Disney Film: TANGLED

It was raining in Chicago on New Year's Eve, so we thought that it would be fun to see a movie instead of walking around on Michigan Avenue. Checking the listings for the two theaters in our vicinity, we noticed that there wasn't much playing that was appropriate for families. Not much besides Tangled, in Disney 3D, which I had been wanting to see but had sort of resigned myself to waiting till BluRay release.

(Disney 3D is expensive to go see, by the way, especially at a near north side theater in Chicago. I wanna say we paid something like $58.00 for all four of us, and that was before concessions!)

I had no preconceived notions about Tangled; I had not stumbled across any reviews and only had a general sense that some were saying it was one of Disney Animation's stronger releases. That assessment was correct. While The Princess and the Frog was close to capturing some of that glory of the Katzenberg/Eisner golden years of animation, Tangled gets there, in my opinion. It is right up there with the best animated features from the Mouse.

There's something for everyone in this film. It's got romance, adventure, humor and story, and enough of all of them, and in the right balance, to make a really good film. I've heard some say that the name change to Tangled was ill advised, but I can speak from experience: My own sons were not at all put off by seeing this film, as they were by TPATF's title, however mildly. So maybe it was a good idea to use this title. It seemed to fit the tale, in my opinion.

This was a beautifully animated film, right up there with Pixar's films and the best of Dreamworks' films. The characters were classic Disney characters, and the backgrounds were spectacular at times. Of particular note was the hidden valley where Rapunzel's tower is located. It was like a beautiful painting.

It appears to me that Disney Animation is back with this triumphant film.

*****