Catching up on things - I saw Tangled in the cinema with my family for my birthday in December.
As probably everyone already knows Tangled is the newest Disney offering as far as animation goes. It's an unusual take on the tale of Rapunzel. Instead for the princess to patiently wait to be saved by the prince, she takes matters in her own hands. The prince... is not a prince but a thief, who needs to be blackmailed by the girl into helping her. And the relationship between Rapunzel and her captor, whom she thinks of as mother, is definitely more complex than in the original tale.
What I really enjoyed about the story is how fleshed out and appealing the characters were. Rapunzel was no damsel in distress and Flynn was not a bland prince devoid of personality. They both had their goals, dreams and fears, and actually needed to cooperate. The emphasis on their bonding and growing to respect each other, really made their subsequent love believable and relatable.
I loved also how action filled the film was. There's nothing better than a good smack-down in a princess film xD And Rapunzel got no less fighting to do than Flynn. Girl power all over :D
What I loved a bit less was the humour. The jokes were pretty uneaven. Some were fantastic and left me in splits, while other fell flat and felt forced. There was also that deja vu factor to some of them. Thankfully none were tasteless or vulgar. Overall I appreciate the attempts at humour, but some more work could have been put into that.
Another thing that disappointed me slightly was the psychological aspect of Rapunzel's relationship with Mother Gothel. At first I loved it - they acted like an overbearing mother and a too sheltered daughter would. What didn't work for me was the rushed ending that gave Rapunzel no room to contemplate what had happened in the finale. Also there were some aspects of how Rapunzel's magical abilities work that could have been presented more clearly in the final confrontation.
Technically the film is breathtaking. The facial expressions are extremely life-like, the hair (not only Rapunzel's) sets new standards (and animating hair is hell, so this should be appreciated), the scenery is lovely. Some scenes are simply awe-inspiring, such as the one with the lanterns.
The music is very pleasant and has that classical Disney touch to it, however the songs didn't really move me or stay with me after the screening. The only one I keep coming back to is the romantic number "At last I see the light". What's more, although I loved the picturizations of the songs, and as I said, the music was pleasant as well, at times they slowed down the pace of the movie considerably. A few cuts would have helped (as often is the case especially in old Bollywood films - nice songs but too long/too many).
Overall Tangled was a very enjoyable experience. Especially due to the lovable characters. What would have needed a bit of tweaking was the script. Also as far as it is a solid piece of film-making, it lacks that something special that would make it into a timeless masterpiece. Moreover, although there are many fresh ideas, it still does re-hash some common tropes at times. For me it wasn't much of a problem, but my brother's girlfriend (a big fan of animation) was unimpressed by the film because of this. In this case your mileage may vary.
Videos:
The trailer:
I absolutely love the "Grounded for life" trailer - it's so adorably fifties xD
Frying pans - who knew? xD
My rating: 5/6
edit. I forgot to add: my kudos to the Polish dubbing team. It was a great job.
I'm curious to listen to the original version too when I get the DVD.
