Why I Liked... Tangled (2010)

(Dir. Nathan Greno, Byron Howard. Starring: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy)

It was cute.

When my sister was a young baby model (no, really), she had blonde hair. Coming from a father from Scandanavia, this isn’t entirely surprising. I don’t know much about the length of said hair, but when my parents left us two in the care of our grandmother and went to Rome for a week, they returned to find my sister with a short brown cut. My mother was pissed, as you can imagine, and now my younger brother and I remain the only blondes in the family (my father has since gone grey).

There, tidbit of my life over, I’d just like to say that Tangled was a really nice little way of showing the tale of Rapunzel in a new light. My only quibble is how quickly Rapunzel (Moore) turned against Gothel (Murphy), who was in effect, albeit very selfishly, her actual mother. I guess I understand being a teenage and blowing anything and everything out of proportion, but to suddenly turn against the woman who raised you? Even if she did steal you from your crib, she’s still the only mother you’ve ever known. So, you know-a little more conflict, please.

 

 I've been riding for years, I've yet to manage this trick.

There’s a lovely sequence when Rapunzel flips between ecstatic giddiness and finally escaping her tower home, and ever-lasting guilt at what her mother, Gothel, would say, do, think-and most importantly, how hurt she’d be. So right there you can see that Rapunzel has a daughterly love for the woman.

Realistically, she is able to get over this with her thirst for adventure, and the convenient knowledge that her dear mother won’t be back for three days (yeah, buying Rapunzel her birthday present-she may be selfish, but I see some love there), and so the teen happily frolicks away, meeting her handsome companion, Flynn (Levi) along the way.

Hijinks, of course, ensue.
 

 Hijinks and luuurrrvvveeee...

Unlike Rapunzel, Flynn I found, isn’t your typical Disney Prince. He’s good looking, but not quite good looking enough to get away with being as self-centered as he is. He’s a character with flaws and niceities, and who manages to escape a crime he did, yes, commit.

So not much in the way of redemption here.

But really, for a film that has so many (I will not make a hair pun) loose ends, I still managed to enjoy it. It was sweet without being saccarine, and the musical numbers added to, rather than just exist and be pretty, to the meandering plot.

It is, however, forgettable.