Before you freak out, let me just address that I don't think it's a bad movie or one of Disney's weakest, because it isn't! With that said, however, I did find some major problems in the film that I found to be very bland and distracting, at least for me, while at the same time enjoying the stuff that I thought made the film good. What are the film's hits and misses; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
A magical drop of sunlight has turned into a golden flower
that has the ability to heal things, which can only heal a person by singing a
special song. Yeah, uh, the origin of the magical flower in many respects
doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. With that said though, this surprisingly is
NOT one of the major problems that I have with the film! In fact, I actually do
think it works within the film's Fairy Tale elements, since Fairy Tale's (In
many respects) don't make a whole lot of sense either. Getting back to the
plot; an old hag named Gothel finds the flower and uses its magic to make
herself young, while also hiding the flower from others. However, soldiers find
the magic flower and use it to save their Queen from dying, while giving birth.
Since the Queen has consumed the magic from the flower to heal her, her
daughter Rapunzel being born after the Queen's healing now has the powers from
the flower in her hair and if her hair is cut, the magic would be gone. Gothel
finds out about the healing powers being inside Rapunzel hair and she takes her
away to an old tower deep within the Forrest, and keeps her locked away from
the outside world to use her healing powers to keep her young, while also raising
her. The King and Queen (Who by the way, fortunately DON'T DIE at all in the
movie) are sad about the loss of their daughter and release Sky Lanterns on the
day of her Birthday, hoping that one day she'll come home. Before I go any
further with the plot, the set-up and back story is a perfect Disney twist on
this old Fairy Tale. This is truly one of Disney's best when it comes to giving
Fairy Tale's a twist! To finish my summary of the film's plot; 18 years later,
Rapunzel who dreams of leaving the Tower to see where the Sky Lanterns are
being lit, meets a thief named Flynn who hides in her Tower from the law. With
Gothel away getting Rapunzel a birthday present that she requested, which is a
3 day walk; Rapunzel convinces Flynn to take her to where the Lanterns are lit
and the two go off on an adventure, which of course involves romance; Rapunzel
getting to know her new surroundings; fighting off soldiers that are after
Flynn; and of course, the villain is hot on their trail. Much like how praised
the film's back story; the film's main story is just as great.
Since this is Disney's first computer animated Fairy Tale, I
guess I might as well talk about the animation first, since most of us are used
to seeing Disney's Fairy Tale’s in 2-D animation. In all honesty with the films
Computer Animation, it's for the most part great. If Disney was ever going to
make a Computer Animated film about a Princess, the story of Rapunzel is the
perfect choice. Whenever I see Rapunzel's hair, I always find myself being
amazed at how real it looks. If it was done in 2-D animation, it would probably
still look good, but not as great as seeing it in Computer Animation where you just
want to touch her magic hair and feel it! I also found myself in great awe when
I saw all the Sky Lanterns light up flying above Rapunzel and Flynn; it's just
so beautiful and enchanting to look at. I also admire the timing for the films
action sequences, they're really well paced as well as being really entertaining.
For me though, my favorite scene with the film’s Computer Animation is that
brief scene of the King and Queen missing their daughter. The animation in
their facial expressions are so moving and touching, that for a brief scene
without any dialogue, you can actually feel everything that these two
characters are feeling. While I do enjoy the animation, there are two problems
that I have with the films world and style. The first problem I have with it is
I actually wasn't really enchanted by this films world and atmosphere. I
actually found it to be very bland and boring; like there's nothing in this
world that I felt was creative or amazing enough to get me lost in, aside from
the things that I already praised. The second problem I have with the film's
world and style is the humor. While I did get a few good laughs and enjoyed
some of the visuals, I for the most part kept a straight face because of how forced and obnoxious it was. Half of the time I felt like I was watching a Dreamswork movie, then I was actually watching a Disney movie, from the animation style and how the jokes and gags are being played out.
Our films Princess Rapunzel has got to be one of Disney's
strongest Princess characters. She's smart, energetic, talented, carrying,
active, and can turn a household item into a badass weapon (A joke that I did
laugh at). This character is indeed written really well. The problem I have
with her though is sadly the voice acting from Mandy Moore. It's not bad or
anything, it's just that I didn't feel like I was hearing the voice of a
fictional Princess character; I felt like I was just listening to Mandy Moore's
voice, who makes the character sound like one of those bland and unfunny
teenage girls that you see on those lame Disney Channel Sitcoms, who are
obviously playing their selves. On top of it, and this is one of the major
issues I have with the film, whenever I hear a character talk; instead of
feeling like that I'm seeing a character come to life before my eyes, I get the
strong vibe of hearing the actor’s reading their lines and performing in the
recording studio, which is very distracting. When I first heard my favorite
critic Doug Walker point that out in his review, I thought he was just
nitpicking to find a flaw in the film. When I heard the voice acting for
myself, I too felt like I was just listening to the actors in a recording
studio just putting on a performance, instead of the actors actually making the
characters seem real and distracting you from the fact that they're recording
in a studio. This is something that I don’t notice too much, but here, it’s
pretty obvious, even if my favorite critic didn’t point it out.
(Man does that face crack me up!)
The Thief Flynn, while likable I really didn't really find
him that interesting or fun. The relationship between him and Rapunzel, while
not bad or lifeless I just didn't find myself that interested or enchanted by
it. Though, I will admit, the sad climatic scene between them was actually
pretty heavy and was one of those rare times when I didn’t feel like I was
hearing actors in a recording booth. Zachary Levi voice acting not only sounds
like he's in a recording studio just putting on a performance as himself, but
the way he delivers his humor is very stale, rushed, forced, and at times sounds like that he's doing a voice over for "Shrek", instead of Disney. Again, I don't think he's a bad
character, I just didn't think the voice acting and humor that Levi delivers
didn't match that Disney charm, nor sound like that he's not talking into a mic.
As for the film's villain, she's actually really awesome.
While I did get the same vibe that I was listening to the actress Donna Murphy
recording her voice in a studio like everyone else in this film; she actually
was the closest out of all the voice actors, from distracting me from that
fact. I say this because, whenever she acts motherly towards Rapunzel without
going over the top to the point where you can sense the actress hamming it up
in the studio, I actually did find myself just as fooled as Rapunzel is with
her Motherly charm, even when knowing that she's the villain. Unlike the evil
step Mothers in Disney films who are made to be pure evil; or Frollo who is
still intimidating when he takes care of Quasimodo in Disney's "Hunchback";
she actually does act and feel like a real Mother. She takes care of her; cooks
her, her favorite meals; and is willing to get her the stuff she needs despite
being a very long distanced journey. Even when she says the words "I Love
You", it doesn't sound sinister or phoned in, it actually felt real. Now
that's what I call an evil manipulative villain. She even has some creepy and
unsettling moments. When I saw her in the film's opening wearing a hood as the
darkness nearly hides her old face, while singing to the flower; I was creeped
out. The only thing I didn't like about the character herself, is how comically
over the top the film makes her. It just seems out of place, as well being at
times annoying and obnoxious. Aside from that, she's still a good villain.
The supporting characters in this film are ok. The horse
Maximums who I heard is the funniest supporting character in the movie; while
given some really hilarious facial expressions, as well as getting some good
comical moments between him and Flynn, since the horse is after Flynn for his
crimes (Which I do love the concept); I in all honestly wasn't laughing as hard
as I hoped that I would. The Thieves at the bar that our characters encounter, are just as forced and obnoxious as the film's over the top humor.
The only Thief I found funny was the Thief dressed as Cupid, that is until,
they use him as a running gag, that starts to become old and annoying. Finally, there's Rapunzel's animal friend Pascal the Chameleon, who surprisingly does
feel like a Disney character instead of a "DreamWorks" knock-off.
He's cute, fun, and the Computer Animation for whenever he blends into his
environment is really cool as well. This is a character that I actually would
like to have as a pet.
Finally, we go to the songs, which are also my final major problem with the movie. While they do tell the story, they're sadly very bland and forgettable. In "The Princess And The Frog", despite the songs being not memorable, I still enjoyed them greatly, while I was listening to them. Here, I was actually bored and unamused by the film’s songs. Rapunzel's "Want Song" called "When Will My Life Begin?" while having some great visuals and giving you a perfect background of how she lives with herself in the Tower after all these years; the song sounds like a bland Pop tune that you would hear on the Disney Channel starring a musical celebrity, instead of feeling like a Disney Fairy Tale song. We even get another bland Pop tune during that beautiful sequence with the lights called "I See The Light", which nearly killed this beautiful and atmospheric sequence for me. The villain song "Mother Knows Best", while visually good and giving us a good background at how Gothel keeps Rapunzel in the Tower like "When Will My Life Begin", as well as Murphy putting a lot of energy into the song she's singing; the song is forgettable and is actually pretty obnoxious. However, I think the most pointless and obnoxious song in the whole movie is "I Have A Dream" sung by the Thieves. I like the idea for the scene, and laughed at some of the humor, but as a whole I found myself really annoyed by it, as well as rolling my eyes at half of the song's forced jokes. The only song I did like was the song that the characters sing to the flower and Rapunzel's hair to be healed. It's beautiful, enchanting, atmospheric, and does match with the traditional Disney Fairy Tale charm.
So that's my review on "Tangled" and while I do find it to be very overrated with the obvious feeling that I'm listening to actors in a recording studio; having very obnoxious and unfunny humor; songs that are very bland and forgettable; and being a Fairy Tale World that's not all that imaginative, I still give the film credit for the things that it does achieve. Rapunzel is a great female lead; the villain is awesome; the Computer Animation is very impressive on a handful of occasions; and the story is great! Not what I personally consider to be a great Disney film, but the film has enough potential to make it worth seeing, and despite finding the film to be overrated, I would still watch the film again for the things that it did succeed in.
RATING 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment