Tangled (2010)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on January 6, 2011 @ tonymacklin.net.

Every year I hope to find at least one or two movies that I can personally recommend to everyone.

In 2010 my choice for almost all adults was 127 Hours, because I knew it would surprise most viewers, and they would leave the theater uplifted.

For families I enthusiastically recommended How to Train Your Dragon, but I included a warning that it might scare small children.

At the end of the year, I caught up with a movie I could recommend with no reservations. Tangled was on top of my list of broadly entertaining movies that should please most people.

Tangled is clever and enchanting. Although computer animated, it is in the Walt Disney Pictures' tradition of animated characters who have heart and soul.

Based on the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale about Rapunzel, Tangled has a sassy script by Dan Fogelman. Baby Rapunzel is stolen from her regal parents by Mother Gothel (voiced by Donna Murphy), who imprisons the girl in a tower to use her magical hair to keep herself young. As the blonde Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) grows up, she thinks the thieving woman is her mother.

When a bandit Flynn Ryder (voiced by tv Chuck's Zachary Levi) comes upon the tower and the beautiful blonde, fate involves him in her unknowing plight.

The best Disney films have memorable supporting characters such as Thumper in Bambi (1942), Timothy Mouse in Dumbo (1941), and Gus and Jaques in Cinderella (1950).

In Tangled a horse named Maximus and a chameleon named Pascal add potent personality. Maximus, a proud and powerful steed, challenges the intrepid Flynn Ryder.

What perhaps most elevates Tangled are the amusing and artful expressions of the characters. Flynn preens and smoulders. And Maximus frowns and gives penetrating, quizzical looks. In the bountiful battle of expressions, Maximus is the winner.

Also adding winning personality is Pascal who deftly changes mood and color.

Alan Menken contributes five lilting songs.

Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard weave a lustrous blonde web. Their craftsmen are inventive and effective.

In the new world of Disney, Tangled is pixilating.