In which The Bee and I watch the newest princess in Tangled.
My first thoughts when I heard about Tangled, the story of Rapunzel were a tad on the pessimistic side. The Bee and I had read and loved Shannon and Dean Hale’s awesome graphic novel, Rapunzel’s Revenge and both agreed that THIS was the movie to be made. Golly knows that while there may be one little girl who hadn’t had her fill of princesses this Wild West adaptation of the fairytale was not to be missed. Alas, as Disney advertised it’s newest movie ad-nauseum during The Suite Life, Hannah Montana and Sonny with a Chance The Bee eagerly declared that we should see the movie. Of course after hearing that Zachary Levi, he of Chuck fame*, was voicing the thief Flynn Rider, I was ready to go.
My grumpiness against the lack of wild west aside, I enjoyed the movie somewhat. Unlike last year’s The Frog Princess** there wasn’t that obvious Disney cookie cutter mold available when the movie was being made. That did nothing but spotlight the that the Disney magic is waning and alas, there will be no Rapunzel gear to decorate the homestead.
Points for the movie:
Twins, evil but twins nonetheless. Being a twin I loved the Stabbington Brothers voiced by Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman. One even had an eye patch and they were delightfully evil!
Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider. Sigh! How adorable is TVs Chuck? Add lovable scoundrel and this blogger is all a gaga! He was great as the crook with a heart of gold and I so enjoyed his smoulder.
Now for the nitpicky Rachee stuff.
The evil mother figure. What is the deal? The pseudo feminist in me screams at the idea of a woman so obsessed with remaining young that she kidnaps and emotionally abuses Rapunzel. And that Mother Knows Best song! I am calling shenanigans Disney for that line about Rapunzel being chubby (Yes, I am having a fat girl week).
The lackluster songs. Boo! The songs didn’t feel organic to the movie. Usually there is some scene to set the songs buts here there were none. There was the I need to change something in my life song, the bad guy song, the villain song (the passive aggressive Mother Knows Best…SHENANIGANS!) and the oh! we’re falling in love song but none had me ready to hop on iTunes to download them. The Bee really liked the songs but I chalk some of that up to the videos that play on Disney Channel and Radio Disney. When I asked her about them earlier today she was unimpressed but did say she wanted to see the movie again.
The violence. I know Disney will kill a mother (Nemo, Bambi) but Flynn was whacked repeatedly by Rapunzel’s fry pan, Flynn himself whacked a few guards with the pan. But not the horse. Which is some type of commentary on our society that telling. Yes, it’s OK for HUMANS to get their butts kicked but an animal? Call PETA!
The obvious toys to be sold. The baby Rapunzel looks like a doll that Arboo already owns! I can see the wigs, castle and Flynn Rider gear already.
The fact that the movie was only available in Disney 3D. This is more my bitch than a legitimate gripe about the movie but dang! There was some cool moments; water splashing, things falling from the sky but for the most part it was like looking at the movie through a viewmaster. Some scenes did pop off of the screen but that still does not excuse the 25 bucks we paid to experience the movie in 3D.
I tried not read reviews but the few I did waxed poetically about the return to Disney at its best (what?) and mentioned that this was the 50th animated release. Ghost cheer!
My rating from my oh so awesome scale: Fair. While overall the movie was cute, I think I’ll watch an episode of Chuck and wait for Cars 2.
Really good: Would see in a theater, full price
Good: Would see in a theater, matinee with smuggled in snacks
Fair: Will wait until it comes to the library (cause I can rent for free for a week in Philly or a buck in Delco for three days)
Poor: Will wait until it comes to premium cable
Awful: Will wait until it comes to regular cable (aka TNT, USA, etc)
God awful: Will wait until it comes on network television and I am too lazy or impaired to find the remote to change the channel
-r
*I may not care for Chuck the show but I love me some Chuck the actor.
**Which still makes me wonder why the princess had to be turned into a nasty frog but whatever.
No Comments