Follow up:
TANGLED
(In Disney Digital 3D™)
WALT DISNEY PICTURES
Website: Disney.com/Tangled
Voice Cast: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Ron Perlman, M.C. Gainey, Jeffrey Tambor, Brad Garrett, Paul F. Tompkins
Directors: Byron Howard, Nathan Greno
Composer: Alan Menken
Studio Synopsis:
Walt Disney Pictures presents “Tangled,” one of the most hilarious, hair-raising tales ever told. When the kingdom’s most wanted—and most charming—bandit Flynn Rider (voice of Zachary Levi) hides out in a mysterious tower, he’s taken hostage by Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. Flynn’s curious captor, who’s looking for her ticket out of the tower where she’s been locked away for years, strikes a deal with the handsome thief and the unlikely duo sets off on an action-packed escapade, complete with a super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon and a gruff gang of pub thugs. In theaters this holiday season in Disney Digital 3D™, “Tangled” is a story of adventure, heart, humor and hair—lots of hair.
J.P.’s Take:
Rapunzel lets her hair down in this new retelling of a classic fairy tale.
Over the years I’ve grown to like some of Disney’s animated films, because to be honest, I was never a huge fan of their work. Surprisingly, I found this entertaining little musical to be classic Disney story telling at its best.
You can expect every character from the wickedest of villains to the giddy good guys to break out in song at any time, but these songs are actually memorable and nicely written this time. The voiceover work by the main cast (led by singer Mandy Moore and Chuck star Zachary Levi) are comical and fresh.
In this version, Rapunzel (Moore) isn’t quite the helpless damsel in distress as noted in previous remakes, she’s a curious spunky 17-year old. Ready for the world outside her sky-scraping fortress, she wants badly to venture out, but fears Mother Gothel (voice of Donna Murphy) will never let her see the light of day. One thing parents and children alike will be happy about is that there is no pop culture fodder to clutter up the story — adding that to the mix can be confusing to new audiences. It’s contemporary without unnecessary generational and cultural nuances weighing it down.
I liked the bubbliness of Moore as Rapunzel, as she sounds youthful and adorable as the character looks. Levi is a natural funny man as a character that’s been added to the original cast, named Flynn Rider a.k.a. Eugene (the original story makes no mention of this character what so ever). To me, his portrayal of this character bares a similar quality to a particular character from the popular TV series Friends, Joey Tribbiani (as played by Matt LeBlanc). Well when it came to charming the young Rapunzel that is. Other than that he seems like a young swashbuckling type, dashing and daring.
I enjoy the scene where the charming intruder Flynn Rider startles Rapunzel. She smacks him over the head several times with a frying pan at every move he made. Even some of the non-speaking characters, such as the horse Maximus and Rapunzel’s companion a little a chameleon, also adds some personality to the mix. I enjoyed Donna Murphy’s performance as the evil Mother Gothel as well. She has the right tone to sound evil and caring at the same time.
Filling out the rest of the cast are well known actors, Jeffrey Tambor as the Big Nosed Thug, Ron Pearlman as Stabbington Brother, Brad Garrett as the Hook Hand Thug, and Richard Kiel as Vlad, with voice over work from Paul F Tompkins as the Short Thug.
All of which I enjoyed watching. “Tangled” has to be one of the most entertaining Disney animations I’ve watched since those of Pixar. It’s funny cute and destined to become an instant classic.
Richard’s Quick Take:
I also got to see “Tangled” (as I prepared for my interview with voice leads Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi) and I’m going to say it right at the top, “I liked it.” “Tangled” is a cute and musical Disney reboot of the German fairy tale “Rapunzel” by the Brothers Grimm. It doesn’t follow the original tale, but it has its own uniqueness in a somewhat modern take.
Similar to J.P., I haven’t watched many Disney animated films (nor not many of the Pixar’s CG films) over the decades (why? I edit the entire production of Sidewalks and it keeps me busy). I think the last Disney film I saw has been “Snow White” (I have the DVD, so it was a couple of years ago).
I was nervous about watching the film, because I thought I would have to sit through 100 minutes of little adorable animal characters that can talk, but, surprisingly, that didn’t happen. Although Maximus the horse does more than be a vehicle for traveling and Pascal, Rapunzel’s chameleon friend, helps guide the young girl, I liked that “Tangled” stayed away from the speaking animals and let the “humans” do the voices.
The best part of the film is the voices, especially from Moore and Levi as Rapunzel and Rider, respectively. Listening to the characters, you can hear the emotions. After a while, I forgot “Tangled” was an animated film and I thought I watching a film with a real voices coming out of these characters. Moore was very convincing as a teen girl.
Knowing this is a Disney musical at the same time, I liked the songs. We should be hearing these songs perform at Disney’s parks for years to come. I don’t know if they will have the lasting range as classic songs from “The Little Mermaid” or “Aladdin,” but they should be part of the popular collection. A major surprise was Levi singing. He is not known as singer at all, but the Chuck star can carry a tune. “I See The Light,” performed by Moore and Levi, is a highlight.
Now I read J.P.’s review above. Are you serious? Can you be any—yy wrong? (read that last two sentences as Chandler [Matthew Perry] from Friends). You think the portrayal of Flynn has quality similar to a particular character from Friends, Joey Tribbiani? Oh come on. It was definitely an Errol Flynn (Robin Hood)–inspired character. OK, for recent references, maybe the lead character of Legend of The Seeker (Craig Horner) or even the late Jon-Erik Hexum as Phineas Bogg from the old Voyagers! series. Sorry, I had a big laugh on your assessment.
Well, back to the film, bring your kids – and adults — to the theatres. “Tangled” is a fun, comical, adventurous movie and looks fantastic in 3D.