Mandy Moore embraces her pop idol talents and comic skills to make Rapunzel into a feisty girl with a frying pan and a sense of adventure that would put many fairytale princesses to shame. Granted, Moore’s tomboyish Rapunzel is far removed from the longstanding Brothers Grimm character but it’s a makeover that works out just fine for the beloved girl with the golden hair. “Tangled” is the 50th Disney animated feature and while the action comedy from directors Byron Howard and Nathan Greno may not match up with the movie that started it all, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” or a modern-day classic like “The Lion King,” it’s a fun and lively addition to the Disney repertoire.
Bandit Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) is in search of a hiding spot after robbing the royal family and he believes he’s hit pay dirt after discovering a mysterious tower hidden deep in the forest. Of course Flynn wasn’t prepared to meet Rapunzel (Moore) and her 70 feet of magical glowing hair. Their adventure leaps into action once Rapunzel coerces Flynn to travel with her away from the tower and head to the nearby kingdom in search of the floating lanterns that fill the night sky every year upon her birthday.
Parts of the Rapunzel reboot courtesy of Howard, Greno and screenwriter Dan Fogelman include narrow escapes from a flooded mine shaft, fights with palace guards, a pet green chameleon named Pascal, a horse that swordfights and a sinister stepmother with a Broadway voice named Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy).
Howard and Greno borrow a scene from “Mission: Impossible” for a gag early in the film involving the palace robbery and maintain a fast action pace that would make Disney favorite Capt. Jack Sparrow breathe hard. If there’s a problem with “Tangled” it’s that sight gags take priority over sentimentality at almost every step. Is straightforward romance a step backwards for a post-modern fairytale princess like Rapunzel?
Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater provide some musical zest including the bouncy number “I’ve Got a Dream” featuring thugs (Jeffrey Tambor, Brad Garett among others) in a dangerous pub.
Extraordinary 3D adds to the colorful animation and it’s a great change of pace from the many 3-D movies that fail to pop off the screen.
More impressive is the film’s dead-on casting with each vocal performance complementing the other.
Zachary Levi remains best known as geek hero Chuck Bartowski in the TV series “Chuck” and he makes an amiable hero out of the cliché dashing bandit.
Donna Murphy is perfectly vain and self-centered as Mother Gothel, who pretends to be Rapunzel’s loving mother but who is really her captor. Murphy has the show stopping number “Mother Knows Best” and the film crackles with extra energy every time Mother Gothel appears on-screen.
Moore makes Rapunzel a brave and funny teen heroine and it’s impossible not to cheer for her as she fights to break free from her “mother.” As Rapunzel fights for an independent life, it’s easy to see her huge golden hair as a metaphor for her childhood innocence coming to an end.
Then again, no one will debate the meaning of fairy tales or visual metaphors upon leaving “Tangled.” It’s not that kind of movie. (Leave those discussions for Catherine Hardwicke’s upcoming “Red Riding Hood”). But its show tunes, cartoon action and gags deliver plenty of fun and one should never take fun for granted.
4 Stars
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Byron Howard and Nathan Greno
Scriptwriter: Dan Fogelman
Editor: Tim Mertens
Art Director: David Goetz, Dan Cooper
Cast: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor, Brad Garrett
Production Designer: Douglas Rogers
Music: Alan Menken
Producers: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Running Time: 100 minutes
Rating: PG
Release Date: November 24, 2011