Finally, my husband got to see his first 3D movie! And he
was super pumped it was a Disney cartoon…after all, what 30-year-old man doesn’t
flip habitually back and forth between ESPN and the Disney Network? As childless adults, our movie experiences
with kids are certainly lessons in patience.
Sure, we understand that little kids have trouble sitting still and have
to go to the bathroom a lot. But
maybe, just maybe, dad shouldn’t drown them in that bucket of Coke while
waiting for the previews to start. And I
have to say we were surprised to see a new mom with her fresh-from-the-womb
baby in the front row. Do they have to
buy a ticket when they’re that little?
Tangled is the Disney version story of Princess Rapunzel (the voice of
Mandy Moore). Her beautiful golden locks
restore youth prompting villain Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy) to kidnap her as
an infant and raise the baby as her own.
Locked in a tower, Rapunzel grows up to believe the world was full of
evil where only bad things happen. Her
only view of the outside world is her window.
Every year on her birthday, Rapunzel notices the sky fills with bright
floating lights. Her dream is to see
them up close. The opportunity falls
into her 70 feet of hair when a jewel thief named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi)
breaks into her tower. Rapunzel holds Flynn hostage and the jewels as a
ticket to see the lights. The fairytale is a classic Disney adventure of
mishaps, memorable songs and characters.
Interestingly
enough, Tangled is the first of the Disney Princess movies
to receive a PG rating, rather than G. The film was modeled on the
traditional look of oil paintings on canvas, but made in CGI, giving it a sort of
in between feel. Visually, the movie is beautiful. It reminded me of classic soft, wispy Disney,
the Snow White and Cinderella I remembered from my
childhood. But with movie studios
cashing in on the hype of 3D effects, this film failed to deliver the dimension
on demand. Disney could have released the movie easily without baiting
the audience with the lure of those dorky 3D glasses. Tangled doesn’t need the hype of 3D to take in tickets. The lure of the ‘mouse house’ will draw your
kids to see this one, but there are really only a couple of cool sequences
(Rapunzel and Flynn’s escape from the dam) that make the 3D experience worth
the extra cost.
I would say Tangled is a good, family friendly movie that will appeal to Disney’s
stock audience of young children and parents stuck along for the ride. But honestly,
we just weren’t overly impressed with the 3D effects.
The story line is good, but I’m not sure this one has the potential
staying power of Disney’s classic mega hits.
