Tangled (Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, 2010)

It’s interesting to see how Disney films have evolved over the years. This film was visibly a more modern production when compared to older classic Disney films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The most noticeable difference is seen in the animation, which I really liked. It was more three-dimensional and the textures were more realistic (although I found Rapunzel's huge eyes distracting). Obviously, one of the major parts of the animation was of Rapunzel’s hair, which I believe had a separate animation team solely dedicated to it. Her thick and flowing is one of the main features of this film, given that this is a story about Rapunzel.

That brings me to the point of the actual story of the film, which is another way it differs from the more traditional early Disney fairytales. While this film is based on Rapunzel, it is more of an adaptation, as the viewer will notice. Firstly, her magical, glowing has healing properties, making it much more important than in previous versions of the story (i.e. it’s not only just good as a rope!). Also, instead of living alone, the more assertive Rapunzel lives with a witch who uses the magic in Rapunzel’s hair to keep herself young.

One of the other major changes in the story is the fact that the typical ‘prince charming’ character is actually a wanted criminal, who climbs into the tower without the assistance of her hair. I found this last point very unusual − instead of the typical pure, noble prince riding on a white horse to rescue Rapunzel (with the famous “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair”), we have a more shady thief who goes by the name of Flynn Rider (and also called Eugene Fitzherbert).

Also, speaking of horses, the white horse in this film starts off as a royal horse, and thus is an more of an enemy of Flynn. Both the horse and Rapunzel’s pet chameleon are the main animals that feature in this film and are the source of the most amusement.

So not surprisingly, given these changes the film was named Tangled, to indicate its departure from the original Rapunzel film. While it took a little while for me to get engaged in the film and I found the musical numbers slightly exhausting, the film was better than I expected it to be. And the ending was quite poignant. Tangled is definitely targeted towards a more modern audience and was an effective contemporary retelling of a well-known fairytale.

3.5/5