Tangled!
I'm so completely in love with this film! A Disney classic and one of my ultimate favourite Disney films!
Disney have managed to turn the story of Rapunzel into a beautiful masterpiece, adding a bit of Disney magic and stunning CGI effects. It's no wonder the film was so expensive to make but it was worth every penny! The scenery was just plain gorgeous especially Rapunzel's tower situated in the lush woods. The film had everything: romance, adventure, catchy songs, and memorable characters. Disney have definitely made a comeback with this film and I hope there's more to come.
Story:
A single drop of sunlight fell from the heavens and turned into a magic golden flower with incredible healing abilities. The extremely old Gothel decides to hoard the flower's healing power and uses it to keep herself youthful for many years. In a nearby kingdom, the queen was heavily pregnant and fell ill so the king ordered all his guards to search for a cure. They found the golden flower and made a broth to heal the queen who then gives birth to a gorgeous baby girl with luscious golden hair. They named her Rapunzel. The evil Gothel finds out that Rapunzel's hair retained the flower's healing powers so she steals the baby and raises her as her own daughter in a tall tower deep within the woods. The king and queen were devastated and every year on her birthday they send thousands of floating lanterns into the sky in the hope that their beloved princess will return.
18 years passed and Rapunzel has grown into a lovely young woman with the longest hair ever! 70 ft in fact! She yearns to see the outside world and the floating lights that appear every year on her birthday. One day a thief called Flynn Rider was escaping from the palace guards after stealing the lost princess' tiara and decides to use the tower as a hideout. They get acquainted (sort of) and Rapunzel makes him a deal: he will take her to see the floating lights, escort her home and then she will return the tiara that he stole from the castle. Now the adventure begins!
Cast:
Rapunzel
Rapunzel is voiced by Mandy Moore and what a beautiful voice she's got! The voice acting was near perfect and the songs were sung with passion and grace. Rapunzel is just lovely and so energetic considering she's been cooped up in a tower for all her life! If it was me, I'll be miserable and will just sleep the days away or would have escaped a while ago. Her relationship with Gothel is just like mother and daughter - she appears to really love her and obeys her every command like a dutiful daughter. Rapunzel has an incredible zest for life and when she sees the world for the first time you can feel the excitement in her voice. She's also hilarious with a frying pan (one of the key items in the film!) and takes it with her for protection. Rapunzel is a Disney princess who stands out from the rest and has a bit of a edge like Jasmine and Mulan.
Rapunzel's relationship with Flynn Rider does not get off to the best start to say the least. She was terrified of him because he had just invaded her tower so she whacks him with her frying pan and stuffs him in her closet! That scene had me laughing so hard. Then she ties him up with her hair and begins to interrogate him with Pascal's help.
Rapunzel gradually warms to Flynn after their lucky escape from the Snuggly Duckling and they have a heart to heart beside a camp fire. This was the first spark of a romance between the two and beautifully done. When they reached the kingdom the romance really begins to develop, culminating in a romantic boat ride to watch the floating lanterns. This scene was pure magic.
Everything about it was beautiful: the scenery, the lanterns, the song and the expressions of the main characters. It was a joy to watch it in 3D because the lanterns floated towards you and it's like you can almost touch them. I loved the detail - everything was just stunning and a pleasure for the eyes. Even the flowers in Rapunzel's hair stood out and enhanced her beauty.
Flynn Rider
Flynn Rider (aka Eugene) is the ruggedly handsome thief who stumbles upon Rapunzel's tower and takes her on an unforgettable journey. He's voiced by Zachary Levi who I don't really know but his voice acting was also near perfect and he has a nice singing voice though not as powerful as Moore's. Flynn Rider was funny as hell and extremely likeable despite his vanity. His 'smoulder' had me in stitches because it was unexpected and hilarious since it had zero effect on Rapunzel. Quite a lot of his lines were witty and humorous which really added depth to the film in terms of comedy.
His relationship with Rapunzel got off to a iffy start after his 'smoulder' failed to work. All he wanted was his tiara but he was made to escort Rapunzel to the scene of the crime. He treated her with indifference at the start and even tried to scare her back into her tower with the pub thugs at the Snuggly Duckling (misleading pub name or what). However, after their successful escape they bonded in front of a fire and he told her his real name - Eugene (doesn't have the same ring as Flynn). Then she healed his hand with her magic hair and he freaked out big time! That was amusing.
Things get really romantic once they reach the kingdom. I loved the part where Rapunzel's hair was trailing the floor and getting in the way so Flynn enlists the help of 4 little girls who joyfully braid her hair with flowers. So cute! Flynn then gazes at her and Maximus grins a knowing grin - fun! The kingdom dance then followed and the music was so lively and had a medieval feel to it. Rapunzel and Flynn were longing to dance with each other but people kept getting in the way until right at the end of the dance when they finally came together. That was a charming moment.
The boat ride was the next big romantic scene and Flynn managed to get two lanterns for them to send up into the sky. He couldn't stop gazing at Rapunzel who was mesmerised by the floating lanterns (including the one her parents sent). And in Disney tradition, a duet then followed - sung with such heartfelt emotion it could bring tears to your eyes. Oo, and the almost kiss! Gothel had to ruin it - damn her!
Pascal
Pascal the chameleon is the cutest little sidekick ever! I want one! He's Rapunzel's best friend and they do everything together. This is shown in the opening sequence where we see what Rapunzel does all day in her tower which includes: painting, puzzles, darts, paper mache, ballet, chess, pottery, ventriloquy, and candle making. Multi-talented? I think so! It's little things that makes Pascal so adorable:
Pretending to be a flower:
Wearing a cute pink dress
Gesturing to Rapunzel 'let's get him!'
Sticking his tongue in Flynn's ear to wake him up:
Warning Flynn and Maximus to behave:
There's too many! I can't show them all! He's just the perfect little companion and really cares for Rapunzel. Their relationship is too cute for words and I really think Disney could not have come up with a better sidekick.
Maximus
Another genius creation! Maximus is the most hilarious horse I've ever seen in an animated movie. He's a horse who acts like a bloodhound (sniffing out his prey) and evens acts like a person (wielding a sword)
The scene where he fights with Flynn using the sword is one of the strangest fights I've seen! And funny because Flynn was using Rapunzel's frying pan.
His animosity towards Flynn is just so amusing and they fight at every opportunity. I especially liked the scene where Rapunzel manages to calm him down and asks him to get along with Flynn (since it's her birthday). His expressions were so animated and just so funny I can't describe it!
Gothel
A Disney villain you just love to hate. She acts like an overprotective mother keeping her child away from the horrors of the real world. But in fact she's using Rapunzel to keep herself young forever. Gothel is voiced by Donna Murphy and she does a great job. You can feel the vindictiveness in her voice and in her song 'Mother Knows Best.'
Now the hair deserves a special mention - as one of the pub thugs said: 'that's a looooot of hair!'
The directors pointed out that CGI hair is highly difficult to do because of the movement and individual strands. I must say they did a spectacular job! The hair is luxurious, shiny and just plain gorgeous - it would make an excellent shampoo commercial.
The songs
I fell in love with the songs when I first heard them at the cinema. My favourites are 'When will my life begin' and 'I see the light' - I couldn't stop humming them after the film! Then I listened to them over and over and over and over until it got to obsession stage and now I'm writing about it lol. Mandy Moore's voice is beautiful and she puts so much emotion into the songs you can really feel it. 'I see the light' brought tears to my eyes because it was just so beautiful to listen to. I'm so glad that Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi are performing the song at this year's Oscars. I hope it wins 'Best Song' - it should do! The healing incantation was also beautiful and haunting in a way but in a nice way. It was so poignant at the end when Rapunzel thought Flynn had died and she sang the incantation one last time. That scene had me crying away - it was so sad. It even looked like Flynn was actually dead for a while because it zoomed out and I thought 'no way!' but then Disney would never kill off a major character like that - there'll be too many heartbroken kids crying into their pillows.
The song that played with the ending credits is very catchy and upbeat with a lot of clapping - makes you want to clap along and dance at the same time.