Rapunzel, the girl locked in a tower with only her long, golden locks for company, gets a sassy, spirited screen treatment from Disney with "Tangled," an animated fairy-tale musical from the Not Pixar corner of the company.
Disney has turned her into a missing princess - naturally - and it's not a prince who waits below and calls out "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair." Her hair has magical powers of healing in this version, but only if she doesn't cut it. Otherwise, they play the story pretty much straight out of the Brothers Grimm.
Soldiers pull up a magical flower to help an ailing queen through a difficult childbirth. But the witch who needs the plant to stay young steals the royal infant in revenge and raises the child as her own, never letting Rapunzel leave her high tower.
"Why can't I go outside?" always gets a "Mother knows best," and "It's a SCARY world out there" from this fake-mom (Broadway's Donna Murphy). Naturally, she sings that sentiment.
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Rapunzel, voiced by Mandy Moore, sings her wish song, "When Will My Life Begin?" Her life begins, it turns out, when a robber and rogue named Flynn (Zachary Levi) stumbles upon her and is blackmailed/threatened into showing her the world. Flynn, meanwhile, isn't at all smitten with the long-haired beauty. Not at first. "The only thing I want to do with your hair is get out of it - literally."
But the reluctant pair go on their quest, the witch pursues them and sics Flynn's cheated fellow robbers on them. And every so often, somebody sings.
The story borrows elements from "Beauty and the Beast" (a rousing drinking song) and every fairy-tale with a wicked, selfish witch in it. It's all about letting kids grow up, building up (or knocking down) a child's self-esteem, and having a dream. The Alan Menken songs are pleasant enough, if instantly forgettable.
And then there's imperial war horse Maximus, who generally steals the movie.
"Tangled," like most of Disney's in-house cartoons, suffers most when compared to the best of Pixar. Animated musicals are only as good as their songs, and this one isn't on a par with "Beauty and the Beast" or even "The Princess and the Frog." But the laughs make the tunes pass by quickly, the emotional moments pay off and this version lets down its hair just enough to deserve a place of honor with all the other glorious Disney "princess" tales.
Review
Tangled
***
• Rated: PG for brief, mild violence.
• Cast: The voices of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy.
• Directors: Nathan Greno, Byron Howard.
• Running time: 101 minutes.
