paint by the numbers mediocrity

Rating: 3/10 (18 November 2010)

My six year old daughter had somehow scored passes to a preview screening of Tangled. Previously she had received passes to a preview screening of Alpha and Omega, the 3-D talking wolf animated movie. Based on my experiences with these two films, receiving free preview screening passes to a 3-D animated feature indicates that it sucks.
I expected much more from Disney than from Lionsgate, the studio responsible for Alpha and Omega. John Lasseter of Pixar was credited as executive producer, so he must have overseen some element of the story development. Furthermore Dan Fogelman, who wrote Pixar's Cars, was credited with the script. So how could the story be so lacking in interesting characters or surprising plot twists? Characters are introduced and then disappear until called upon, especially a band of ruffians at a pub called the Snuggly Duck. Settings, especially a large wooden dam, seem to come out of nowhere purely to provide a place for an action scene. The romance is uninvolving. The dialogue is boring. The lead characters have no chemistry, and Rapunzel's animal playmate, a chameleon, is utterly lacking in expression. The villainness is surprisingly mundane and never feels threatening. About the only character who was amusing was a horse named Maximus. In fact, everything about this film, aside from some of the artwork and production design, feels paint-by-the-numbers. People associated with Pixar should do much better.
The Rapunzel story was always one of the weakest of the Grimm tradition. Aside from having the chick with long hair, it's mostly forgettable. If you thought Shrek 3 was good, this will please you. If you recognized Shrek 3 for being what it was, which was a warmed-up rehash the same old thing, then you should know what you are getting yourself into.
Incidentally, anyone reviewing this film before me that said anything along the lines of 'Disney's most wonderful film' is definitely a studio marketing hack. Disney has a stinker here, and they know it.