"What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?..."
Okay. Geeky confession time. Since our last family vacation to Walt Disney World (right before The Lion King came out, about 1994, when I was in eighth grade), I started wondering just when Disney would tackle doing "Rapunzel" as a movie, because I was itching for Disney to do another fairy tale. It's been nearly sixteen years.
SIXTEEN YEARS. I've been waiting for this movie for nearly SIXTEEN YEARS. And the last time I was this hyped up for a Disney movie was when Aladdin came out.
........I absolutely loved Tangled. Loved, loved, LOVED it. This one will require multiple viewings in the theater!
I feel the story was plausible for a more modern audience, regarding Rapunzel and "Mommie Dearest" Mother Gothel. To me, it felt like Mother Gothel had a tight psychological grip on Rapunzel, especially in the "Mother Knows Best" number. And at the very end when Rapunzel finally got to meet her real parents, the King and Queen, and how they received her at the end....the only thing I could think of is how hard it must be to have a child be kidnapped, and when you finally get to see your child again, they're all grown up. I immediately thought of whole situation regarding Jaycee Dugard, to be completely honest.
But the animation.....WOW. I know I had my doubts about this being animated with CGI instead of going the traditional hand-drawn route. And I wonder what the movie would have looked like if they did go the hand-drawn way. The overall look of the movie is very distinctive. It looks like a new approach to Disney animation; it doesn't look like a Pixar movie. I can't put my finger on what I mean by this, but there's a distinction between what a Pixar film looks like as opposed to a Disney animated film done with CGI looks like.
The details in this movie were just amazing. All the sort of textures in Rapunzel's tower, the embroidery and lace on her dress, her freckles (I love how a Disney princess now has freckles!), Mother Gothel's faint age spots, the weathering of Flynn's leather boots, the jewels and patterns on the King and Queen's (and Rapunzel's) crowns....the scope of the dam bursting and chasing Flynn and Rapunzel into the cavern (that was incredible!).
The animation team really paid close attention to lighting in this movie, and the special effects rendering was outstanding. Especially with all the low-laying fog on the water surrounding the kingdom and in the forest. And then the lighting of the lanterns. THE LANTERNS. OH MY FREAKING GOD, THE GLOWING LANTERNS. That whole "I See the Light" scene was just breathtakingly beautiful. I'd love to be able to see something that spectacular in real life. It seems like it would be something much more special than watching fireworks go off on the Fourth of July...more like being able to see aurora borealis or something.
The big thing that really stood out for me with Tangled was the use of color. It was a very colorful, vibrant movie. So vibrant that one scene stood out for me in particular, probably the least vibrant scene in the film. The scene where after Flynn has cut Rapunzel's hair and Mother Gothel has withered away in her ancient age, and Rapunzel is singing and trying to use whatever magic she might have left to heal Flynn's stab wound. (And there's some really great acting from Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi here.) There's an overhead shot of the inside of Rapunzel's tower looking down on Rapunzel and Flynn, and everything in the tower just looks muted and stark and neutral. Like the life of everything in the tower disappeared once her hair was cut. It was heartbreaking, and it was the ONE SCENE that really stood out for me BECAUSE of the lack of color.
The animation on the characters was top notch, especially on Flynn and Maximus, in particular. (Maximus cracked me up. But the fact that the horse has no freaking genitalia was bothering me. But this IS Disney, after all.) And it might be interesting to note that the scenes in the trailer where Flynn is being thrown out of Rapunzel's tower still bound in the chair, and the scene of Flynn calling for Rapunzel to "let down her hair" and being hit by her hair with Maximus laughing at him are NOT included in the movie. (Teaser trailers, I hate thee.)
The sequences that really stood out for me included "When Will My Life Begin?" during Rapunzel's montage of what she does in her day (her HAIR alone!), Rapunzel struggling to get knocked-out Flynn in her closet, the pub thugs singing about their dreams ("Vladimir collects ceramic unicorns!"), the dance scene in the kingdom village, and of course, the "I See the Light" moment.
Way to go, Disney. You done me good. Now I want to follow my dream.
SIXTEEN YEARS. I've been waiting for this movie for nearly SIXTEEN YEARS. And the last time I was this hyped up for a Disney movie was when Aladdin came out.
........I absolutely loved Tangled. Loved, loved, LOVED it. This one will require multiple viewings in the theater!
I feel the story was plausible for a more modern audience, regarding Rapunzel and "Mommie Dearest" Mother Gothel. To me, it felt like Mother Gothel had a tight psychological grip on Rapunzel, especially in the "Mother Knows Best" number. And at the very end when Rapunzel finally got to meet her real parents, the King and Queen, and how they received her at the end....the only thing I could think of is how hard it must be to have a child be kidnapped, and when you finally get to see your child again, they're all grown up. I immediately thought of whole situation regarding Jaycee Dugard, to be completely honest.
But the animation.....WOW. I know I had my doubts about this being animated with CGI instead of going the traditional hand-drawn route. And I wonder what the movie would have looked like if they did go the hand-drawn way. The overall look of the movie is very distinctive. It looks like a new approach to Disney animation; it doesn't look like a Pixar movie. I can't put my finger on what I mean by this, but there's a distinction between what a Pixar film looks like as opposed to a Disney animated film done with CGI looks like.
The details in this movie were just amazing. All the sort of textures in Rapunzel's tower, the embroidery and lace on her dress, her freckles (I love how a Disney princess now has freckles!), Mother Gothel's faint age spots, the weathering of Flynn's leather boots, the jewels and patterns on the King and Queen's (and Rapunzel's) crowns....the scope of the dam bursting and chasing Flynn and Rapunzel into the cavern (that was incredible!).
The animation team really paid close attention to lighting in this movie, and the special effects rendering was outstanding. Especially with all the low-laying fog on the water surrounding the kingdom and in the forest. And then the lighting of the lanterns. THE LANTERNS. OH MY FREAKING GOD, THE GLOWING LANTERNS. That whole "I See the Light" scene was just breathtakingly beautiful. I'd love to be able to see something that spectacular in real life. It seems like it would be something much more special than watching fireworks go off on the Fourth of July...more like being able to see aurora borealis or something.
The big thing that really stood out for me with Tangled was the use of color. It was a very colorful, vibrant movie. So vibrant that one scene stood out for me in particular, probably the least vibrant scene in the film. The scene where after Flynn has cut Rapunzel's hair and Mother Gothel has withered away in her ancient age, and Rapunzel is singing and trying to use whatever magic she might have left to heal Flynn's stab wound. (And there's some really great acting from Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi here.) There's an overhead shot of the inside of Rapunzel's tower looking down on Rapunzel and Flynn, and everything in the tower just looks muted and stark and neutral. Like the life of everything in the tower disappeared once her hair was cut. It was heartbreaking, and it was the ONE SCENE that really stood out for me BECAUSE of the lack of color.
The animation on the characters was top notch, especially on Flynn and Maximus, in particular. (Maximus cracked me up. But the fact that the horse has no freaking genitalia was bothering me. But this IS Disney, after all.) And it might be interesting to note that the scenes in the trailer where Flynn is being thrown out of Rapunzel's tower still bound in the chair, and the scene of Flynn calling for Rapunzel to "let down her hair" and being hit by her hair with Maximus laughing at him are NOT included in the movie. (Teaser trailers, I hate thee.)
The sequences that really stood out for me included "When Will My Life Begin?" during Rapunzel's montage of what she does in her day (her HAIR alone!), Rapunzel struggling to get knocked-out Flynn in her closet, the pub thugs singing about their dreams ("Vladimir collects ceramic unicorns!"), the dance scene in the kingdom village, and of course, the "I See the Light" moment.
Way to go, Disney. You done me good. Now I want to follow my dream.