Tangled. The review.

So Tangled came out today, saw it and well I was blown away.

Not only is it simply beautiful to look at but Disney have managed to achieve a beautiful story. Before seeing Tangled, I was unaware of the tale behind Rapunzel. I knew she was the girl with long golden hair locked away in a tower and that was about it, I had no desire to look into it any further. After seeing the movie I hunkered down, did some reading and read the original origin of the fairy tale. Much to my surprise, a lot of things in the movie are much like their fairy tale counterparts but at the same time a lot of things are also different.

I remember reading, in the Art of Tangled that at one stage of early production they had wanted to modernize the story, but that the idea was squashed. Regardless, I feel that there is a little modernization however the film still pertains that classic story telling feeling; and while you may be able to guess how it ends you still want to stay and see how it comes about.

This has to be one of the few movies that the forms of expression have really stood out to me (The only other from recent animation that comes to my mind is Toothless from httyd). From Rapunzel, whose hair acts as an extension of her body, to the animals Maximus and Pascal, who only rely on body language, and Flynn, who has some wild facial expressions, the way each character expresses themself is very well done. Even Mother Gothel has a distinct way in which she carries herself.

My favourite scene (which I’m not really spoiling because it’s been in all the trailers oratleastithinkso) is the lanterns in the sky. The back story behind them is a sweet one, and I found myself lost in the however-long the scene went for. For lack of better words, sooooo pretty.

The music. I’d listened to the soundtrack long before the film came out here in Australia. In fact, a lot of people I talked to from the US said that they found the musical style songs to not be very memorable. While I agree with them to a degree, I still feel they are still very fitting to the film. All I feel they’re missing is a bit more Omph! Mother Gothel’s ‘Mother Knows Best’ kind of has it going but I feel it was still a little on the soft side. The score itself is beautiful, then again I expect no less from Alan Menken who already has a list of my favorite Disney film scores under his belt.

Overall I loved the film and it will be joining my list of ultimate favorites. Fantastic story, fantastic characters, simply fantastic. At no point did I ever feel squeamish or bored. I even came out of the cinema having not chewed my finger nails which is a rare occasion for me (and a sign for that the film has had my 100% attention for the entire time).

I highly recommend seeing it, even if it’s only once in your lifetime. I’m rather excited because I’ve already got 2 more viewings of the movie scheduled in over the next week or so.

Fanart I did back in early December. Because I can.

and a photo of the artbook, which I recieved last night and proceeded to run through the house cheering about.