"Tangled" Up in Blue (ha ha ha OH GOD I'M SO SORRY)
So, just got back from "Tangled."
-Was interested when I saw the original concept art. Was considerably LESS interested after this trailer came out and I got the bad bad bad feeling Disney had decided once and for all to go the 'hip/edgy/ironic fractured fairy tale' route that "Enchanted" SEEMED to be but ultimately wasn't, and let's face it: outside of that one and the first "Shrek" (the "Fables" series if you let me count comics and "Into the Woods" if we're stretching it to musical theatre), this approach has never worked well. Enthusiasm knocked down yet another notch after I learned about the title change and their reasons for doing so.
-After walking out... wow, I'm glad that Disney turned out to fail so hard at their advertising direction for this one. Cards on the table? This is probably, overall, their best animated film since "Tarzan" ("The Lion King" if you're THAT much of a purist). If it hadn't had the misfortune of coming out the same year that "Toy Story 3" had, "Tangled" would own the 2011 Best Animated Film Oscar.
(Frankly, unless they make a movie that's THAT stupendously excellent again, I'm starting to think Pixar should just be disqualified from running for that award. I liked "Up," but "Up" winning out over "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Secret of Kells" AND "Coraline?" That's shit's fucked up, yo.)
-I think part of the problem is that signals got crossed between "Tangled" and "Princess and the Frog" in the marketing department somewhere. For all "Princess" was billed as a 'majestic return to the Disney Renaissance style,' it was really more of a classic animated look tied to more modern sensibilities-- a varied, jazz-driven musical score, a unique art style, racial diversity-- so I suppose it's understandable that many were left cold by it.
"Tangled," on the other hand, is bleeding-edge CGI (that still looks familiarly 'old-school' somehow) bound to a 'classic' Disney feel (a fairy tale? Yep. Animal sidekicks? Yep. Suspiciously underage-looking girls trapped in restrictive lifestyles who want that omnipresent 'more?' Oh yeah. Alan Menken score/songs? You bet your ass they're here), yet it ultimately reflects a more enlightened mindset. If you're looking for a Disney Rennaissance-style animated movie and (like me) are sick and fucking tired of everyone trying to be fucking Shrek, consider this money well spent.
-All the talk of the movie supposedly being 'tweaked' to better accomedate boys... is really pretty exaggerated. Flynn is... um, there, and he gets to do the opening/closing narration, but do not be fooled-- this is very much a Disney Princess movie and those going in expecting otherwise are going to be disappointed :)
-Speaking of Princesses, let's get to Rapunzel.
Rapunzel. Is. Awesome. Seriously.
Speaking frankly, Tiana is probably my favorite Princess overall on the grounds that unlike most some, she was driven and ambitious and imperfect and human and had a clear goal instead of some amorphous vague desire for 'something.' Nevermind that she's probably the only Princess who can be femslashed within the context of her own canon, but I digress X)
Really, Rapunzel does have a fair amount in common with her more subdued counterparts like Ariel or Jasmine (OH COME ON LET'S BE HONEST HERE), but the main difference here is that Rapunzel is so damn proactive. Flynn's major contribution to her character arc is getting her out of the tower (and of course being the love interest), but I'm not exaggerating when I say the entire movie could exist without him with very little tweaking. She does... almost all of the rescuing, gets them out of several bad situations through charm alone, discovers her identity without anyone's help, is basically the only Disney heroine to have super powers, and still feels like a believable person. She's bubbly but not stupid, "girly" (whatever that means) but not helpless, strong but not invincible. It is honestly incredibly nice knowing that between Belle, Tiana, Lilo, Mulan, Giselle and Rapunzel, there's a generation of girls growing up with genuinely interesting Disney heroines to look up to.
-I've kind of shortchanged Flynn here, but honestly? Yeah, he's a pretty good character overall. I feel like the last Disney Prince, Naveen, was a bit more interesting on account of him being something of a dick and actually having a character arc (seriously, the ONLY DISNEY PRINCE TO HAVE ONE outside of... um... Kuzco, actually XD), but he gets his moments. He also looks uncannily like the Prince of Persia, so hey plus there.
-The villainess here (shit can't remember her name; it only gets said like once in the beginning) is actually a surprisingly good one too. She's no Maleficent, but in some ways her power over Rapunzel-- less a magical one than a psychological grip-- is a little more frightening in some ways. She reminds me alot of Frollo from "Hunchback" actually, right down to the trapping-someone-at-the-height-of-a-stone-building quirk, though while he was stone-cold-vicious guided by a strand of twisted religious fanaticism, she's more Azula-level manipulative and isn't afraid to use the faux-familial 'bond' between her and Rapunzel as a way of keeping her under her thumb. Sometimes it even seems like there's a thread of genuine affection there, and the fact that it even appears that way despite you knowing that she's a monstrous bitch just makes the relationship more chilling.
Incidentally, only a sick twisted fuck would see something like this as fuel for some sort of bizarre dubcon fic. Oh wait. GODDAMNIT.
-Excellent soundtrack (and Menken's songs are excellent), though I think this may be the shortest list of songs (MAYBE five not including the occasional reprise) in a while.
-The lantern scene is easily the most gorgeous thing committed to film this year. Period. Not to mention it's the ONLY time (possibly a result of the twirling movements) that 3-D has actually given me vertigo.
Overall? Really very, very good. Get out there and see it and savor it, because if you like this kind of Disney movie, it's the last one of its kind you're likely to see in a while.
-Was interested when I saw the original concept art. Was considerably LESS interested after this trailer came out and I got the bad bad bad feeling Disney had decided once and for all to go the 'hip/edgy/ironic fractured fairy tale' route that "Enchanted" SEEMED to be but ultimately wasn't, and let's face it: outside of that one and the first "Shrek" (the "Fables" series if you let me count comics and "Into the Woods" if we're stretching it to musical theatre), this approach has never worked well. Enthusiasm knocked down yet another notch after I learned about the title change and their reasons for doing so.
-After walking out... wow, I'm glad that Disney turned out to fail so hard at their advertising direction for this one. Cards on the table? This is probably, overall, their best animated film since "Tarzan" ("The Lion King" if you're THAT much of a purist). If it hadn't had the misfortune of coming out the same year that "Toy Story 3" had, "Tangled" would own the 2011 Best Animated Film Oscar.
(Frankly, unless they make a movie that's THAT stupendously excellent again, I'm starting to think Pixar should just be disqualified from running for that award. I liked "Up," but "Up" winning out over "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Secret of Kells" AND "Coraline?" That's shit's fucked up, yo.)
-I think part of the problem is that signals got crossed between "Tangled" and "Princess and the Frog" in the marketing department somewhere. For all "Princess" was billed as a 'majestic return to the Disney Renaissance style,' it was really more of a classic animated look tied to more modern sensibilities-- a varied, jazz-driven musical score, a unique art style, racial diversity-- so I suppose it's understandable that many were left cold by it.
"Tangled," on the other hand, is bleeding-edge CGI (that still looks familiarly 'old-school' somehow) bound to a 'classic' Disney feel (a fairy tale? Yep. Animal sidekicks? Yep. Suspiciously underage-looking girls trapped in restrictive lifestyles who want that omnipresent 'more?' Oh yeah. Alan Menken score/songs? You bet your ass they're here), yet it ultimately reflects a more enlightened mindset. If you're looking for a Disney Rennaissance-style animated movie and (like me) are sick and fucking tired of everyone trying to be fucking Shrek, consider this money well spent.
-All the talk of the movie supposedly being 'tweaked' to better accomedate boys... is really pretty exaggerated. Flynn is... um, there, and he gets to do the opening/closing narration, but do not be fooled-- this is very much a Disney Princess movie and those going in expecting otherwise are going to be disappointed :)
-Speaking of Princesses, let's get to Rapunzel.
Rapunzel. Is. Awesome. Seriously.
Speaking frankly, Tiana is probably my favorite Princess overall on the grounds that unlike most some, she was driven and ambitious and imperfect and human and had a clear goal instead of some amorphous vague desire for 'something.' Nevermind that she's probably the only Princess who can be femslashed within the context of her own canon, but I digress X)
Really, Rapunzel does have a fair amount in common with her more subdued counterparts like Ariel or Jasmine (OH COME ON LET'S BE HONEST HERE), but the main difference here is that Rapunzel is so damn proactive. Flynn's major contribution to her character arc is getting her out of the tower (and of course being the love interest), but I'm not exaggerating when I say the entire movie could exist without him with very little tweaking. She does... almost all of the rescuing, gets them out of several bad situations through charm alone, discovers her identity without anyone's help, is basically the only Disney heroine to have super powers, and still feels like a believable person. She's bubbly but not stupid, "girly" (whatever that means) but not helpless, strong but not invincible. It is honestly incredibly nice knowing that between Belle, Tiana, Lilo, Mulan, Giselle and Rapunzel, there's a generation of girls growing up with genuinely interesting Disney heroines to look up to.
-I've kind of shortchanged Flynn here, but honestly? Yeah, he's a pretty good character overall. I feel like the last Disney Prince, Naveen, was a bit more interesting on account of him being something of a dick and actually having a character arc (seriously, the ONLY DISNEY PRINCE TO HAVE ONE outside of... um... Kuzco, actually XD), but he gets his moments. He also looks uncannily like the Prince of Persia, so hey plus there.
-The villainess here (shit can't remember her name; it only gets said like once in the beginning) is actually a surprisingly good one too. She's no Maleficent, but in some ways her power over Rapunzel-- less a magical one than a psychological grip-- is a little more frightening in some ways. She reminds me alot of Frollo from "Hunchback" actually, right down to the trapping-someone-at-the-height-of-a-stone-building quirk, though while he was stone-cold-vicious guided by a strand of twisted religious fanaticism, she's more Azula-level manipulative and isn't afraid to use the faux-familial 'bond' between her and Rapunzel as a way of keeping her under her thumb. Sometimes it even seems like there's a thread of genuine affection there, and the fact that it even appears that way despite you knowing that she's a monstrous bitch just makes the relationship more chilling.
Incidentally, only a sick twisted fuck would see something like this as fuel for some sort of bizarre dubcon fic. Oh wait. GODDAMNIT.
-Excellent soundtrack (and Menken's songs are excellent), though I think this may be the shortest list of songs (MAYBE five not including the occasional reprise) in a while.
-The lantern scene is easily the most gorgeous thing committed to film this year. Period. Not to mention it's the ONLY time (possibly a result of the twirling movements) that 3-D has actually given me vertigo.
Overall? Really very, very good. Get out there and see it and savor it, because if you like this kind of Disney movie, it's the last one of its kind you're likely to see in a while.