Aaaand as I promised, here's my thoughts on seeing 'Tangled!' Since the movie's technically not out yet, read at your own risk, there's spoilers!


Overall: I enjoyed it! It was a very beautiful film to watch, and daaaayum, that hair. I'm so glad I wasn't one of the effects people doing hair, because I would have exploded. Really, per the usual, all of the production values were high, and the 3D was unobtrusive (even effective in some shots). There were some really touching and subtle moments, and there were a ton of laugh-out-loud moments. Pretty much any time Maximus was onscreen was a hilarious moment, especially when he was fighting with Flynn. Maximus stole the show in many aspects. I was expecting to like Pascal as a sidekick more because "TEEE CUTE CHAMELEON!" And while he WAS cute and funny, Maximus was just totally hilarious and beat him out there. GIVE US A MAXIMUS-CENTERED SHORT, PLZ?

Actually, one of my biggest complaints was that they shouldn't have called the film 'Tangled.' That sort of feel was never really anywhere in the film. They should've just stuck with the title 'Rapunzel,' because the movie was about Rapunzel. You see most everything from her point of view; it's not as much about Flynn as the trailers would have you believe. I guess it was more of the marketing fail on that one. Otherwise, I didn't have too many complaints about it. There were a few moments there were predictable (Rapunzel using her tears to bring Flynn back to life, for one) but there were also some that were unexpected and tied in pretty well (such as how Rapunzel realizes that she is the lost princess.) There were a few times when the huge eyes were a leeeeettle weird (and the supervising animators said that the eyes were actually the most challenging thing about the whole movie, so that's not surprising!) But that's all because they were based so heavily on Glen Keane's designs. You can definitely see Glen everywhere in this movie...and at the same time, I see why they did it CG. I actually don't think that hair would have been as effective if it were in 2D.

I think they did a good job of keeping Rapunzel as both very active/strong and very feminine. She's scared of the world because of what Gothel told her, but still has untapped strength and is willing to use it. Gothel was pretty effective as a villain. Not ridiculously overdone; she totally manages to come across as abusive without ever once hitting Rapunzel. That sort of I-say-I'm-joking-so-it's-okay-to-say-horrible-things-about-you kind of dialogue really delivers a different kind of Disney villain. Also! First ever Disney Death where you actually see the villain hit the ground!

The songs were...hmm. Not sure how to feel about them. I'll admit, it was a little different having this be a CG movie and a musical. In fact, I think this is the first time ever anyone has done a CG animated movie as a traditional musical (correct me if I'm wrong on that). The songs were all nice in of themselves, just...huh, I can't quite put my finger on it. Also, I think as far as villain songs go, "Friends on the Other Side" was better than "Mommy Knows Best." (YES, SHOCKING BUT TRUE, I THINK RANDY NEWMAN DID BETTER ON THAT THAN ALAN MENKEN. YOU CAN STONE ME NOW.)

Also, random aside, since I just stopped to think about it, and...yep, it passes the Bechdel Test.

Bottom line: go see it, it was quite enjoyable! I think this movie really did suffer from "Dreamworks Advertising Syndrome" in that the marketing somehow made the movie look stupider than it actually is. It definitely is in Disney's comfort zone in nearly all aspects, but that's still a very pretty place to be.