An Indigo Mind

So after doing so well at keeping up with my blog I managed to fall behind again. Mostly it was due to a combination of being distracted with a gem of a short story and a persistent pain in my right wrist. But here I am, forging ahead!

I was apprehensive going in to Tangled. Disney claims it as it’s 50th animated movie, and it has had a… tangled history[1.Such as it's 'boys are the only audience that matters' name change.]. The trailers didn’t help either, featuring juvenile, pop culture-y jokes.

80% of what you see in the trailers is not in the movie. The remaining 20% is utterly out of context. This is the best Disney movie since The Emperor’s New Groove. Hands down. Yes, I’m putting it above The Princess and the Frog – TP&TF was a wonderful return to form, but here Disney takes a crack at a much needed update to that form.

Tangled is a gorgeous movie, and the longer you look at it the prettier it becomes. The clothes are insanely detailed, and the locations are lush, and the lantern scene alone ought to earn this movie a few awards(but probably won’t. *shakes fist a Pixar*) Stylistically the character designs are somewhere between Classic Disney, Modern CG, and straight up Anime. The music is excellent, but then it’s by Alan Menken so why wouldn’t it be? A few of the songs are a tad… bland. Excellent, but bland.

The writing is where the movie shines. It’s as sharp witted and comical as the best of XKCD, while maintaining a heartbreaking depth. I applaud the movie for not going for the easy jokes – they ignored a groin shot joke! I couldn’t believe my eyes. The script and story were both highly polished, and the actors deliver it near note-perfect. The dialogue flows so naturally that if you’re not paying attention you might miss the character’s names entirely except for Flynn’s, which is because it becomes a character-development plot point. My one complaint is of a pet peeve of mine – I’m really sick of stories opening with ‘this is the story of how I died’ or some such. Overdone, boring, and it bleeds the tension out of the last scene.

Speaking of the last scene – a lot of my friends scoffed at the apparent deus-ex-machina, but as this movie’s TV Tropes page reminded me it was actually a continuity nod to the original story. I can think of a dozen other things they could have done there, but in retrospect I like the continuity nod.

There was much talk about Tangled’s rebranding to be more ‘boy friendly’, and a lot of worry over the character of Flynn. I’m happy to report that the spotlight is solidly on Rapunzel and her journey to her journey to discovering her destiny, which she comes to nearly entirely by herself. She is a princess that rescues herself AND her prince! The dynamic between her and Flynn reminds me of Farah and The Prince from Prince of Persia : The Sands of Time(the video game, not the movie.) The animal sidekicks were hilarious – Maximus developing into an ensemble dark horse.

Is it worth seeing? Oh definitely. You’ll be doing yourself a favor by seeing this movie. Is it the best movie of 2010? Hard to say, because there were several great movies this year. Oh why not! I laughed harder then I did during Megamind. Best movie of 2010! Go see it.