Saturday, November 27, 2010

Tangled' is Disney's 50th animated feature film

For Walt Disney's 50th animated feature, "Tangled," the company went to the well: a Grimm fairy tale. They've long been in Disney's wheelhouse, and here, "Rapunzel" gets the modernization treatment, complete with 3-D rendering, digital animation and a slacker rogue in place of the traditional knight. Most of the dependable Disney trappings are here: crisp animation by Glen Keane, songs by Alan Menken, celebrity voice work. Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) and her flip savior Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) are flat, but as the manipulative, passive-aggressive Mother Gothel, who locks Rapunzel and her 70 feet of blonde hair away in a tower, Broadway veteran Donna Murphy is excellent.

Dan Fogelman's script gets the story out of the tower and on the road, where the wide-eyed Rapunzel takes in the world, include a tavern full of theatrical thugs and moments of budding romance. Gamely toting around her long trail of hair, she uses it inventively, like an Indiana Jones with a built-in whip. It's all an overt, sometimes grating attempt for "Disney magic." But while it's not in the league of Disney's best, it's still a sturdy, pleasant execution by the animation machine, which proves resilient yet again. The movie is rated PG and is 104 minutes long.

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