TANGLED

Everybody knows the story of Rapunzel don’t they? A princess with really really really long hair trapped in a tower until a handsome prince comes along and rescues her… Well, Tangled is Disney’s version of the fairytale, with a title that is a little more male friendly and a trailer that emphasises its swashbuckling male lead over the princess and hides the musical numbers.

Many years ago the vain crone Gothel (Donna Murphy) discovered a magical flower that restores youth which she hides and greedily keeps to herself. When the kingdom’s pregnant queen falls ill the flower is discovered and used as a healing elixir. When Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is born she possesses a long mane of golden hair that, like the flower, can stop the aging process, however if it is cut off its power fades. Not wanting to lose her loose her ‘follicle’ of youth, Gothel kidnaps Rapunzel and locks her away in a hidden tower.

Rapunzel is content to stay locked up in order to please her mother, but longs to discover the source of the ‘lights’ that appear in the sky every year on her birthday (A tribute by the king and queen for their missing princess). When rouge thief Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi) drops in however Rapunzel seizes her chance and blackmails Flynn into taking her to see the lights. Mummy isn’t going to be happy.

Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi are great as the romantic duo, but it is Donna Murphy as Rapunzel’s evil ‘mother’ Gothel that really impresses. Gothel is the embodiment of passive aggressive mothering, using every trick to keep her darling Rapunzel locked in her tower – its very Mommie Dearest. Of course it wouldn’t be a Disney movie without funny animal sidekicks, and Tangled gives us cheeky Gecko Pascal and the scene stealing palace horse Maximus. Maximus is a study in silent acting, the driven horse will do anything to catch his man, in this case Flynn Ryder, and the pair’s unlikely team-up provides many of the films biggest laughs.

Tangled looks absolutely gorgeous, an old style animated film taken into the 3rd dimension. The backgrounds are lush and inviting, the lantern scene is breath taking and the character animation, particularly that of bloodhound horse Maximus, is sensational – especially given horses are one of the hardest creatures to animate.

Tangled is Disney’s second attempt, after last years The Princess & The Frog, to reinstate the tradition of animated musicals which fell out of vouge following their boom in the 90’s. Unfortunately none of the composer Alan Menken’s songs come close to matching his older work with Howard Ashman (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty & the Beast) but they are toe tapping enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if Tangled turns up as a Broadway show (if only for the tavern scene!)…

Overall Tangled is a return to form for Disney whose earnest, heart on its sleeve storytelling has suffered next to snappy and sarcastic hits like Shrek, and even the broad appeal of sister studio Pixar. Tangled is a fairytale for modern audiences, full of action, laughs and just enough sentiment without it becoming cloying. Tangled has the distinction of being Disney’s 50th animated feature, and if they are all as good as this I look forward to the next 50…

4 of 5 Stars