I finally got around to seeing Tangled, and that’s only because my 11-year-old niece was willing to see it a second time around. She is, most definitely, its target demographic – but I really liked it too. Tangled is a fun, sweet fairy tale flick reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast. But instead of Beauty’s Belle living in her “small provincial town”, you’ve got Rapunzel holed up in a tower in the middle of the forest somewhere. Both are sort of rescued by guys, but when push comes to shove, both gals can kick some butt (only with much more grace and musicality).
As the story goes, Rapunzel is a princess stolen from her crib by a nasty old woman who knows that the child’s hair holds magical powers. The evil “Mother Gothel” raises Rapunzel in an isolated tower until one day – around her 18th birthday- a hot young fugitive thief named Flynn Rider stumbles upon the tower. Rapunzel conks him on the head a few times with a frying pan then cons him into being her guide on what’s supposed to be a quick adventure into the outside world. Danger ensues – and of course, so does love.
Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi voice the main characters, and they certainly make a cute animated couple. The songs aren’t particularly memorable but they do help the story along and the movie is well-paced overall at 100 minutes (the threshold for the Disney-audience attention span, and lately, mine as well!). Tangled is on par with last year’s The Princess and the Frog only it’s not quite as dark and scary for the younger set.
Young girls don’t have all that many movies to choose from these days. So Tangled is a definite winner for the gals and hopefully the guys as well. Adults will like it too. Bonus.
My daughter and I LOVED “Tangled”. I agree that girls have few good movies from which to choose these days, and there are even fewer which really empower girls. This Rapunzel does not NEED a man to rescue her. She does just fine on her own. However, she DOES want someone to introduce her to the outside world, to be a friend and guide. I like that message of a strong, independent, caring young woman. And, yes, I laughed harder and louder than my daughter. At one point, she asked me to stifle my laughter as she said I was embarrassing her. Ha!