Tangled (rated PG)
November 30, 2010 by Julia
Filed under exhibits, festivals, and shows, reviews
image copyright Disney
Over Thanksgiving holiday, hubby and I took the kids and our nephew to go see the new Disney movie Tangled. My daughter is still obsessed with Disney princesses, and we had already heard from several friends how amazing this movie is.
(spoiler alert)
In typical Disney princess movie fashion, there has to be something dysfunctional about the relationships, an evil character, and someone who dies but comes back to life because of true love. Shockingly, Rapunzel actually has two living biological parents, but that’s neither here nor there. The movie was absolutely adorable. Not since Beauty and the Beast have I enjoyed a Disney princess movie this much.
My 2 year old boy fell asleep right away. I wasn’t thrilled to have paid a ticket admission for him to take a nap, but I guess that was cheaper than a babysitter. 
My nephew whom my sister had warned me may talk his way through an entire movie sat mesmerized the entire time except for the momentary lapse in concentration to ask me to hand him some popcorn. My daughter watched so intensely and laughed when she was supposed to laugh…that is until the ending.
Somehow the beginning when Mother Gothel kidnapped the baby Rapunzel was completely lost on my child. I tried to explain to her in the beginning what was happening, but at this point she was still digesting the bit of information about the magic flower with powers for everlasting youth so I don’t think the kidnapping quite registered with her. At the end when Rapunzel was returned to her parents, it finally dawned on my five year old that the entire time, Mother Gothel had kidnapped Rapunzel, that she had been kept away from her parents for the length of the movie. I have never seen my child so traumatized after a movie. She would not let go of my hand, could barely say two words without crying in the car. She even reverted back to wanting her lovie blanket. It was so sad, and she gave me and hubby this look like, “How do I know if you are my real parents?” Traumatized. She didn’t like seeing the “prince” as my daughter called the Flynn Ryder character get stabbed either, even though as we all know, every Disney “prince” comes back to life somehow.
It took my super sensitive child a day to recover, and she is back to proclaiming that she liked the movie. I thought it was hilarious. I thought Mandy Moore did an outstanding job as the voice of Rapunzel. For a Disney princess flick, the soundtrack this time didn’t feel like the songs were written specifically to pull at heartstrings to win an Oscar for best song. Tangled is definitely worth a trip to the theater.
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I agree. We saw it with our 7yo daughter and we all loved it. (“Love” may be a bit strong for my husband
. I was a little disappointed with Mother G’s last scene – kinda reminded me of SWhite’s stepmother, Gaston, etc. At least there wasn’t anything at the bottom [yikes!]. But it was a very cute movie and Rapunzel, though a bit naive, was also strong and able to take care of herself. Plus the animation is incredible!