TANGLED review

As I watched Disney's latest "animated classic", "Tangled" - their annoyingly re-titled take on the Rapunzel tale - one thing kept coming to mind: This is as close as Disney will probably ever get to remaking "Carrie". After all, it's plot and action are built around the same disturbed dynamic that was played out so memorably by Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie back in the mid 1970s: A wicked mother figure that cruelly shelters her magical powered teenage daughter from the outside world. Granted, there's no blood-drenched prom finale in "Tangled" (although some may feel that would be an improvement), but hey, there is a little dancing, and in the end, cathartic comeuppance does rule the day. Which works here, as the film ultimately finds its bearings around the midway point, and in the end, is more worthwhile than not.

Unlike Carrie White, the imprisoned Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) - she with insanely long, magically powered hair, trapped all her life in a tall hidden tower - has taken her horrible plight quite well. Only on the eve of her eighteenth birthday does she begin to seriously push the woman she believes to be her mother (actually a wicked old Cher look-alike, voiced by Donna Murphy, who keeps Rapunzel for her own selfish means) to leave the tower, for the first time. Ever. Considering that her feet have never even touched grass, she's actually an amazingly well adjusted girl. At this point, however, the scales are just beginning to fall from her eyes regarding the truth of her situation. By the time the dashing lout Flynn Rider (a dead ringer for the over-exposed Adrian Brody, but voiced by Zachary Levi) finds his way into the tower to hide from pursuers (a pair of Ron Perlman look-alikes, voiced by... Ron Perlman), she's ready to accompany him for a little old fashioned teenage rebellion. (No, not that kind of teenage rebellion. This is a Disney movie, you know!)

The first half of the film, with its unrelenting attempts at modern comedy and detached vague hipness, could easily be mistaken for a computer-animated film by Dreamworks ("Shrek") or most any of the other studios trying to compete in this arena ("Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"). Are the jokes funny? Mostly, yes. Is the animation pretty and the 3D impressive? Sure. But unlike last year's truly satisfying return to form, "The Princess and the Frog", it is a little sad to see that when Disney jettisoned the title "Rapunzel", they also ditched a lot of the fairy tale grandeur and classical sensibility that makes Disney Disney. For better of for worse, they've got a tradition to attend to, and generally speaking, when they stray from that tradition, the results can get murky. (Incidentally, I am actually a fan of Disney's successful breaks from formula - "Aladdin", "Emperor's New Groove", and of course the king of them all, the masterpiece "Fantasia".) "Tangled" walks the line between both worlds, newfangled detachment humor and old world magical wonder. In the end, it clearly wants to have it both ways - and it pretty much gets away with it... by a hair.

It's the second half of the film that redeems the semi-tainted nature of the first half. In this half of the film, comedy takes a backseat in favor of that good old Disney formula. (It even offers up a few decent non-ironic show tunes.) Rapunzel's quest for the truth of her past takes the forefront of the story just as her inevitable love for the increasingly tolerable Rider kicks in. By the time the final showdown rolls around, the film has worked out its earlier tonal problems, and we are on board with the action. By the time Rapunzel works out her own family problems, the emotional element is legitimately earned... by more than a hair.

But despite that, "Tangled" will not be remembered as one of Disney's truly classic animated classics. Young children are bound to be thrilled with it, and parents could do far worse in finding a movie to take them to, but anyone over the age of ten will need to cast aside the urge to question certain plot holes. For example, if Rapunzel has spent her whole life secretly kidnapped, thinking this other woman to be her mother, then how come she knows the date of her real birthday (a key plot-point)? Wouldn't that be far too big of a clue to her true identity - the long lost princess of the kingdom - for the evil fake mother to plausibly allow that knowledge??

Yes, things apparently got a bit creatively messy with this film. A bumpy development process is evident to the filmgoer savvy to spotting such things. But doggonit, it all works out in the end... almost like some kind of Disney fairy tale. And unlike Carrie White's gruesome finish, the film that would be (should be) "Rapunzel" delivers a happily ever after for anyone willing to stick with it on its own tangled terms.

- Jim Tudor