While she yearns to see and experience the world outside her tower home, she loves mother Gothel, and truly believes she is simply being protected from a big, bad, scary world. She is sweetly naive in her sheltered existence, yet accomplished, curious and energetic as well.
When bandit on the run Flynn Ryder enters her tower and her life, Rapunzel quickly cooks up a scheme to finally realize her dream of seeing the outside world. She is strong and in charge, while at the same time child-like in her enthusiasm. Compared to other Disney princesses, Rapunzel is, in fact, refreshingly modern and endowed with "girl power", even while being innocent and trusting.
Rapunzel's freedom from the tower is exhilarating for her. Her escape is quickly followed by lots of adventures, narrow escapes, singing and dancing (like any good princess movie), realizations, and of course the requisite love story. Rapunzel learns a lot about herself and others in her journey. One aspect of this movie that sets it apart from many other Disney princess movies is that Rapunzel's primary goal is not to fall in love and live happily ever after. She has a goal, and as she strives to reach it, she also realizes that in the process she is discovering her true identity. The world as she knew it has been turned upside down. Although at times she is convinced Mother Gothel was right about the world being a terrible and frightening place, she is loving life outside of the tower.
The culmination of "Tangled" is a happy ending: the bad guys get what they deserve, the bandit Flynn Ryder is revealed to be a stand-up guy underneath his criminal exterior, Rapunzel reaches her goal of seeing the annual lights in the sky, with the unexpected benefit of learning she is royalty, and she finds true love. The love story, however, doesn't take center stage. The real substance of the story is Rapunzel's maturation as she learns about the world beyond the walls of the tower she has been confined to since infancy, and that she is more than just her magical hair. This delightful, fun movie is definitely one I am looking forward to owning and watching again and again.
Tangled achieves something exemplary for Disney on two levels. It's both a return to form and, hopefully, the birth of a new magical touch. They've lacked it for quite some time now. At the very least, it can be seen as an apology for the abysmal Princess and the Frog. No pointless updates to be found here. It's an instant animated classic that not only brings a new form of animation to the table, not only does it announce very loudly that Disney is still a force to be reckoned with, but it allows its actors the room needed to fully flesh out their characters and take deep breaths with their audience. Deep breaths of crisp, fresh air. It's been years since we've been able to do that with just Disney. Disney and Pixar are an incredible team. I'm just glad to know that Disney can still pack a punch on its own. I feel like the five year old in me can hope for something even greater the next time around. I certainly know that the 24 year old in me is.
Way to go. Can't say it enough.
When bandit on the run Flynn Ryder enters her tower and her life, Rapunzel quickly cooks up a scheme to finally realize her dream of seeing the outside world. She is strong and in charge, while at the same time child-like in her enthusiasm. Compared to other Disney princesses, Rapunzel is, in fact, refreshingly modern and endowed with "girl power", even while being innocent and trusting.
Rapunzel's freedom from the tower is exhilarating for her. Her escape is quickly followed by lots of adventures, narrow escapes, singing and dancing (like any good princess movie), realizations, and of course the requisite love story. Rapunzel learns a lot about herself and others in her journey. One aspect of this movie that sets it apart from many other Disney princess movies is that Rapunzel's primary goal is not to fall in love and live happily ever after. She has a goal, and as she strives to reach it, she also realizes that in the process she is discovering her true identity. The world as she knew it has been turned upside down. Although at times she is convinced Mother Gothel was right about the world being a terrible and frightening place, she is loving life outside of the tower.
The culmination of "Tangled" is a happy ending: the bad guys get what they deserve, the bandit Flynn Ryder is revealed to be a stand-up guy underneath his criminal exterior, Rapunzel reaches her goal of seeing the annual lights in the sky, with the unexpected benefit of learning she is royalty, and she finds true love. The love story, however, doesn't take center stage. The real substance of the story is Rapunzel's maturation as she learns about the world beyond the walls of the tower she has been confined to since infancy, and that she is more than just her magical hair. This delightful, fun movie is definitely one I am looking forward to owning and watching again and again.
Tangled achieves something exemplary for Disney on two levels. It's both a return to form and, hopefully, the birth of a new magical touch. They've lacked it for quite some time now. At the very least, it can be seen as an apology for the abysmal Princess and the Frog. No pointless updates to be found here. It's an instant animated classic that not only brings a new form of animation to the table, not only does it announce very loudly that Disney is still a force to be reckoned with, but it allows its actors the room needed to fully flesh out their characters and take deep breaths with their audience. Deep breaths of crisp, fresh air. It's been years since we've been able to do that with just Disney. Disney and Pixar are an incredible team. I'm just glad to know that Disney can still pack a punch on its own. I feel like the five year old in me can hope for something even greater the next time around. I certainly know that the 24 year old in me is.
Way to go. Can't say it enough.
