was then Rapunzel Unbraided, was changed to Tangled in an attempt to avoid the marketing problems endured by The Princess and the Frog, and the key artistic influence on the film shifted from Rembrandt to Disney's own Cinderella, utilising the same "shape language" in its scene compositions to provide Rapunzel's world with a sense of comfort and safety via lots of soft, inviting curves. Since the production was all about reconnecting with Disney's roots, the filmmakers even took a research trip out to Disneyland in California to study the Imagineers' architecture. To top it all off, the last surviving member of Disney's "Nine Old Men," Ollie Johnston, then well into his nineties, visited during the production and gave Keane some simple but valuable advice about remembering not to get carried away by the technology at the expense of character development.
A lot of love went into this one, and the result speaks for itself. Tangled became a huge hit for Disney, the biggest they'd had since the Renaissance, so let's take a closer look at it to see what makes it work so well.
Characters and Vocal Performances
When casting the parts for this film, all of the actors had to perform a song to prove their musical chops. Donna Murphy chose Children Will Listen from the musical Into the Woods, while Mandy Moore went with Joni Mitchell's Help Me, a song she had covered herself on her fourth album, Coverage (2003). (A fortuitous choice, as Mitchell's music had a big influence on the music of the film). Moore noted that she had to attend multiple auditions and didn't really expect to get the role, describing herself as "over the moon" when she got a call-back as it had long been a dream of hers to appear in a Disney film. The role was highly sought after; Kristen Chenoweth was the original choice back when the film was going to be more satirical, but the later auditionees included Natalie Portman, whose audition was used for a pencil test of the character, as well as Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, who would go on to star together in Frozen three years later.
During the recording process, Moore didn't meet with Murphy at all, and only recorded once or twice with Zach Levi as Flynn for their duet. The voice actors had to jog in place to sound realistic during the action scenes, and the animators interviewed and filmed them for reference footage. Apparently, after seeing the finished film, Moore was disappointed with her performance and felt it was too "shrill," while Levi thought his sounded "incredibly nasally."

So, who exactly is our heroine? Rapunzel is a young girl who's lucky to have ever been born; her mother nearly dies before giving birth to her, but luckily she's saved by the magic of a certain special flower and, lo and behold, said magic ends up passing into Rapunzel herself. Unfortunately, the flower had long been jealously guarded by the sinister Gothel, and she's not about to just let it go - after breaking into the incredibly-easy-to-rob kingdom, she steals Rapunzel away and raises her in seclusion as her own child, using the magic (now in the girl's hair) to keep herself young and healthy.
This is all set up in an effectively-delivered prologue, and as the main film begins, we meet Rapunzel a few days before her eighteenth birthday. Since being kidnapped, she has never left the hidden tower where Gothel keeps her and is now yearning for a glimpse of the outside world - specifically, she wants to see a lantern celebration which occurs every year on her birthday and plans to ask Gothel to take her. Now, I'll admit there are a few problems with this set-up - I mean, what teenager in this situation wouldn't have tried to get out before now? I know that Gothel has a powerful psychological hold over the girl, but still, did Rapunzel never feel like rebelling and seeing the world for herself before the age of eighteen? Also, many other critics have brought up the point about the date, wondering why Gothel didn't just make up a fake birthday for Rapunzel to prevent her from making the connection (heck, she could've just not told her about birthdays, period). There are plot holes, but I can overlook them because of how intriguing this relationship is.
Gothel and Rapunzel hug
Rapunzel is the Quasimodo to Gothel's Frollo; this is easily the most complicated relationship between a villain and a heroine we've seen since the days of Hunchback and Hercules. With no memory of her real parents, Rapunzel has been brought up to believe Gothel is her only family, but there's a crucial difference between Rapunzel and Quasi. Quasi's prison was right in the centre of Paris, so Frollo had unwittingly left the lad free to observe the outside world and develop an infatuation with it, leading to his desire to leave and see what it's like for himself. Sure, Frollo did try the same scare tactics as Gothel, telling Quasi about how horrible people are, but the lad could see for himself that this was not entirely true. Rapunzel, on the other hand, trapped out of sight in a hidden valley, has apparently never met anybody but Gothel in her entire life, so she has no such frame of reference. Consequently, she displays much more anxiety about leaving her tower than Quasi did, because she truly believes what she's been taught about the world. It's also implied that Gothel has been telling Rapunzel that she will be able to leave one day when she's older, presumably just trying to placate her until she gets old enough to really rebel.
Rapunzel puts Flynn in closet
In the end, the outside world must come to Rapunzel. When Flynn sneaks into the tower, she learns a lot about herself after knocking him senseless with a cast-iron frying pan (damn, girl). The incident allows her to prove herself to herself, showing her that she is not as helpless as Gothel has tried to make her feel. Filled with a new confidence in her own abilities, Rapunzel comes close to revealing the unconscious Flynn to Gothel, but luckily she's stopped by an outburst from her mother. This is a key moment, because it's the first time that Rapunzel seriously begins to question her mother's motives - having proved the inaccuracy of Gothel's statements about her being unable to take care of herself in the outside world, she naturally assumes that there will now be no problem going to see the lights. However, caught on the spot, Gothel simply loses her temper with Rapunzel, screaming that she will never leave the tower, ever. This brings the rebel in Rapunzel to the surface - realising that she might never be allowed to leave, she sees an opportunity in Flynn and ends up keeping him hidden from Gothel, then devises an excuse to get her "mother" out of the way for a few days so she can make a bargain with him to take her to see the lights.
Flynn tied up in hair
All of this demonstrates a strong streak of ingenuity; from what we see of her talents and skills in the first few scenes, Rapunzel is clearly an intelligent and highly creative person. She fills her days with artistic expression and educates herself to the best of her ability with the few books she's been given. There's almost nothing the girl can't do - she paints, bakes, knits, plays guitar, makes candles and pottery, and many other things besides, all in the space of one morning! She's also a lot stronger than she looks, probably from hauling Gothel up into the tower every day; the ease with which she later subdues a grown man is impressive. Then there's her hair; with seventy feet of it, you'd imagine it gets in her way a lot, but she's learned to use it to her advantage.