Tangled Review

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for!
/drumroll/

Another excuse as to why I'm not reviewing Tangled yet!  Kidding!  Just kidding.  Today I will present to you my review of Tangled.

BUT FIRST:
Let me report of my progress at SCAD.  Last week I wrote a paper about the innovations of Disney, with the intent of making this paper into a speech.  Well, I got a 100% on the paper, now I just need to not screw up the actual speech.  I not only have to make my speech this Thursday in class, but I also have a midterm quiz on Tuesday in the same class.  To top that off, I have a series of drawing I need to make by Wednesday, including a contour drawing of a skeletal system, as well as a detailed drawing of a planar head.  For those who have no idea what I'm talking about... I need to draw this:

Ok, so it isn't actually Kryten, but it looks remarkably like him.  I have to draw with tinted paper and white conte with charcoal, and I need to focus on the shapes of the planar face in the classroom.  So next time you are watching Red Dwarf, think of me.
Needless to say, this is going to keep me up late.  I have a lot of work ahead of me, and now I have another at-home project for that class for the following week.  They like to really pile it on don't they?  I sure as hell hope I have time to practice my speech, get some sleep, and get my visual aids ready (and practice with them too!).


So despite my busy busy schedule, and Kryten's pretty little head, I am going to write a review right now on Tangled.  Enjoy!  Oh, and lots of pretty pictures!  And without further ado:

Story

The story of Tangled vaguely resembles that of the original story of Rapunzel.  Girl stuck in tower, evil woman keeps her there, man find girl, something something... that is actually where it all breaks down.  In the original story, well, I'm not really sure which is the original since I've heard different takes on it.  But usually they go something like this:  Pregnant mom wants a Rapunzel plant from an enchantress's forbidden garden.  Husband steals it.  He gets caught, agrees to give her his unborn child, and actually hands her to the enchantress himself.  She keeps her in a tower... who knows why.  A prince comes by one day and hears her sings.  After seeing the enchantress use Rapunzel's hair to get in, he does the same.  From here... he wither gets her pregnant, or she is too ditsy to remember not to tell the enchantress that she's been sneaking a man in.  Either way, she gets her hair cut off and is thrown to the wilderness while he gets thrown from the tower and goes blind.  Months later, he hears her voice again, and her tears bring back his sight... awww.  In all, rather un-gruesome for a Grimm's Fairy Tale.  They actually have a happy ending.  And in some tellings, the enchantress accidentally locks herself in the tower instead... sweet irony.

Well, forget everything I just said.  Cause it ain't in this movie.  BUT, that isn't to say this isn't a good story, it is just a different one, with some similarities.

This story is actually not called Rapunzel, not because the character doesn't use that name, cause she does, and not cause it isn't suppose to be a variation of the Rapunzel story, cause it kind of is.  In fact, they were originally going to call it Rapunzel, and later changed it to Rapunzel Unbraided, before deciding to settle with Tangled.  The reason why apparently isn't because they wanted to appeal to a different market, but rather they wanted to point out that their version of Rapunzel focuses on the 2 characters of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, not just her.

The main characters: Rapunzel, Pascal, Flynn, and Maximus

This story starts with a back story.  A drop of sunlight gave birth to a magic flower, whom Mother Gothel coveted and hid from the world for its magical properties, healing the injured and restoring youth.  When the queen almost dies during pregnancy, they find this flower and grind it into a potion to save the queen.  As a result, their baby girl was born with magical hair.  Yes... magic hair.  It glows when she sings and has the same healing properties as the flower.  Mother Gothel, now without the flower, kidnaps the infant, and raises her as her own, in a tower hidden in the forest, to keep her away from everyone for herself.

18 years later... Flynn Rider, a thief, who steals a crown, stumbles upon the tower, and thinking to hide there, is overpowered by Rapunzel, who hides the crown and tricks him into taking her to see the annual floating lamps that she sees from her window every year on her birthday.  She doesn't realize they are actually for her, sent out in mourning for their daughter by the king and queen every year, as well as the villagers who lost their princess.

Hilarity ensues as Flynn tries to trick her into going back and giving him the crown, and failing, only to be confronted by singing thugs with dreams, ex-partners out for revenge, an over-enthusiastic horse bent on justice, and a chameleon with attitude.

Think of her shampoo bill

The story is very sweet, well put together, and is full of excitement, character development, and actual plot!  Yay plot!  The one caveat I have is at the end of the movie.  I don't want to spoil anything, but there is one point where Flynn is convinced Rapunzel is in danger, life-threatening danger, and he runs to her rescue avoiding his own fate.  Only problem is, she wasn't really in the danger he thought, and I don't see why he would think so either.  Sure, she'd be a prisoner, but there was no way for him to know she was going to figure out her past suddenly, or for him to even know what that past was.  He had no reason to think the over-protective mother she had for all those years would try to kill her.  But it makes for a good story anyways and I can easily overlook this one minor flaw.

Pascal has his eye on Flynn

Graphics

This movie has perhaps the most impressive graphics I've seen in a very long time.  I dare say they are the best I've seen, and are very impressive.  The motion of the characters is fluid, natural, and perfectly characterize each character.  Mother Gothel has this stage presence and old world feel about her that the other characters don't, while Flynn has the very sly and dashing thing going on, while Rapunzel is often shy, but always a sweet character and easily makes friends with even the most unlikely people around.  Even the animals have great character animation, with amazing facial expressions.  And thank god none of the animals talk.

The Smoulder

They put a ton of detail into the modeling as well.  The clothing of the characters are designed specifically with that character in mind.  For example, Mother Gothel is suppose to be very old, so they designed her dress to be in the style of a dress about 400 years before the style of Rapunzel's.  The detail and quality they put into every aspect of this film was amazing, and worth watching again and again.

The most impressive thing I think about this movie though is the lighting.  Somehow, they managed to make this CG film look more like a painting than I thought possible.  The tower that Rapunzel lives in looks like it came straight out of a romanticism period oil painting.  The skin on the characters has a certain translucent quality that looks fabulous and really softens the feel of the movie.  The actual stage lighting (as in the light rigging) is amazing!  There are no scenes that aren't interesting to look at, with appropriate lighting for the mood, and a soft and natural feel that really ties the entire film together.

And of course there is the hair.  Wow.  Hair is usually a very hard thing to control in a movie, especially when it is 70 feet long!  They did a fantastic job getting the hair down just right.  Being magical, I guess it never needs to be washed after being dragged through the forest, because it always looks fabulous on her.

If for no other reason, see this film to appreciate the amazing work they put into the visuals, which are top notch!  The lantern scene is simply AMAZING!  They rendered over 10,000 lanterns to make these scenes!

Best scene of the movie, hands down

Sound

The sound in this is, again, top notch!  Not only did they get talented actors who really pull off these characters, but they got ones that can sing!  All the music is by Alan Menken, and god of Disney musicals.  All the Disney princess owe him their music.  (Them and a big scary plant that eats people :P)  I was so glad to hear that this movie was bringing the music back to the Disney films.  It has been too long since we last had a good Disney musical, and this one is a great addition.  The duet is beautiful, and the other songs are catchy and fun.  Perhaps they aren't at the same level as some of the other Disney songs, like those in The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast or Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I for one enjoy the soundtrack and find myself humming the songs.

Rapunzel amuses herself

Blu-ray

The Blu-ray release, which came out a few weeks ago, is an excellent release.  The quality is as good as it can possibly get.  For those who noticed the aliased hair in Monster's Inc, you will be glad to see there is none of that in Tangled.  I have watched this movie several times now, and can not find a single flaw in the graphics or the sound.  It is flawless, and a true treat for the eyes and ears.

There is one problem with the Blu-ray release though, there aren't enough extras.  I for one wanted a really comprehensive making of, and perhaps more deleted scenes or something.  However, they fit all the content on one disc (which is not a bad thing, but limits what you can put on it), so they didn't have the room to put much more on it.  I wish there was a bonus features disc, but this film does not have one.  But David, you say, there is a 4 disc set out!  Sure, that's true, but the only difference is that it includes a 3D Blu-ray of the same content as the standard Blu-ray, a DVD, and a separate Digital Copy.  In other words, it is 4 copies of the same thing, nothing more.  No bonus disc.

Boys being boys

Conclusion

I have to say this is one of Disney's best released movies in a long long time.  It is definitely worth watching for so many reasons.  The graphics are out-of-this-world gorgeous, the characters are fun and likable, the story is fantastic, and the music is great!  For an animated film that cost $260 million to make, they definitely showed how to make a CG film right.  Perhaps the ending could have used a little more work.  Perhaps the songs weren't as epic as other Alan Menken songs, but considering the direction Disney has taken with this film, they are officially out of the gutter of mediocrity and back in the saddle again!  I HIGHLY recommend this movie.  5 of 5 stars.  You must see this.  Excellent movie, worth every cent!

Go.  Buy.  Now!  If not, Max is going to find you...