Tangled (Greg)

Disney is a name that leaves me, and no doubt many other viewers, with a lot of mixed feelings. On the one hand, I had the fortune of being a kid in the 90s, when masterpieces like Aladdin, The Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast came out. To this day, Disney is still synonymous with the sweetest parts of childhood. On the other hand, it's hard to bring up classic Disney without being reminded of what Disney's been turned into since then. That's not to say that the studio's incapable of making hits like The Princess and the Frog and Pirates of the Caribbean and underrated gems like The Emperor's New Groove, but for every recent success they've had an equal share of misfires, ranging from mediocre sequels to total embarrassments like Beverley Hills Chihuahua.

I went into Tangled with understandably mixed expectations, and it didn't help that the trailers did the movie no justice. The beginning was an adequate and creatively animated origin story involving a magic flower with the power of eternal life and an obvious but effective set-up of the plot to come. Then we're introduced to our heroine, an annoyingly cheerful and bright Rapunzel (appropriately voiced by Mandy Moore) and her pet chameleon. Of course a chameleon in a medieval princess movie sticks out like Christopher Walken in, well, anything, but his slapstick antics make him mildly likable later on in the movie. Rapunzel starts out disturbingly happy for someone trapped in a tower her whole life and initially runs the risk of being one-note Disney princess, like the kind parodied in Enchanted, but her ambitions are endearing and she shows some depth and personality when confronting her "mother". Donna Murphy gives the movie's highlight performance as a witch posing as Rapunzel's controlling but seemingly well-intentioned mother, and her display of smothering motherly obsession only makes her true ambitions all the more sinister.

The plot gets moving when Flynn, a goodhearted scoundrel, takes refuge in Rapunzel's tower and persuades her to disobey her mother and pursue her dreams. This of course angers Mother Gothel, who turns out to be an effective and likable villain. What follows is standard Disney fare. You get a love story, some catchy but hardly unforgettable songs (the best being the Mother Gothel's first song to Rapunzel because of its subtle creepiness,) some predictable but fun slapstick humor with the animals, and a showdown in which good nature prevails. The action sequences are fun, but nothing spectacular, but it's good to see a princess who can hold her own in a fight. If The Princess and the Frog is any indication, Disney has gotten better at writing female leads. The visuals are nice, but again, not remarkable in any way.

If I sound critical, it's only because Disney has spoiled me in the past. And while Tangled doesn't compare with Disney's best, it's still head and shoulders above their worst. So if nothing else, I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they've put together a movie that's in every respect better than average.

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