Film Review: Tangled

I realise that I've already done a film review this week but that was a cinema film review, whereas this is a DVD review. I think that's different enough to post them one after another.

Tangled is another Disney film. One which I've wanted to see for ages but never got around to getting. Part of this is because at Christmas I buy CG animated films for Mr Click and he buys classic animated films for me; as Tangled looked like kind of a girly film so I didn't feel right buying it for him. Thankfully my team leader at work shares my obsession with all things Disney and when I mentioned that I wanted to see Tangled she leant me the DVD and Mr Click and I were finally able to watch it.

It's the story of Rapunzel; a girl with magic hair, the result of her ill and pregnant mother drinking special cure containing a magic flower which provides eternal youth (if you know a particular song). Annoyed at losing the flower, an enchantress named Mother Gothel steals the baby away and raises her as her own, trapped in a tower to keep her from the outside world. This works quite well until the thieve, Flynn Rider stumbles onto the tower whilst trying to escape with the crown he has stolen...

Rapunzel is a wonderfully naïve character, wracked with doubt about her desire to see the world and her fear of what the outside world holds, according to what her 'mother' has told her. It's fun to see how the character grows and changes throughout the film.

On the other hand there's Flynn, a tough guy criminal who kind of softens as the film progresses. He's the butt of so many jokes and is pretty much indestructible, which is just as well because his introduction to Rapunzel involves her pretty much beating the crap out of him. He's also not too bad looking (for an animated character).

Of course, being a film involving a Disney Princess it's pretty much a given that she's going to end up with the lead male in the film. And she does. And it's done in a very sweet way as they gradually grow together and come to see each other differently. I think I like the newer way that Disney girls end up with their handsome princes; the girls seem to be a lot more pro-active than they used to be.

The animation in this film is beautiful. There is so much detail in everything. Just looking at the clothes and you can see seams, actual seams on clothes that have been animated! Rapunzel's hair is incredible too, the way it moves and everything. And the backgrounds as well, they're just beautiful. It's like something out of a painting. I definitely need to get this film on Blu-ray purely so I can just watch it again and marvel at the beauty of it all, particularly now we have the fancy new TV screen.

There's also songs in this one as well. Proper old-fashioned Disney songs. In fact, I kept on getting the feeling that these wouldn't feel out of place in a stage production of the film. I kept on day dreaming while I was watching it about how bits might be staged if it was to be adapted for the stage. particularly the way that Mother Gothel sings her songs is very theatrical, as you can see:

I'm going to have to get a copy of the soundtrack at some point because several of these songs are earworms. In the meantime I'll leave you with another of my favourite songs (in fact I love this whole bit of the film):