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TANGLED Post-release Discussion

post #1 of 19
11/27/10 at 3:57am
Thread Starter 
Went to a 3D showing of this with some friends who were back visiting for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Pretty delightful. Story's not much to write home about, but it's delivered with a fluffy energy that's completely charming. The animation is to die for. Whatever Glen Keane (who was originally directing the film) wanted to accomplish with the motion of the characters: I'd say he succeeded with flying colors.

These characters moved with the same sense of energy and freedom we saw in the best of Disney's traditional animation. Alive and hilarious. If you're into that style of animation, you're going to be in heaven. The look and feel of every character was consistently appealing. The film itself is gorgeous. Rapunzel's hair... you're going to want to cut a lock of it to caress as you go to bed.

"It's just you and me now, lock of hair..."

One thing I didn't know about the film going in... it's a musical. A bit of a half-assed one, actually. I think there were only 4 or 5 musical numbers with one of them being a reprise of an earlier song. None of them particularly stood out as anything memorable and I would've rather they hadn't done it as a musical.

A major point against the story: I was bored by the villain. She was never much of a threat (a story problem) and Donna Murphy's voice felt weak. No presence. At least nothing near the presence and delicious villainy of past Disney villains. It felt like the movie stopped cold whenever she was on screen, with the exception of a well-executed creepy moment or two.

Best character: definitely Maximus, the non-giving up horse guy

Moments to savor: a possible homage to Michael Bay/Transformers, another one a homage to Blade Runner, the floating lanterns sequence (gorgeous)

The 3D? It's nice, but certainly not necessary. If you fear for the vibrancy of the film's color palette (it's gorgeous), see it in 2D.
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post #2 of 19
11/27/10 at 9:43pm
I took my 5 year old to this and we both enjoyed it. There was nothing bad enough in it for me to say I had a problem with anything, and there was enough very good stuff in it for me to say I really liked this movie. The horse, Maximus, was the highlight, for sure. Also, I love the show Chuck so I was really rooting for Zachary Levi and I think he did a great job.
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post #3 of 19
11/27/10 at 10:12pm
The music was utterly forgettable, but I liked it. Not a classic, but it's a cute little movie. My little cousins just loved it, and I have to admit, that quick shot of the four little girls gasping in delight at Rapunzel's hair got an "aww" out of me. Saw this in 2D and I don't feel like I missed out at all. The lantern sequence probably looked great in 3D, but the 2D screening was fine.
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post #4 of 19
11/27/10 at 10:22pm
Thread Starter 
One thing I've come to feel about 3D. At times, I think it actually makes the movie feel smaller. The moment something pops out at you in a third dimension, it literally becomes something that you could grasp in your hand. As if it were subliminally impeding you from accepting what is technically a two-dimensional image as something larger than life.

It's a very odd feeling.

That moment with the four little girls was adorable. It got a huge laugh at my showing.
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post #5 of 19
11/28/10 at 7:16am
Definitely agree about the music, it was by far the weakest part of the film, and the bookend VO felt very lazy... but Walt Disney Animation Studios is evidently in very good hands with Lasseter in charge. This is a worthy addition to the Disney filmography.

And like mcnooj, the thing I liked best was the amount of character put into the animation. It really did feel like watching a legitimate Disney fairytale, just in 3D instead of hand drawn. Few 3D animated movies really nail the little details like Disney does, it was nice to see.
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post #6 of 19
11/28/10 at 6:13pm
The worst part for me was that the film we saw was NOT in Full Screen form. How can you expect anyone to pay full price to see a movie when it doesn't even take up the full screen? DON"T see it in 2-D or you might get screwed.

I complained to the manager and they did absolutely nothing.

Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed Zach Levi's performance.
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post #7 of 19
11/28/10 at 6:56pm
I took my daughter to see it and she obviously enjoyed it whle it was in front of her. But upon exiting the theater it seemed to me that it fell right out of memory. Unlike say, Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, which she has entire portions of dialog commited to memory.

I was surprised about what worked well in this film, mainly the character of Flynn Rider and the horse Maximus, because in the trailers it seemed that those were the elements that were shoe-horned in to get boys into the theaters.

But Levi did a good job and the animation did an exceptional job of hbringing these characters to life and I am dissapointed that I was forced into seeing this in 3D (The DLP showing was sold out and I was NOT going to wait 2 hours for the next one). 3D ruins movies for me for the same reasons that Nooj mentions: you're hyper aware that you're watching something that's kind of technologically amazing instead of being immersed into the story. That and the muted colors caused by the damned glasses are too much of a burden.

The musical numbers were also extremely lacking. Take a look at last years Disney Villain opus "Friends on the Other Side" from The Princess and the Frog with "Mother knows Best" and tell me which you would rather listen to repeatedly when your kids want to watch the film over and over again?

Overall I would say that this was a slightly above average animated film but doesn't come close to How to Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 3, or even last year's Princess and the Frog.
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post #8 of 19
11/28/10 at 7:38pm
I saw this again today with some friends, and it plays even better on a second viewing. I could pay more attention to details in the animation and enjoy the visuals this time around. The lighting during that lantern scene must have been a bitch to animate, but boy does that sequence work. Reminded me a lot of "Kiss The Girl" from The Little Mermaid, minus the catchy song. There are shots in that sequence where you can't see the reflection of the boat in the water, and it looks like they're floating in space surrounded by stars. Beautiful work. Levi and Maximus are this film's saving grace, and Mandy Moore really infuses Rapunzel with a lot of warmth and heart. That bit where she's bouncing back and forth between joy and horror at her escape from the tower is hilarious and endearing all at once.

You could have heard a pin drop during Flynn/Eugene's death scene, and there were audible sobs during Rapunzel's reunion with her parents. Speaking of the parents, that shot of Rapunzel's father crying as the Queen comforts him? Heartbreaking. The character is barely in this film, but that shot of him crying honestly choked me up.
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post #9 of 19
11/28/10 at 7:47pm
I saw it this weekend too at the El Capitan theater. I thought that it was pretty good, but not as good as their classics. One woman coming out told us that it was the best movie she ever saw in her life. I felt a little sad for her. I'd say it's better than most animated films that have come out.

To be fair Swicegood, it's not quite fair to compare memorizing dialog from something you've seen a ton of times to something you've seen once. It's always difficult to compare a new film against one that you know and love over years of repeated viewing. My kids are going crazy over Peter Pan right now that they are watching on VHS. They'll remember the songs from that before they remember anything from this. I don't know that that automatically makes Peter Pan the better film.

The sadder part is that Disney is giving up on the "Princess" and "Fairy Tale" themes now. That's what built Disney, and they want to abandon it for the "cool right now" Hannah Montana bullshit because it makes a few bucks. I guess Beauty and the Beast and Alladin only made one or two dollars for them.
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post #10 of 19
11/28/10 at 8:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarleyQuinn22 View Post
Reminded me a lot of "Kiss The Girl" from The Little Mermaid, minus the catchy song. There are shots in that sequence where you can't see the reflection of the boat in the water, and it looks like they're floating in space surrounded by stars. Beautiful work.
Definitely a Kiss the Girl vibe to the song. I half-jokingly thought that their kiss would be interrupted by Flotsam and Jetsam. There was a bit of a Whole New World to it too, as I specifically remember the lyrics for their song mentioning 'wonder' or something. I knew the sequence would go for the shot that made it look like they were floating in space, but that didn't take away from how well that moment hit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HarleyQuinn22 View Post
You could have heard a pin drop during Flynn/Eugene's death scene, and there were audible sobs during Rapunzel's reunion with her parents. Speaking of the parents, that shot of Rapunzel's father crying as the Queen comforts him? Heartbreaking. The character is barely in this film, but that shot of him crying honestly choked me up.
I was surprised by how effective that teardrop moment with the king was. So sparse and simple. I was really surprised when Eugene chopped her hair off. Don't know why I didn't see that coming. Right after it happened, it was obvious, but that moment played really well. And such well-layered hair!

The only thing that made me roll my eyes a bit was that magic tears of love saved him. Of course he has to live. But I expected something more clever, I guess?

Did anyone get a bit of a Shyamalan feeling when Rapunzel looks at all the suns and realizes who she truly is? Or maybe I'm thinking of the stupid butterfly symbolism in I Am Legend that made me think of Shyamalan. Either way, I thought that reveal (for Rapunzel) was pretty cool.

Also, I took a look at the Art Of book for the movie. It's wonderful.
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post #11 of 19
11/28/10 at 8:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnooj82 View Post
I was surprised by how effective that teardrop moment with the king was. So sparse and simple. I was really surprised when Eugene chopped her hair off. Don't know why I didn't see that coming. Right after it happened, it was obvious, but that moment played really well. And such well-layered hair!

The only thing that made me roll my eyes a bit was that magic tears of love saved him. Of course he has to live. But I expected something more clever, I guess?
He just looked so tired and defeated, like he wanted to give up but he just couldn't let go of the hope that his daughter would come home. Wasn't surprised by the hair chop. And honestly, I think she looked better as a brunette.

The magic tears of love bit was on the corny side, but at that point, the film had me so firmly in its grasp that I let it slide.
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post #12 of 19
11/28/10 at 8:34pm
The pub scene was very Monty Python-esque and I thought it was one of the better songs.
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post #13 of 19
11/28/10 at 10:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Electrichead View Post
To be fair Swicegood, it's not quite fair to compare memorizing dialog from something you've seen a ton of times to something you've seen once.
I understand what you're saying, but the first time she saw Princess and the Frog she was singing large portions of "Almost There" and "Friends on the Other Side" coming out of the theater.

I could tell that she liked it, but it didn't strike her like some of their (modern and otherwise) classics have.

Like I said, it was above average with some gorgeous and lush animation, but doesn't equal up to the likes of Snow White. That's some pretty fair praise IMHO.
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post #14 of 19
11/29/10 at 6:50am
I admit I got a little choked up during the reunion scene with the royal couple -- the king was such a stoic figure, but strong men also cry...

The musical numbers were really bad, we don't need to pretend otherwise. Anything from Princess and the Frog blows Tangled's songs out of the water.

The pub song was the best.
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post #15 of 19
12/6/10 at 5:27am
This has been a fucking good year for animation.
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post #16 of 19
12/13/10 at 7:18pm
Thread Starter 
So THIS is why the movie cost so much and took so damned long!

Instead of working on a long-delayed film, they were making TV spots with camera work to rival that of Scorcese!!!!
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post #17 of 19
12/18/10 at 12:30am
I gotta disagree with some of you about the music -- I thought this was some of their strongest work since the Mermaid/Beast/Aladdin run, particularly "Mother Knows Best" and the bar song, both of which sounded Broadway quality to me. Especially loved the bar song because it just came completely out of nowhere.

I flat out loved this. Not at all Shrek-y like the trailers made me fear (the Medusa-like hair quality is completely gone, for instance). This is a good old fashioned Disney princess movie with its heart on its sleeve and some jaw-dropping visuals. The thing just looks gorgeous, especially some of the camera moves -- big sweeping pans, majestic crane shots, just spectacular. Glad we skipped the 3D, because I would have hated to see the colors in this muted.
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post #18 of 19
1/12/11 at 11:15am

Finally got around to seeing this.  I got an Emperor's New Groove vibe from this, though it wasn't as funny as ENG.  Visually, the water effects were the best I've ever seen in an animated film.    

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post #19 of 19
12/29/12 at 10:19pm

Really late to the party on this one. My 35-year-old friend with two little girls told me, "Dude, you gotta see Tangled, it's funny as shit!".

 

He was so right. The "Snuggly Duckling" scene was aces, as was the movie-long skillet gag.

 

Loved the facial animation on Rapunzel. Just the right amount of awe and derp in every scene. And I hate to go there, but after Flynn chopped off her hair, man was she cute.

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