Happy Thanksgiving, readers! :D I hope you had as much fun... stuffing your face... as I did. Until my tummy got upset because I felt like eating far too much, and... well, details, details, really.
In case you've been living under a rock, the new movie "Tangled" (also Disney Animation's 50th Animated Motion Picture, woo hoo!) was released today, and just like a nerd, guess who went to check it out? Me :D I bet that was difficult to guess.
Overall, it was a pretty fun movie... funny and sad and deep all at the same time (you know, the usual Disney formula). I can't say as though it was my favorite movie of 2010, though; however, I would say that it's a pretty polished addition to the WDAS repertoire.
Basically, Tangled is a retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale. Our heroine, guess her name (played by Mandy Moore), is locked away in a tower in the middle of the forest by her "mother"; has been for up until her 18th birthday. During the "mother's" usual daily outing, a petty thief named Flynn Rider (played by Zachary Levi) outruns the nearby kingdom's guards, abandons his two partners in crime, and climbs up into the tower to admire his new prize and (inadvertently) meet his new best friend for the next hour.
Flynn's new BFF
An agreement is forced upon Flynn that in exchange for his rightfully-stolen property, he escorts Rapunzel into the kingdom to get her birthday wish: an up-close and personal viewing of the kingdom's flying lights ceremony, which is only done once a year, and (more importantly) which Rapunzel has only seen through her tower window. You know, because she has never left her room and everything. Anyways, Flynn is forced to give in ("You broke my smolder!") and hi-jinks ensue as Rapunzel feels real, natural ground for the very first time. Hi-jinks include an amusing intrapersonal battle, which ends after Flynn escorts Rapunzel to eat at the Snuggly Duckling pub, full of the friendliest people in town.
The Snuggly Duckling Pub, where friendliness comes at a price:
lots and lots of medieval cheese.
Not giving away too many more details, Rapunzel's "mom" and the Royal Guard find her and Flynn doing song and dance with the thugs in the bar, and from there, the chase is on for the rest of the movie.
MY THOUGHTS
First and foremost, I must say, sitting through the beginning of the credits gave me a big surprise. If you are a Disney buff, and you haven't IMDb'd this already, prepare to be shocked, just as I was sitting in the theater. Ready? ... The music in the movie is written by none other than Alan Menkin! 8D
This bit of information COMPLETELY came at me from left field, mainly because my understanding was that Menkin stopped doing music for animated features after Beauty and the Beast, in favor of a career of live-action television music. However, if this is any indication of things to come, than good for all of us who grew up with 90's Disney movies, right? Honestly, though, if you listen close enough to the music in the film (and yes, I had an inking all along), you might have been able to guess that Menkin's fingerprint was there; for example, the Pub song and dance reminded me VERY much of Gaston's pub song from Beauty and the Beast. I'm not going to continue beating this dead horse, so I'll just say the the music is pretty top-notch, though the songs can be a bit much at times.
The animation itself... I must confess: I'm not the biggest fan of 3D animation, especially from Disney, simply for the reason that they have Pixar, the company that has built itself from its reputation in 3D animation, at the touch of a phone dial. As much as I wished to have seen this done in 2D, though, the animation is not bad in any sort of way; there's a reason that Disney is the industry standard, after all.
The characters in the movie are pretty great; there are no weak characters in the movie that I can tell; Flynn is the thief-turned-unsuspecting hero, Rapunzel is played in a fashion that I was convinced that rolling in the grass for the first time has become the highlight of her entire life, and the "mother" is a villain that is so evil that she becomes fun and a joy to hate. My favorite character, though, is a match-up between pretty much all of the thugs in the pub and Rapunzel's chameleon. I'll get back to you guys if I ever decide to pick.
Last but not least, here are my thoughts about the story. I think this is where this movie lost it and became not being my most favorite film of 2010. Don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic story, but things started to become rather... well, Disney-cliche towards the end. Not a bad thing again, however, I think it would be refreshing to see a future story take a plot turn that nobody sees coming, for better or for worse. Overall, though, the story is rather humorous, charming, and at times, very deep.
Overall, if you're expecting another Toy Story 3 or Princess and the Frog out of Tangled, I wouldn't go to the movies for this one; you might end up disappointed and disgruntled over the lost $15.00 from your wallet. I would still recommend this to anybody who enjoys Disney or animation in general, and this would be a good movie for the family.
As someone who aspires to work for Disney Animation one day, I am still happy to have seen this movie and know that Disney (at least in my biased mind) is still tops in the industry. Tangled still brings something fresh to the table, and its moral of following your dreams and finding a new dream after you found yours is very uplifting and I am still just as motivated as ever to follow my dream.
Well, that's all for now! :D One question, though: Would you like to see me continue doing Disney movie reviews for future blogs? Comment here!
