Tangled Review

Rating: 4/5

I can't believe it. Tangled is Disney's 50th animated feature. I can't believe it. Only 50? I thought there were waaaay more. I guess not counting Song of the South counts for two. Anyway, let's jump into the big D's 50th animated film, Tangled.

Flynn Ryder is a scoundrel, no two buts about it. He lies, cheats, betrays, and sure as hell steals. Rapunzel has been locked in a tower by her crazy "mom" for the last 18 years. Oh yeah, and Rapunzel has magic hair that keeps her "mom" young, and her "mom" is an evil old woman who stole Rapunzel from her true parents, the king and queen. Anyway, Flynn hides himself in Rapunzel's tower, but she takes his stolen treasure, and promises to only return it if he takes her to see the world. He agrees, and hijinks ensue.

When I first sat down in the theatre, I didn't know what to expect from this movie. When Rapunzel and her evil kidnapper start singing, I thought I was in trouble. I was wrong. Ignoring the bland and not very good musical numbers, Tangled is a heartfelt, funny, and very entertaining movie. It's not a classic by any means, but let's just say I was pleasantly surprised.

Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi are very good and very funny in their roles, as is whoever played the evil mother. The writing is fast, snappy, and funny. Even though I can see that Disney wanted to go back to basics for the big 5-0, Tangled is pretty different. It's not a spunky princess who realizes the error of her ways and becomes the good wife, it's the opposite. Instead of 2D it's 3D animation, and the movie has no parental deaths.

That said, the death of the main villain is one of the most violent I've seen in a Disney movie since Clayton got strangled in front of us in Tarzan. This just shows that the movie does not treat its audience like sheltered little scaredy-cats, and that a little traumatization is ok every now and then. Overall, without the songs I would've loved Tangled. With them, I just liked it a lot. See it.