I had reservations going into Tangled, and I am pleased to report it was a fine family film. You can pretty much thank John Lasseter and the Pixar crew for that.
I had reservations going into Tangled, and I am pleased to report it was a fine family film. You can pretty much thank John Lasseter and the Pixar crew for that.
While not a Pixar movie, Lassiter and his crew’s fingerprints are all over this movie, and I mean that in a good way. It’s just so weird to get your head around Disney buying Pixar and putting them in charge of all of their animation. Because it was such a good decision. Putting animators in charge of your animation department. Crazy. Of course the fact that all of Pixar’s movies make hundreds of millions of dollars doesn’t hurt either.
Tangled is the story of Rapunzel, sort of, it’s more of a story with Rapunzel in it, and she shares the screen with a charismatic thief Flynn Ryder who promises to show her the outside world if she’ll give him his stolen loot back.
What struck me as I was watching this movie was that it was like Shrek if the Shrek movies were funny. I suppose if I didn’t have to hear Mike Meyers constantly going, “Donkey… DONKEY!” it’s a plus in any movie. It’s just a smarter, funnier version of a post modern fairy tale.
The characters, as in all Pixar films except Cars, shine and sometimes give you some nice surprises. Donna Murphy steals the screen as the passive aggressive witch/mother keeping Rapunzel a prisoner. A good example of blending old and new.
Whereas The Princess and The Frog was strictly classic Disney nostalgia, Tangled is a mix of Classic Disney and Modern Disney. Fun characters, some frenetic animation, and lots of songs. In fact, the animation looked great. The film was computer generated but the characters moved with the fluidity and organic chaos of a Looney Tunes cartoon.
There are a few moments of … “Okay, that didn’t make much sense…. Like why would the bad guys team up? What do they gain, exactly?” And all of the songs are bland and unmemorable. But as the whole package unfolds, these are minor quibbles.
So if you like your animation with a mix of old and new, you won’t be disappointed in Tangled. It is PG and there are a few scary parts for the wee ones, so keep that in mind if you’re going to be stupid and bring a child under five to this movie. My five year old daughter loved it. But like Pixar movies, you can enjoy this one without children. As the 300 pound dude sitting next to me did. He even put away his iPad for the whole movie.
–Chris Mancini
