When viewing the film trailer for "Tangled," one would judge the book by its cover and consider the film one of those computer-animated spoof filled with mindless humor, which are abundant these days but are typically not that good. But when viewing the actual film, it becomes clear that it's no spoof.
The story is narrated by Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), the most wanted thief in the village ("They just can't get my nose right!"). Bumbling, wisecracking, and self-deprecating, he narrates with lightning-fast wit that fits the "spoof" label.
But the story quickly shifts from Flynn Rider to Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), the newborn princess who is born sickly. The king and queen find a magical flower with the ability to heal the sick and hurt, and use it to successfully cure Rapunzel. However, a greedy witch named Gothel (Donna Murphy), who had previously used the flower to prevent herself from aging, discovers that Rapunzel's hair contains the flower's magic.
Gothel kidnaps Rapunzel and raises her as her daughter. Her hair grows astoundingly long as it will lose its magic if it is cut. She keeps Rapunzel cooped up in a tall tower and forbids her from venturing outside. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, she longs to leave the tower, but is denied her request every time she asks.
Then, one day, Flynn is on the run and stumbles upon the tall tower in which Rapunzel lives. Out of sheer curiosity, he climbs the tower, but is knocked out by Rapunzel and awakens to find himself tied up in her hair. Seeing this as her chance to break free, Rapunzel makes a deal with Flynn: she will let him go if he takes her to see the floating lanterns, which (unbeknownst to her) are released by her parents every year on her birthday, in hopes of finding her.
It is during the first scenes with Rapunzel that the film quickly evolves from spoof to Disney-style fairy tale, complete with musical numbers ("When Will My Life Begin," "Mother Knows Best," "I've Got a Dream," "I See the Light"). But this particular film tops other Disney fairy tales such as "Beauty & the Beast," "The Little Mermaid," and "Aladdin."
The reason why this stands out among other Disney fairy tales is that it not only becomes one, but starts leading the viewer in surprising directions. First of all, Flynn starts to soften as he bonds with Rapunzel. It's not that he isn't loveable in the beginning; most viewers wouldn't change him a bit. But as he grows closer to Rapunzel, he becomes more serious, and starts to care for Rapunzel to surprising heights.
Another surprising element is that Gothel doesn't fit the typical Disney villain. She is clearly the "bad guy" of the film, but at first appears to be merely selfish and greedy. When she finds Rapunzel has disobeyed her, she doesn't drag her back to the tower and punish her, but allows her to keep going with Flynn and hatches a plan to glorify herself to make Rapunzel come back to her. It's when Rapunzel defies Gothel that her evil kicks up a notch, but it still doesn't reach the heights one would expect it to, which is a compliment.
Probably the best scene in the whole movie shows Flynn and Rapunzel in a canoe at night, singing a duet of the film's best song, "I See the Light." The animation is at its best here as floating lanterns hover around Flynn and Rapunzel. For these reasons, it is difficult not to get "Tangled" into seeing this movie.
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