Good, Very Well Made Film

Rating: 8/10 (19 July 2019)

This movie may be only a kids movie, but it is very well done and earns some good respect and credit in my book.
First of all, the wit and humor in this film is good; not just for a kids film, but in general. The visual and verbal jokes are clever and land pretty well for me. Second, there is a lot of detail and work put into the animation of the world of the film, and for that this movie deserves credit. There is so much expression in the eyes and face of not only Rapunzel, but also Pascall the chameleon. You can always tell the difference between the genuine emotional expressions of the characters, and the fake ones. That is really impressive for only a kids movie. Third, the romance in this film works really well; they spend a good amount of time developing the chemistry and the relationship of Flynn and Rapunzel which, once again, is really good for a kids movie. It makes the ending scene feel earned because the romance felt so... earned as well.
Fourth, Mother Gothel is a good, very cleverly done villain. This passed way over my head when I first saw the film both in January 2011 (in cinema) and in December 2013, when I was still very young. But when I saw the film when I was 15, I caught on to how the villain is actually a quite well done character. This is because, once again, the movie goes beyond the call of duty with her. You see, they could have just had the Mother try in a forceful way to keep Rapunzel in the tower, but what the writer (Dan Fogelman) did instead was write an emotionally and mentally manipulative villain. A villain who you can still see clearly is the villain because of how manipulative she is, but is still indirect enough to be seen as not a straight-up, violent, confrontational villain like the conventional ones we get in most mainstream films.
Fifth, Alan Menken's score in this film is good- great by kid's movie standards. The score in the Kingdom Dance scene is very well written and composed. Not only that, but the score throughout the whole experience is well made and enjoyable too. I know this point is only subjective to me, but film quality is generally quite subjective for the most part anyway.
Sixth, the attention to detail in this movie is awesome. We get so many subtle details of the characters making decisions in their heads, realizing stuff, and so on. This helps direct and explore the story so much more and makes the story a lot more sophisticated than it seems. Once again the writer and directors are going way beyond the call of duty, and that deserves credit.
Now, despite all the good things about this film, it does have some problems that hold it back . A lot of these are very subjective to me, but I feel I need to list them anyway. First of all, the soundtrack (while overall good) gives me a 'ehh' feeling at quite a few scenes. The score (at these times) gives me a boring, 'kids movie' feel to it that makes me wonder whether the filmmakers want me to even get engaged in or take the film seriously. Take the scene where Maximus finally catches up to Rapunzel and Flynn about halfway through the film. This (from a pure plot perspective) should be a mildly tense scene. But the soundtrack feels so... empty. And since the movie is so comedic up to this point, I don't know what to feel; to laugh, to be engaged, no clue. And so the scene just comes off as awkward to me. Not to mention that the character designs are so strongly simplistic and cartoony that I struggle to take any of this seriously. Now, I know this is meant to be a kids movie, so this might just be a problem with me, but the characters feel so childishly animated and oversimplified that the film feels like a bit of a farce or joke. However, the film takes itself seriously at quite a few points, but I struggle to for the reasons above. This is all just me though, so take it with a grain of salt.
Another problem is that I struggle to tell what a lot of the scenes are trying to be, for a few reasons. Mainly because of the structure of the film. I'll try to explain.
Take the opening of the first scene of Flynn rider for example. The music is pretty good in this scene, but I don't know whether I'm meant to be engaged (by the suspenseful music) or simply watch the characters climb the tower. Since the movie is so comedic so far, I don't know whether to get engaged or not. Also, because the feel of the film is all so goofy and campy just from the cartoony visuals, I can't even tell what it's trying to be. Once again, all this is just me, so don't let it soak in you if this doesn't affect you.
On the whole, Tangled is a very well made, good film that is likely worth a watch if you are interested in a sophisticated children's film, but has some problems for me.