Revisiting Disney: Tangled

Disney's fairy tale versions have never ever failed to amuse and amaze me. The elements they add into their movie adds flavor to the original story. The most fascinating part is that their version actually makes the age-old fairy tale seem to be an outline story. All fairy tales, I am sure, is extremely dear as they have added a lot of color and dreams to our growing years. Experimenting with a conventional story line is quite a risky job. 

Unlike other fairy tale versions that Disney has created, Tangled has quite a few deviations from the original plot of Rapunzel. Tangled enhances the original Grimm brothers’ story of Rapunzel, especially since it provides a more justifiable reason for Rapunzel's extraordinary hair length and her being locked up in an isolated tower.

In short, the adaptation is amazing and enchanting. Disney cartoons have always been entertaining, intriguing and a visual splendor. Tangled is no exception!

The Plot:

Mother Gothel uses the healing powers of a magical flower to stay young and rejuvenated. Yes, kinda like the botox effect! However, before long, her secret flower is discovered and is used to heal the queen who is both ill and pregnant. The queen recovers and very soon gives birth to cute little Rapunzel with golden hair. Mother Gothel realizes that the healing power of the magical flower is now instilled within the princess’ golden hair. That’s right! It works the Newton way… energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it’s transferred from one form to another. In this case, it is from flower to hair. Old Mother Gothel kidnaps the child and rears her as her own in an isolated tower, so that she can make good use of the power Rapunzel’s hair possesses. Little Rapunzel grows into a zealous teenager and along with her grows the urge to see the outside world. She meets Flynn Ryder, a bandit who scales this tower to escape the royal guards. They strike a deal in which she gets to see the world. The journey that unfolds forms the main plot of the movie.

The Screenplay:

Dan Fogelman has done a brilliant job with the screenplay. Like I mentioned before, as you see the movie you know it’s a lot different from your fairy tale but that doesn't stop it from completely consuming you with what’s going on screen. The dialogues are hilarious. I try chalking out a personal favorite, but there are SO many. The opening dialogue of Flynn Ryder, the sequence of dialogues Rapunzel delivers while she contemplates if getting down the tower was a good or bad thing to do, Flynn’s dialogue about his ‘wanted’ poster, Mother Gothel’s ‘Skip the drama, stay with Mama’ – the list runs endless.

If there’s any shortcoming I can think of – it’s just one. What’s with absolutely no lines for the king and queen?

The Music:

The music does justice to the movie and is definitely portrayed well. However, none of them are catchy enough to stay and dance on your lips. When I say catchy, the songs on my mind are the ones like the Bear Necessities from The Jungle Book or Under Da Sea from The Little Mermaid, etc.

The Direction:

I’d give a golden star to both Nathan Greno and Byron Howard. The art is amazing. It felt like a traditional animated hand-drawn film and yet it had the 3D effect. That was simply brilliant! The expressions of the characters are hilarious. Maximus, the royal horse, Pascal, the pet chameleon and Flynn Ryder needs special mention. They are the ones that bag most of the laughs and applause. The voice direction was perfect. From Rapunzel to Mother Gothel or the thugs, all of their voices completed the look and feel of the characters that they were portraying. I liked the narrative style with which the movie moves forward.

Any flaws? Well! When I spied with my little eye, I caught Rapunzel’s inconsistent hair length. It kept varying from scene to scene. Also, the scene which portrays Rapunzel’s self-realization was vague, in my opinion. A little more detailing in that area would have been a good idea.

The Cast:

My review would not be complete without kudos to the complete cast of Tangled especially Mandy Moore (Rapunzel), Donna Murphy (Mother Gothel) and above all Zachary Levi (Flynn Ryder/Eugene)

The Verdict:

It’s a 9 on 10 from me.