Tangled review

by Matt



It must be very difficult to be a Disney writer. On the one hand, you have to make films that will appeal to a modern audience, create engaging characters, and place them in a adventurous story that will allow for outrageous spectacle. On the other, you have the legacy, one which ignores many of those elements for outdated and often politically incorrect archetypes.

Don't get me wrong, I love golden-age Disney, and like everyone else, hold it as the standard-bearer for all animation since. Films like Pinocchio and Fantasia have been among my favorite films since childhood, but the Princess (TM) films always felt like they were missing something critical. Until the early nineties, there was a definite Mary Sue complex that held them back, a blankness that let young girls place their own personalities onto the protagonists, but robbed those characters of any real personality.

Disney's new film Tangled does a terrific job of balancing these seemingly incompatible standards. Repunzel is as sunny and alive as the legend that bred her. She's charismatic, adventurous if a little timid, positive if a little moody, and she has magical hair that glows when she sings! That hair alone is a work of art; it really does seem to be without end. She can climb on it, use it to swing from rafters, restrain intruders with it, use it as a whip and -- ahem, anyway...



Actually, the film isn't nearly as kinky as the teaser trailer suggests, and as much as I was interested in seeing a Disneyfied Black Snake Moan this is really more in the tradition of classic Disney animation.

Knowing this, I might be tempted to criticize the use of computer-generated imagery, but the animators seem to have no difficulty translating the textures, the movement, the magic of the Disney Princess (TM) genre to these new tools. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the soundtrack, which features traditional show tunes alongside some very annoying bubblegum pop songs, an upsetting tendency in many recent animated films.

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper Disney film without a proper Disney villain. Here we have Mother Gothel, who steals Repunzel from her crib. Gothel locks her in a tower to gain eternal youth from the power of her hair. She warns Repunzel against venturing into the dangerous outside world, an element that reminded me of Judge Frollo of the The Hunchback of Notre Dame with a pinch of the Wicked Stepmother of Cinderella. In a way, though, Gothel is a much more sinister creation. She actually pretends to care.

She dotes on Repunzel, embraces her like a loving mother, and only occasionally lets a slip a demeaning comment before covering herself with a casual "I'm just teasing." I found the ease of her ruse and the extent of her manipulation downright terrifying. I can't help but wonder how many children will see a parallel with their own parents, and whether those parents will appreciate being made into the villains of their children's fantasies. As much as I appreciate the nuance of their relationship in a Shadow of a Doubt sort of way, I'm not sure everyone will feel likewise.

Though it might not have the same mystique and wonder of some earlier Disney films, I'll defend its place among the canon. It's a film with some genuine personality and superb animation. It does very little wrong (some crappy songs, clunky exposition, and an ending that lacks credibility even in its own fantasy universe), but it may not have lasting power of its predecessors or even some of its contemporaries. Then again, I can think of a few worse ways to spend an afternoon.



Did I say worse? I meant amazing!