Tangled (2010) is another Disney animated film that took me well... 10 years to see. Of course, I shouldn't have waited so long because I really enjoyed the film. Read here!
I'll go big right away by saying it's better than Frozen (review) and possibly Frozen II (review) as well. This is an underappreciated film in Disney's archives. One quick reason is that there are no obvious plot holes. Everything that happens here has a cause.
Something unique to this film is that it may have the darkest villain from Disney in Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy). At first glance, you may think I'm foolish for suggesting such, but think about these points. She kidnaps Rapunzel as a young child, pretends to love her and says she's her mother, tactically breaks her confidence, and psychologically tortures her into not leaving the castle. That's all before she actually tries to murder Flynn and physically restrain Rapunzel all for the selfishness of staying youthful. That's all pretty demented and therefore one of Disney's most evil villains.
Rapunzel is voiced by Mandy Moore, and she is excellent at displaying the shuttered princess's emotions. Much of this is done in her opening scene. Also, Flynn Rider, voice by Zachary Levi (Shazam!), is great too. One positive trend of more recent Disney animated films is that the supporting male character has legitimate development. In the past, they'd show up and save the day like it was nothing. Now, they encounter struggles mentally and not just physically that must be overcome.
One scene I consider hilarious is The Snuggly Duckling. The ruffians all join in singing "I've Got a Dream". Each rough and tough guy still has a dream whether it's finding love, baking cupcakes or miming. This would great for a men's choir to perform! The video of it is below.
I find Maximus the horse and Pascal the iguana extremely amusing. Maximus isn't just transportation but is a soldier himself which allows for plenty of humor. Pascal turns out to be full of emotions. He tries to intimidate among other things, so I enjoyed him.
Per usual, I enjoyed many of the songs including Oscar-nominated "I See the Light" and "Mother Knows Best". These videos can be found at the end.
Also per usual, Disney continues to dazzle with dreamlike imagery. Seeing the lanterns among the city landscape is something I'd love to see in real life.
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