Tangled

Mmhmm yeah, sorry, I am going to write about this film too.

"Tangled" is a 2010 American computer animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairytale "Rapunzel" by the Brothers Grimm, the film's title was changed from "Rapunzel" to "Tangled" to market the film as gender-neutral, especially after the box office disappointment faced by "The Princess and the Frog" in 2009... well, so they say.

There were a lot of expectations for Disney's "Tangled", seeing that it was not just Walt Disney Animation Studios' first ever full length computer animated fairytale adventure (Don't get them confused with Pixar now), but also their 50th animated feature, so there were some pretty high expectations for this film.

And as such, I think they did a pretty amazing job (Remembering that this was their first ever computer animated feature film), with the character animation being one of the absolute highlights of the film. You might say that it was a blessing in disguise that the development for this film had taken forever (Since the days of "Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs" in fact), and was finally able to go into production just when animators felt more familiar with 3D animating as compared to the days of the first "Toy Story".

The animation on Rapunzel's parents was absolutely one of the best things in this film and shows just how much raw emotion can be evoked from the animation alone, even without words. Sometimes you don't always need to depend on flowery lines to contribute to the overall story to make it better and stronger, and "Tangled" proves just that. Just looking at the examples below, you can truly see...

... the worry and fear...

... sorrow and heartbreak...

... and absolute relief from their eyes alone, it still pulls at the heart strings every time I look at them... If that isn't one of the best examples of 3D animation, then I don't know what is.

The quirkiness for this so-called unconventional Disney princess definitely shines through the animation alone (It helps that Mandy Moore was always a pretty decent voice actress, and to this day, I still find her to be the best voice for Aerith Gainsborough). 

It has been said that Rapunzel was inspired after Ariel, not just in looks but in personality... and yeah, I suppose I can see that, it was a pretty good choice especially when they wished to fully utilise what computer animation could already offer at the time (Instead of making her a more calm and quiet character). All that liveliness and spiritedness just translates so well into this type of animation, and Ariel herself should be proud!

And while it has been said numerous times that it was an absolute challenge to animate her long, luxurious hair, the animators have actually done some absolutely creative things with it that truly adds to her adorable character.

There definitely aren't many Disney 'princes' like Flynn Rider (Nah wait, I suppose there's Aladdin, Hercules... and the sequel versions of most Disney princes), he has his charms, but what makes him one of Disney's more memorable and likeable love interests is the fact that these 'charms' fall short with Rapunzel, leading to some absolutely hilarious and almost endearing outcomes... 

Flynn has an amazingly wide variety of facial expressions ranging from his believed-to-be signature cocky smirk to something completely twisted and embarrassing (Such as when he gets knocked out by a frying pan or beaten up by a strangely intelligent horse), and in all, that makes him one of the most colourful and most interesting Disney love interests to date (Though honestly, I actually like all of the love interests featured in the long series of Disney Princess films, with the prince from "Snow White" being my least favourite).

If girls begin questioning why guys don't look at them the way a fictional character does his own fictional love interest, you know the animators are doing something right...

Again, Rapunzel and Flynn are given one of the best relationship developments out of all the Disney films, sure their time together only lasts for a couple of days like most Disney relationships, but so much just happens over that time during their journey together that you can absolutely feel that they are really growing on one another. And by the time it happens...

... You are totally rooting for them because you know that they absolutely love each other, I mean just look at the way they cling to one another when they thought that they had almost lost each other, how Flynn just buries his face into Rapunzel's shoulder as they both weep and tremble quietly from the relief they feel. Much like Rapunzel's parents, the animation for these two lovebirds just feels so believable... so powerful...

Mother Gothel was also another wonderful change from the original fairy tale, a lot of people probably hate her, but that's because there truly are people that behave and think like her in real life, making her a much more menacing and believable villainess as compared to the original version where she was a haggard old witch that had a less interesting reason for kidnapping Rapunzel.

I absolutely loved her design and charismatic personality, she is another wonderful addition to the Disney Villain and Villainess gallery. While it might seem that her intentions are pretty clear to most viewers, one can't help but feel that perhaps Mother Gothel had more complicated feelings than what was actually conveyed onscreen when it came to her feelings for her 'daughter'.

And who could forget Maximus? At this day and age, we find ourselves growing less interested and more annoyed by supporting characters such as these, but then Maximus just comes and restores our faith in such characters. Besides of course being fantastically animated, Maximus probably had one of the best comedic timings out of any character in the film. And with Flynn already being a funny character on his own, these two together just make a fantastic comedy duo.

You might nitpick at the songs or any other aspect, but one thing you should admit is that, for Disney's first 3D animation feature film, they did a spectacular job with the character animation. People have constantly said that 3D killed Disney, but I think "Tangled" and "Frozen" proved otherwise...