You should know that this is the strangest thing I've ever done!

Good afternoon.

Went to see Disney's Tangled last night; here's some (hopefully!) brief thoughts.

I generally prefer old-style Disney movies with the traditional hand drawn animation; they just seem to be more story-focussed and prettier in general than the recent splurge of computer animated films, but Tangled has gone some little way in changing my opinion. To begin with, it was pretty much an old style Disney film: complete with sheltered pretty princess singing about her desire for a 'dream' to come true... in fact, it was just old style enough for me to get the old time butterflies in the tummy that I used to get going to the movies as a little kid. And the design of the whole thing was just SO GORGEOUS! In a little girl's bedroom kind of way, but still! I did have some issues with it though... (feel free to skip my gratituous whinge fest)Firstly, the music. Alan Menken has done some brilliant lovely work: Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, to begin with. Buuut, with Tangled, I feel, he has fallen far far below the standard set in these films. The music is mediocre and just doesn't quite feel right in many instances. Plus, the lyrics are awful - they really shouldn't have hired someone with such awful and limited experience.
And I got annoyed very quickly at how the characters' lips didn't always move whilst they were singing. It felt a bit like all those rock music montages in Shrek films awkwardly married to a proper Little Mermaid style song. I know Disney has done this before and it has worked - but not this time.
Moving on. The animation and design were amazing and I won't fuss about them - except to say that Rapunzel's head was too big... and I found this oddly distracting. Particularly since it made Flynn's pupils (in his eyes) look too small in comparison - making him look permanently shocked whenever they were in frame together. At least, that's how I felt. Haha - and now you'll have to notice it too. Sorry.

Now we get to the difficult stuff. The romance felt just a leetle bit off - watching the ads I wasn't even sure there would be any, and watching the film I kept veering towards 'yep, this is pretty intimate and... nope, not romantic' over and over; possibly a deliberately sought effect by the filmmakers, but definitely annoying. I think the fact that Rapunzel looks so darn young has a lot to do with the 'off-ness' (and when I say 'off' I don't mean 'off' like a rotten fish, I just mean 'off' as in 'off kilter') of the romance - coupled with the fact that it was mostly from her perspective - it felt a bit like a girl with a crush on an older man. Awkward.
Particularly when one thinks that the film is partially narrated by Flynn, I would have liked to see a bit more of his side of the romance. Plus, I generally prefer to see members of the opposite sex feeling insecure and lovestruck in films. Don't you?


And the movie should have been called Rapunzel! Tangled, as a title, just doesn't fit with the feel and the direction of the film, which, for all the derring-do and humour, is mostly heart.

I did love this film. I connected really well with this film. Forget my whinging, please :-)