Tangled (Rapunzel) – Movie Review

Tangled (aka Rapunzel) is the Disney animated movie about a princess (Rapunzel, voiced by Mandy Moore) who was kidnapped at infancy. Rapunzel then lives in a secluded tower for her entire life and grows an extremely long head of hair. One day she meets Flynn Rider, a dashing thief voiced by Zachary Levi, and they go on an adventure which mostly takes place in a forest.

This film takes you back to the days of classic Disney-Princess movies such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. Although this is a 3D animated movie, there are scenes in the film that were specially made to look like 2D animation. The animation style is good, but the overall look of the film isn’t as detail as I had hoped.

One of the most memorable moments in this film is a fun song and dance number which takes place in a bar filled with thugs. The musical sequences in Tangled are all very well conceptualised and definitely better than those you find in the Shrek and Madagascar films. In fact, I think that if it weren’t for the songs, Tangled would have been very boring. Disney did a good job of assembling a talented voice cast, including Donna Murphy as the evil stepmother.

There were scenes which had me laughing out loud, but some gags made me wish that the slapstick was toned down further. There is a horse and a chameleon which were cute to see, but even they became bland after a while. The climax of this film was dramatic enough, although not on the level of say, Toy Story 3. Despite its flaws, I still enjoyed Tangled and am recommending it, but make sure you show your kids Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella as well.