Movie Review: Tangled

Rated at 89% on the Rotten Tomatoes tomatometer, Disney‘s Tangled didn’t disappoint, even though I waited to see this one on DVD. Tangled, the remake of the story of Rapunzel, was terrific, and full of fun, excitement, and laughs. It’s a great movie for both children and adults, incorporating childish slapstick humor with some more sophisticated jokes and realistic facial expressions. Some of the funniest and best moments came from Pascal (the chameleon) and Maximus (the horse who behaves like a bloodhound), and they have no lines in the movie at all – it’s all pure expression!

Everything seemed to come together perfectly in this story – the romance, the adventure, the music, the visuals, the humor, the story, and the characters. I found both the hero and the heroine to be equally likable, which was cool, as normally I usually favor one or the other. Mandy Moore was superb as Rapunzel, and conveyed the perfect mix of innocence and cheekiness. And Flynn was just awesome! I was dying laughing when Flynn tried to do his signature “smolder” to get his way and Rapunzel’s facial expression basically said “Huh? What the heck is wrong with you?” Hilarious!

The scene with the floating lanterns was one of the most magical parts of the movie for me! That was just gorgeously done. I really felt the emotion of the king and queen, who were really just peripheral characters when they were releasing the first lantern. And I especially loved the reunion in the end when the lost princess finally returns home. I am not ashamed to admit that I may have had a tear or two well up during this movie.

The only thing that didn’t really work for me was the fake mother/Gothel – I kept expecting her to go all evil ballistic and she didn’t seem to really explode at any given point (like Ursula in the Little Mermaid). At some points, she actually sounded like she really did care about Rapunzel. I needed her to be scarier. But maybe that’s just me.

I adored this movie, and would recommend it to movie fans of all ages. I’d probably rate it four and a half out of five stars, which means I’m more than likely going to buy my own copy for my movie collection. Great Disney flick, this one is as good as any of Pixar’s.