Those words, surprisingly, start the 50th animated feature film created by the Walt Disney Animation Studios—“Tangled.” But despite the ominous start, the movie is everything you expect from the House of Mouse.
“Tangled” begins in a far away land, long ago. A bit of the sun falls to earth and blooms into a beautiful flower. An old woman, Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy), discovers the flower is magical—when she sings, she becomes younger. She hides the flower, but the queen falls ill. The king sends out a massive search party, which quickly locates the magical flower. The queen recovers, giving birth to a baby princess named Rapunzel. Mother Gothel sneaks into the castle one night, realizing the baby now has the flower’s power. She tries to cut a piece of the princess’ golden hair to take, but it loses it’s power. So she steals the baby princess and hides her away in a hidden tower. Grief-stricken, the King and Queen release lighted lanterns every year on her birthday.
Eighteen years later, we are introduced to Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) and his two companions (Ron Perlman). Together, they steal a tiara from the palace and flee into the woods. Hot on their tails are the palace guard, complete with horse Maximus. Max will embody the trope “All Animals are Dogs” in that he sniffs like a tracking dog, points like a hunting dog and is just a dog in general. Their chase ends when Flynn discovers the hidden tower.
Inside, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is about to turn eighteen and leads a very claustrophobic life. She is not allowed outside her tower, so she has limited things to do during the day. She mostly paints, covering every space of her tower with her pictures. Another daily task is brushing her hair, which is now a whooping 70 feet long! She has only one wish—she wants to see the lights that appear every year on her birthday. When she asks Mother Gothel about this, her reaction is delivered via a song! (It’s a Disney film. What do you expect?) When Flynn decides to hide in her tower, Rapunzel defends herself with a frying pan. Hoping this will prove to her mother she is old enough to leave the tower, Mother Gothel turns almost violent.
After sending Mother Gothel on a long quest, Rapunzel confronts Flynn. She strikes a deal with him—she’ll return his tiara if he takes her to see the lights. He agrees and the two set off on a grand adventure. Pursuing the two are Maximus, the twin thugs and Mother Gothel. Chase sequences, an elaborate song in a tavern and a love ballad later, Rapunzel and Flynn find themselves in more danger. Does Flynn realize the errors of his ways? Will Rapunzel ever realize Mother Gothel is evil? Will there be a happy ending?
Well, the fact that’s it a Disney movie probably makes those questions a bit less suspenseful.
Rapunzel’s road to the cinemas was just as tangled as Rapunzel’s hair. It was first announced that Tony Award winners Kristen Chenoweth (“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”) and Dan Fogler (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) would be voicing Rapunzel and Flynn before Moore and Levi took over. Then last year, Disney released “The Princess and the Frog.” While the movie did well, the executives at the House of Mouse realized that they didn’t do well with the young boy demographic. So, they changed the focus from Rapunzel to both her and Flynn and rebranded the movie “Tangled.”
Maybe because I’m a woman, but why do they place such importance on that particular demographic? Statistics show that there are more girls than boys and every girl at one point wants to be a princess. It’s like how they kept trying to make sure Power Rangers appealed to boys. Did you EVER once see a girl in those commercials? We used to love the show just as much as our male counterparts. Thank God Saban bought the rights back. Do they not think that parents of girls don’t buy products either?
Rant aside, upon viewing the movie, the shift is only in advertisement. The story’s focus remains more on Rapunzel than it does on Flynn, despite him being the narrator. However, there is enough action to keep any little boy entertained and Maximus clearly panders more to the male demographic than the female “horsey!” one. Rapunzel is no pansy either—she has no problem using a frying pan as well as her hair as weapons. She is a sweet and enthusiastic young woman, eager to explore the world she has been kept from. Flynn is swashbuckling and rough around the edges, almost like Aladdin. He softens into his heart of gold and comes to realize he wants something more than wealth and riches.
It is Mother Gothel who is most intriguing. In the list of greatest Disney villains of all time, Maleficent usually tops the list, but I think Mother Gothel is a fine contender. She is a brand of evil that makes you uncomfortable. Rapunzel clearly loves her and wants to please her, unaware that Gothel only has her for selfish reasons. Gothel is also a master of psychological abuse. She’ll give a compliment, state it was meant for her and wave it away with a “kidding!” She also manipulates others to make sure Rapunzel returns with her, caring not for their welfare.
Once the first song of the movie started up, Rapunzel’s “When Will My Life Begin?”, I instantly identified the composer as Alan Menken. The lyricist was a bit more difficult, though I ruled out Stephen Schwartz. The end credits revealed it was Glenn Slater. While the songs in Rapunzel may not be as memorable as other Disney songs, they are toe-tapping and fit the movie. My personal favorite is the ballad “I See the Light,” the requisite Disney love song. Moore’s voice is still lovely as it was at the height of her pop career. Levi did his own singing as well and I commented that I was surprised to learn he could sing—and sing well.
I highly recommend a viewing of “Tangled”—a good story line, interesting characters, hummable songs and beautiful CGI animation make it a solid entry in the Disney canon.
Four out of Five Mickeys!
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