Tangled

Ratings: 8.8/10
Film Class: A
Genre: Fairy Tale Animation

I was hugely skeptical about the flattering critiques of Tangled. There are many great animations out there, such as Finding Nemo and Despicable Me. On the contrary, there were many flop animations, especially those which tried to "revive" the fairy tale stories... like the extremely bad Hoodwink (Red Riding Hood).

The classics were good, weren't great, Cinderella, Snow White, Aladdin and the other princesses. Even the new fairy tale princess stories such as The Princess and the Frog. Whilst a fairy tale story about Repunzel isn't the usual favourite princess, Tangled owned the fairy tale 3D world.

It's a remake, so you can expect that the story doesn't follow the classic Repunzel plot. Repunzel is a princess who is unknowingly locked away in a hidden, tall castle where an evil woman claims Repunzel as her own daughter, because of Repunzel's magically hair which is able to heal and maintain the youth of her haggard "mother". Growing up in a web of lies, Repunzel soon starts to feel that the lights (lanterns) she sees out of her window on every one of her birthdays might actually be meant for her...

Her chance to look for and see the lights upclose finally presents itself despite her "mother's" demands that she can't leave the tower, when a suave, smooth-talking unknowingly finds refuge in her tower. And so... the fairy tale story continues...

I was surprised at the strong story Tangled had. As usual, I let my first impressions judge the movie. The movie title Tangled, Mandy Moore as the voice of Repunzel and the poster design were quite a turn-off, lack of a strong motivation and were too kidish-like to me. I was slapping myself repeatedly for putting off catching this movie because thanks to the critiques, I was introduced to one of the best fairy tale stories of my time.

Strong narration and depth of the emotional connection. Kinda reminded me of, though comparing 2 extremely different things but very relevant, how I was feeling when I watched the Korean drama Stairway to Heaven. I love the jokes, the lines, the characters (I liked like 8/10 main characters in the movie, what's the odds of that?), the style, the development and the songs!

Thanks to Mandy Moore, who's a singer (yeah, stating the obvious if you don't already know), she was able to really bring out the songs in a fashionably classic manner. The songs were so... oldie fairy tale like, nostalgic till the very last tune.

Despite the exaggeration and too-convenient bits of the plot, there was really nothing much to not like about this movie. If you're someone who appreciates fairy tales, nostalgic disney songs and a great animated movie, do yourself a favor by devoting some time to one of the best animations I've seen.