The greatest version of Rapunzel EVER

Rating: 10/10 (25 June 2017)

This movie is simply the greatest version of Rapunzel that has ever been told. As a kid, this was always one of my least favorite stories. It was definitely lacking structure and depth, but Disney imbued their magic into its pages and made it a dazzling work of art.
Rapunzel is a fabulous very first CGI princess and Mandy Moore was an amazing choice, both for her delightfully sweet speaking/singing voice and her general whimsicality. Mandy Moore has now ascended to stardom as one of the legendary Disney Princesses.
From start to finish, it is a feast for the eyes and envelops you completely in the magical story. Rapunzel is the very first Disney princess to possess any kind of magic!!! Yes, magic has been clearly present in every other princess movie, but think about it...none of the princesses ever wielded any form of magic themselves until now. So that makes this movie groundbreaking just for that alone.
In the original, the male love interest was the prince, so I am glad they jazzed this version up and made him a lovable thief instead. Flynn is an amazing character and he and Rapunzel have one of the greatest meet cutes of all time.
It is very Shakespearean that the audience knows that Gothel is NOT Rapunzel's mother and that she does NOT possess this knowledge as we do. We also know that she is the lost princess and that Gothel is stalking her with the Stabbington brothers who are stalking Flynn for revenge. Very poetic and well done.
Every single song was gold. They were catchy and whimsical and the lyrics were apt and beautiful. The animal companions which are usually my least favorite part of every Disney movie were actually terrific in this film. It makes sense that Rapunzel would have flocked to some sort of creature in her lonely tower so Pascal's presence is believable and not just crowbarred in like many others. The horse Maximus is absolutely hilarious and actually serves the plot tremendously.
The redeemable villains were very well done, particularly Flynn's. His backstory as Eugene Fitzherbert is extremely touching as well as his transformation from common thief to Rapunzel's lover.
What is refreshingly different about Flynn and Rapunzel's romance is that they did not have a typical love at first sight reaction like most Disney couples do. True, they were definitely both attracted to each other right away, but love blossomed between them as their epic journey commenced. To me, this makes it all the more meaningful.
The ending was unexpectedly dark and I wish Disney dared to go down paths like this more often. There is always that classic moment in every Disney movie were you are legitimately terrified that the character in peril is really going to die (Whereas in Lion King, they actually DO)It is so beautiful that Rapunzel was actually going to sacrifice the rest of her life to being Gothel's fountain of youth, just to save the man she loved. And Flynn reciprocated this beauty by not allowing her to snuff out her light to restore his. When he says "But if you do this, you will die." He surely meant that if she goes through with being Gothel's slave for all eternity, she will cease to be the wonderful soul that she is now. Such torturous treatment would drain her and cause the light in her eyes to wither and die, even if she persisted to live because of the magical flower. So that is why Flynn frees her from her curse and chops of all her precious hair, even though that means sacrificing himself. People argue that he could have let her heal him and THEN chopped off her hair, but he refused to use her for her power just like Gothel and the rest of the world would have wanted to. The rhyme that activates the flower is beautiful and when Rapunzel cries onto Flynn's face, I personally believe that this is the very last of her healing powers leaking out of her now that the power of the golden flower has been severed. Their kiss is beautiful, I absolutely love how Rapunzel seizes the lapels of his shirt and yanks him toward her. The look of delighted surprise on his face when she does this is so adorable. I really love how powerful and forceful Disney princesses have become. And then later on in the end, she dips him instead of him dipping her. I love it! Gothel's demise is poetically and brilliantly executed and it goes to show how sweet Rapunzel is that she still reaches out helplessly toward the despicable woman she loved and knew to be her mother.
My absolute favorite part of the whole movie is when Rapunzel's parents see her again and the mother just knows it is her by looking in her eyes and touching her face. I thought it was really beautiful and interesting that they chose to not have the parents speak at all, they displayed all of their emotions through facial expressions and gestures. My favorite moment is when Rapunzel and her parents drop to the floor in their ecstatic embrace and the queen reaches out her hand to Eugene. He goes to bow to her but she seizes his hand and pulls him into their embrace and thus welcomes him without question into their family because he is the man who returned Rapunzel to them and who loves their daughter. So beautiful! I really stand by that this is one of the greatest movies ever made. It has something for everyone. Love, adventure, betrayal, humor, heart-warming songs. This is definitely one of the funniest Disney movies of all time. The humor between them is very carefully scripted and honestly I think better suits an older crowd. But kids can still appreciate the slapstick with the frying pan haha.
LOVE LOVE LOVED IT!!!