Tangled & Memories of FF9
Maximus is Steiner...
...reincarnated as a horse!
Tangled opened last Friday here. In spite of the embarrasingly sucky songs, it is no doubt a piece of visual art, full of endearing characters, and a fun film to watch.
However.
Midway through the movie, when they arrive to the city, I got a heavy flashback of the first scenes of Final Fantasy IX, and from then on my brain lit up and started matching characters and subplots until I was certain someone in the Tangled movie team must be a huge FF9 fan.
Taking into account that you can't develop characters in 90 minutes as much as a game can in 50+ hours, and that a Disney movie can't possibly reach the depth of the Final Fantasy stories, I spotted the following similarities:
The princess and the thief (old and typical, but unlike stories like Aladdin:)
- Kidnapped/lost/misplaced princess living with a FAKE mother...
- ...Who only wants her for the magical powers she has within herself.
- The princess plans on running away from the place where she feels safe but trapped.
- She finally does so with a happy-go-lucky THIEF with whom she'll end up having a romance.
- She helps make the thief a responsible, caring man.
- The princess remembers her past and her true origin by looking at a mural on a wall.
- The princess sings/prays to summon her magical powers.
- One way or another, the princess gets her hair cut radically short at some dramatical point.
Places, secondary characters
- The city looks like Alexandria at the beginning of the game, children at the fountain included. Everything reminds you of the game's city festivals and events.
- They end up being helped by a gang of assorted men of dodgy occupations with innocent personal dreams who act like circus/theatre performers, just like Tantalus.
- MAXIMUS, THE HORSE, IS STEINER. HE IS STEINER. THEY HAVE JUST THE SAME PERSONALITY: deadpan seriousness, strong pride, unyielding stubborness, exaggerated sense of honor and duty.
- Maximus distrusts the thief, but follows instructions from their other companion, Pascal the chameleon, just like Steiner listened to and respected Vivi the black wizard.
- Maximus would do anything for the princess or her symbol, the missing crown. At the dilemma of standing up for the kingdom or the princess, he chooses the princess.
I know that fairy tales have very limited roles and plots, and that it is only natural that one inspires many others, and that every creation is a mixture of many others (and I am not an exception: I'm quite a turmix, always mixing stuff on purpose) --- but it's just so much fun to spot homages/similarities!
Aside from those details, and probably more that I haven't thought of, the story has a lot of originality of its own, and many funny & tender moments. Some easy and/or predictable, but adorable nevertheless. Besides, the cinema was full of children who enjoyed it thoroughly and laughed with all the puns, which made the experience even more enjoyable.
