Mother Gothel is in Charge Now

Rating: 7/10 (20 June 2014)

As I said in my "Princess and the Frog" review, this movie was more of a financial and popularity success than the former. To be honest, I wasn't really excited about this film when it came out. A Disney film about a blonde-haired girl with bright colors and pop music? Yeah, this does not look like my type of film. After I finally saw it three years later...it's good. I don't think I'm on the bandwagon for this movie everyone else is on, but I think it's good.
ANIMATION: I'll admit, when I think of Walt Disney Animation Studios, I prefer traditional hand-drawn animation. If I wanted to see a CG Disney movie, I'd watch a Pixar film. However, I have to admit that that animation here is not only good, but it's also unique. While "The Princess and the Frog" looks like hand-drawn characters with 3-D backgrounds, this film has 3-D characters with hand-drawn backgrounds. That's very different, and it looks rather nicely here. Disney hasn't lost its touch!
SONGS/MUSIC: I'm glad to see Alan Menken working in Disney again, but...I don't really like these songs. As I mentioned before, I don't really like the pop genre of music - at least, not modern pop/guitar playing/Top 40S/Broadway styled music. I don't remember melodies, lyrics, or anything about any of the songs...Except for "Mother Knows Best (Reprise)!" This song is incredible! Let me make that clear, I referring only to the reprise. This song reveals the shift and dramatic change in the movie. Mother Gothel is in charge now, and it's getting menacing and intimidating! I love that number!
ROMANCE: The romance between Rapunzel and Flynn Rider is...good. Like the songs, the romance didn't really grab me, but that doesn't mean it's bad. These two certainly do have chemistry and they learn a lot from each other. We can see how they fall with each other, and it's enjoyable to watch them.
CHARACTERS: ...Again, the characters are good, but they don't move me in the slightest. I'm just not particularly drawn to any of these characters. They're good, but there's not a lot I can talk about...With the exception of Mother Gothel! My gosh, she is awesome! She actually reminds me of Ursula, if she were to become a mother. She funny, she charming, she's witty, and classy. But she's also devious, deceitful, manipulative, and wicked! If anyone were to meet her for the first time, they may not know how evil she is - she can fool people very well. That's a great characteristic for a villain, I love it! I also like the King and Queen, Rapunzel's parents. They don't verbalize anything in this movie, but they say everything that needs to be said. I love watching them and their concern for their daughter. I love the animation on them, and I love them as characters. They're supportive, they're loving, and they're just all around great people. Gosh, you feel so bad for them, you'll want to reach through the screen and give them a hug!
STORY: The set up is really good for this movie. The introduction lays out all the details excellently. It creates a perfect reason for why Rapunzel is in the tower, why she would want to leave the tower, and why the villain in the story is so determined to keep her locked away. This is the fairy tale Disney used to do well, and it works very well here. For everything that lies in the movie that I wasn't attracted to, this element worked rather nicely.
QUICK QUESTION: The question I ask myself is, why was this movie more successful than "The Princess and the Frog?" Based on what I've heard as well as what I know, here's what I came up with: (1) Some people were turned off by the fact that the other movie featured a Black princess. Not everybody was, clearly, but let's not act like it didn't offend anyone. (2) Guitar playing/Pop music is more popular to the general public than Ragtime. That's why it's called "pop music." (3) Sadly, CG animated films are more popular than hand-drawn are. I do hope that changes, though. Finally, (4) I think that since "The Princess and the Frog" had the word "princess" in the title, many people figured the target-demographic for this picture was little girls. Not a lot of boys want to see a Disney movie with a princess, that's not as exciting as, say "Aladdin." Yes, it had a princess, but it didn't focus on her. By keeping "princess" out of the title for this film, they can market it as an action-adventure, and market it to boys as well as girls.
CONCLUSION: I'd be lying if I said I like this film a lot. However, I do have to be honest; there are a lot of good things in this film. If you can enjoy this type of music and the characters, you'll enjoy the film a lot. It was a lot better than I thought it'd be, and it is a great film - a lot of time and dedication was clearly put into this. While I myself couldn't get as invested as other people, maybe you'll like it. Take a look and see what you think. God bless you. BOOYIKA!