- “They're taking adventure to new lengths.”
- ―Tagline
Tangled is a 2010 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, based on the story Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm. It stars Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, and is the 50th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon, and was released on November 24, 2010 in North America. The film is telling the story of the long-lost princess Rapunzel, who yearns to leave the confines of her secluded tower for an adventure. Against her foster mother's wishes, she accepts the aid of a handsome intruder, Flynn Rider, to take her out into the world which she has never seen.
Before the film's release, its title was changed from Rapunzel to Tangled, reportedly to market the film as gender-neutral. Tangled spent six years in production at a cost that has been estimated at $260 million which, if accurate, would make it the most expensive animated film ever made at that time. Composer Alan Menken, who had worked on prior Disney animated features, returned to score Tangled.
Tangled premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on November 14, 2010, and went into general release on November 24. The film earned $591 million in worldwide box office revenue, $200 million of which was earned in the United States and Canada; it was well-received by critics and audiences alike. Tangled was nominated for a number of awards, including Best Original Song at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Tangled would go on to become the most successful Disney animated feature film since The Lion King in 1994, both critically and commercially, beginning a new style of marketing and aesthetics for the following computer-animated films from the studio, similarly to how The Little Mermaid impacted the Disney Renaissance.
An animated short sequel, Tangled Ever After, was released in 2012. In 2017, a made-for-television sequel film Tangled: Before Ever After premiered as a pilot for an animated spin-off series centering on Rapunzel and Eugene's adventures after the film.
Plot[]
Hundreds of years ago, a drop of sunlight fell to Earth and bloomed into a magical golden flower, which was found by an old woman, Mother Gothel. Having discovered the flower's power to heal the sick and injured, Gothel uses it to restore her youth and beauty, and keeps the flower hidden from the rest of the world. As the centuries pass, a kingdom of Corona grows nearby, ruled by beloved king and queen, who are expecting a child. Near the end of her pregnancy, the queen falls gravely ill, and the king sends his people to search for the legendary golden flower. After Gothel fails to hide the flower this time, it is found and brought to the palace to heal the queen, who soon gives birth to a daughter named Rapunzel. That same night, an aging Gothel sneaks into the palace and discovers that Rapunzel's hair has inherited the flower's healing power, but when she cuts a strand, it loses its magic. Gothel kidnaps Rapunzel and locks her away in a hidden tower deep in the forest, where she raises her as her own, while using the power of Rapunzel's hair. Determined to keep her hidden, Gothel forbids Rapunzel to leave the tower and lies to her that the outside world is filled with selfish people who could steal her hair and use it for their own good. Every year afterward, on Rapunzel' birthday, the kingdom releases thousands of floating lanterns in hope that one day, the lost princess will return home.
Eighteen years later, Rapunzel still lives in the tower with her only friend, a chameleon Pascal, while her hair grows to seventy feet in length. Although she tries to occupy herself with different activities (such as painting the walls of the tower), Rapunzel grows bored of life in the tower and wants to see the world outside. On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel asks Gothel (whom she believes to be her real mother) to let her out and take her to the "floating lights" that she sees in the sky every year on her birthday; Gothel refuses and reminds Rapunzel of how dangerous the outside world is, before leaving the tower for a while. Meanwhile, a wanted thief Flynn Rider and his partners-in-crime, the Stabbington Brothers, sneak into the palace and steal the crown of the lost princess. As they escape from the royal guards through the forest, Flynn abandons the brothers and takes the satchel with the princess' crown inside it with him. Pursued by a horse of the Captain of the Guards, Maximus, Flynn accidentally discovers and decides to take refuge in the tower, where Rapunzel knocks him out with a frying pan and hides him in a closet.
When Gothel returns, Rapunzel tries to show Flynn to her to prove that she can defend herself, but Gothel berates her and claims that she will never leave the tower. Rapunzel then comes up with a plan to send Gothel away for three days, asking for new paint made of white shells as a gift instead. After Gothel leaves, Rapunzel takes Flynn (still unconscious) out of the closet and ties him to a chair with her hair. When Flynn awakes, Rapunzel strikes a deal with him, promising to give him back the satchel with the crown (which she hid) if he takes her to see the floating lights the next night, and returns her home right after. Flynn reluctantly agrees and gets out of the tower along with Rapunzel and Pascal. As Rapunzel alternates between feeling liberated and guilty for betraying Gothel, Flynn tries to encourage her guilt, hoping to get her back to the tower and renege on the deal. Meanwhile, Gothel encounters a riderless Maximus and recognizes him as a horse from the palace; suspicious, she rushes back to the tower and discovers that Rapunzel is missing. Finding the satchel with the crown and a wanted poster of Flynn, Gothel realizes that he has something to do with it, and sets out after him and Rapunzel.
Flynn takes Rapunzel to the Snuggly Duckling pub (filled with menacing-looking thugs) to scare her into going back to the tower, but the thugs instead try to capture him to get a reward. Rapunzel convinces the thugs to let Flynn go and charms them into revealing their softer sides, much to the surprise of Gothel (who observes the scene from the window). When the royal guards arrive to the pub, the thugs help Flynn and Rapunzel escape through a secret tunnel, but Maximus discovers it and leads the guards after them; meanwhile, Gothel interrogates one of the thugs, Shorty, about where the tunnel leads. Fleeing from the guards, Rapunzel and Flynn end up at the dam, where they are also confronted by the Stabbington Brothers; in the ensuing commotion, Maximus breaks the dam, resulting in a huge flood of water falling on everyone, with Rapunzel and Flynn getting trapped in a fast-flooding cave. Believing they will drown, Flynn reveals his true name (Eugene Fitzherbert), but Rapunzel uses her hair to illuminate the cave and finds a hidden exit beneath the water, allowing them to escape.
While waiting for Rapunzel and Eugene at the tunnel exit, Gothel encounters the Stabbington Brothers, who plan to take revenge on Eugene for his betrayal and retrieve the princess' crown; Gothel strikes a deal with them to find Rapunzel. Later that night, Rapunzel and Eugene set up a campfire in the woods, and Rapunzel heals Eugene's hand with her hair, revealing it as a reason why she was not allowed to leave the tower. As they get closer, Eugene shares his background as an orphan who became a thief and changed his name to Flynn Rider after the hero of a book he read as a child. When Eugene goes to get firewood, Gothel confronts Rapunzel and tries to take her back to the tower, but Rapunzel refuses, wanting to stay with Eugene. Gothel gives her the crown, offering to give it to him to test his loyalty, and leaves just as Eugene returns; Rapunzel begins to doubt herself and hides the crown from him. The next morning, Maximus tracks down Eugene and attempts to arrest him, but Rapunzel calms Maximus down and asks him to leave Eugene alone for just one day; Maximus is charmed by her and reluctantly gives in.
Rapunzel and Eugene (along with Pascal and Maximus) head out to the kingdom and attend a festival in honor of the "lost princess", spending the day touring the city and enjoying each other's company. That evening, Eugene takes Rapunzel for a boat ride on the lake to watch the release of the lanterns. When Eugene presents her with a pair of their own lanterns, Rapunzel gives him the crown, and they confess their mutual feelings to each other. Noticing the Stabbington Brothers on the shore, Eugene goes to give them the crown and apologise, but they show more interest in Rapunzel and her hair (after learning about their power from Gothel). The brothers tie him to a boat and trick Rapunzel into thinking that Eugene abandoned her, but when they try to capture Rapunzel, Gothel stages a rescue by knocking out the brothers. Heartbroken by Eugene's apparent betrayal, Rapunzel lets Gothel take her to the tower, while the boat with Eugene reaches the city dock, and he is arrested by the guards.
The next day, Rapunzel notices that she has subconsciously incorporated the kingdom's emblem (a golden sun) into her artwork throughout her life. After piecing together all the other clues (such as the mural of the princess she saw in the city, and the crown fitting her perfectly), Rapunzel realizes that she is the "lost princess" and confronts Gothel, declaring that she will never let her use her hair again. Meanwhile, Eugene is taken out of his cell to be hanged for his crimes, but Maximus and the Pub Thugs help him escape. Realizing that Rapunzel is in danger, Eugene rushes to the tower and calls for her; when her hair is lowered to him, Eugene climbs up and finds Rapunzel chained and gagged, while Gothel stabs him from behind. Gothel tries to drag struggling Rapunzel away, until Rapunzel promises to go with her and never try to escape if Gothel lets her heal Eugene. Gothel reluctantly agrees to this, but Eugene, now wanting Rapunzel to spend the rest of her life in slavery, cuts off her hair before she can save him. As Rapunzel's hair loses its power, a horrified Gothel ages rapidly before falling out of the tower's window and dissolving into dust.
Rapunzel tearfully mourns Eugene, and one of her tears (which still contains some of the flower's healing power) revives him. Afterwards, Eugene takes Rapunzel to the palace, where she reunites with her real parents, the king and queen. With the return of the "lost princess", a grand celebration begins throughout the kingdom; Rapunzel and Eugene eventually get married and live happily ever after.
Cast[]
- Mandy Moore as Rapunzel
- Delaney Rose Stein as Young Rapunzel
- Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert
- Donna Murphy as Mother Gothel
- Ron Perlman as the Stabbington Brothers
- M. C. Gainey as Captain of the Guard
- Jeffrey Tambor as Big Nose
- Brad Garrett as Hook Hand
- Paul F. Tompkins as Shorty
- Richard Kiel as Vladimir
Production[]
Early development[]
- Main article: Rapunzel Unbraided
Walt Disney considered developing an animated adaptation of the Brothers Grimm's 1812 fairy tale Rapunzel as early as late 1930s; Joe Grant recalled it as one of dozens of stories that were scrutinized and rejected during the feature concept development in 1937 and 1938 (after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).[1] The story of Tangled began in 1996, under the guidance of Glen Keane who was, at the time, in the process of developing Tarzan. He continued developing the film until 2008, when suffered from a heart attack. On October 9, 2008, it was reported Glen Keane and Dean Wellins would be stepping down as directors, and were replaced by a new team of Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, director and storyboard director of 2008's Bolt. Keane would stay on as the Executive Producer, and Wellins moved on to developing other short films and feature films.[2] On April 12, 2007, it was revealed Annie-nominated animator and story artist Dean Wellins will be co-directing the film alongside Glen Keane.
Disney's previous animated feature The Princess and the Frog in 2009, while being highly critically acclaimed and taking in nearly $270 million worldwide, was not as successful as Disney had hoped. Disney expressed the belief that the film's emphasis on princesses may have deterred young boys from seeing the film. In order to market the film to both boys and girls, Disney changed the film's name from Rapunzel to Tangled, while also emphasizing Flynn Rider, the film's prominent male character. Disney was criticized for altering the classic title and story as a marketing strategy. Floyd Norman, a former Disney and Pixar animator, said, "The idea of changing the title of a classic like Rapunzel to Tangled is beyond stupid. I'm convinced they'll gain nothing from this except the public seeing Disney as desperately trying to find an audience."
Technical details[]
The movie's visual style is based on the painting "The Swing" by the French Rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard.
Because Glen Keane wanted this to be an animated movie that looked and felt like a traditional hand-drawn Disney Classic in 3D, he first had a seminar called "The Best of Both Worlds", where he, with fifty Disney animators (both CGI and traditional artists), focused on the pluses and minuses of each style. Because of advancements in computer technology, many basic principles of animation used in traditional animated movies, but which have been absent in CGI films due to technical limitations became possible in this field of animation, where they will be used together with the potential offered by CGI. Keane has stated numerous times that he is trying to make the computer "bend its knee to the artist" instead of having the computer dictate the artistic style and look of the film. By making the computer become as "pliable as the pencil," Keane's vision of a "three-dimensional drawing" seems within reach, with the artist controlling the technology. Because many of the techniques and tools required to give the film the quality Keane demanded didn't exist when the project was started, WDFA had to make them on their own.
To create the impression of a drawing, non-photorealistic rendering was used, making the surface look like it is painted, but still containing depth and dimensions.
Glen Keane's daughter, visual development artist Claire Keane, sought to capture Rapunzel's world view: "Rapunzel's walls are really a reflection of what she could see from her window as well as what she was thinking about. There was a definite plan with specific choices made in choosing the colors of Rapunzel's walls. It was important to create how Rapunzel would create, not how I would create, so I had to try a variety of different things that would express her world."[3]
Music[]
- Main article: Tangled (soundtrack)
Original music was composed for the movie by Alan Menken with original songs (Music by Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater). Menken said he attempted to blend medieval music with 1960s folk rock to create the new songs.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
Tangled received critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 89% of critics have given Tangled a positive review based on 216 reviews, with an average score of 7.5/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes Top Critics, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 90%, based on a sample of 31 reviews. The site's consensus is: "While far from Disney's greatest film, Tangled is a visually stunning, thoroughly entertaining addition to the studio's classic animated canon." Another review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score from 0 to 100 out of reviews from mainstream film critics, calculated a score of 71 based on 33 reviews. CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave Tangled was A+ on an A+ to F scale. On IMDb, the film has a 7.8/10 rating with 81,561 ratings.
Release[]
Home media[]
- Main article: Tangled (video)
Tangled was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment as a four-disc combo pack on March 29, 2011. The combo pack includes a Blu-ray 3D, standard Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy. A two-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and single DVD are also available. Bonus features for the Blu-ray include deleted scenes, two alternate opening sequences, two extended songs, and an inside look at how the film was made. The DVD includes only the two Original Storybook Openings and the 50th Animated Feature Countdown.
Sales of Tangled in the US and Canada exceeded $95 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales, the highest grossing DVD of the year to date; its home video sales exceeded the film's earnings in its first week in theaters. The film sold a record 2,970,052 units (the equivalent of $44,521,079) in its first week in North America, the largest opening for a 2011 DVD. It dominated for two weeks on the DVD sales chart and sold 6,657,331 units ($102,154,692) as of July 18, 2012. It has also sold 2,518,522 Blu-ray units ($59,220,275) by May 29, 2011.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Tangled is the eighth Disney Animated Canon film to receive a PG rating, right after The Black Cauldron, Dinosaur, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, Home on the Range, and Bolt.
- This is the first Disney Princess film to be computer-animated.
- This is the first Disney Princess film to receive a PG rating due to it showing a scene where Mother Gothel stabs Eugene.
- Mother Gothel stabbing Eugene behind his back when he was trying to save Rapunzel is similar to Gaston stabbing the Beast behind his back when Belle was trying to save him in Beauty and the Beast. Both these characters were revived after their deaths if counting the Beast being transformed back into a human.
- This is the first Disney animated film for Brazil to feature the voices of Rede Globo actor, in this case with Luciano Huck.
- This is the first Disney Princess film to show the Princess wearing diapers as a baby in the prologue.
- This is the sixth Disney Princess film to briefly show blood after Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Mulan, and The Princess and the Frog.
- Eugene is 26 years old and Rapunzel is 18 years old. Due to this, they have a 8-year age gap, the largest of any Disney animated couple if not counting Milo J. Thatch and Kida Nedakh in 2001's Atlantis: The Lost Empire (8,768 years).[4]
- During the song "I See the Light", over 45,000 lanterns were used to light up the night sky.
- The lantern that has the Corona sign that Rapunzel lifts during "I See The Light" is the lantern that the King and Queen of Corona had lifted.
- This is the first film from that studio to be composed by a recurring composer since 2005's Chicken Little (which was composed by John Debney). However, Menken would eventually return to compose a song for Ralph Breaks the Internet (which even features Rapunzel as one of the characters).
- Tangled is the first Disney film based on a fairy tale to not be named after the original title.
- Pinocchio and a statue of The Lion King's character Pumbaa can be seen during the song "I've Got a Dream".
- When Rapunzel and Flynn are in the library in the kingdom, books with the cover of The Little Mermaid, Mulan, and Beauty and the Beast can be seen in the room.
- An open book of Sleeping Beauty can be seen as well.
- Events of the movie are often referenced in the spin-off series.
- King Frederic and Queen Arianna have no speaking lines in the film. This makes Tangled the first animated movie to have neither parent of the main character not to have any lines.
- However, they do speak in the spinoff series.
- When Rapunzel was introduced, the inside of the tower was bright and full of color. After she returns from seeing the lanterns, it is dull and darkly colored, as a sign she no longer sees it as amazing.
- Whenever Gothel expresses her "love" for Rapunzel, it is to her hair and not directly to her:
- She often calls Rapunzel "Flower" instead of her real name.
- She's always stroking and touching her hair when speaking to her, and pats her on the head frequently. After Rapunzel learns her true heritage, she grabs Gothel's wrist to prevent her from touching her, as a sign she doesn't love her anymore.
- She claims "it never happened" when undoing the flowers in her braid, showing she's back under her control. The braid allowed Rapunzel to move more freely, and such long hair might have hindered her movement.
- The film is referenced in the TV show Brooklynn Nine-Nine. Jake Pareltta calls Rosa Diaz Rapunzel when she has long black hair. He also mentions Mother Gothel and the lanterns that Flynn Rider takes Rapunzel to see on her birthday.
- The storyline of Rapunzel is exactly similar plot in Hercules, both were kidnapped, both found out who they really are, both reunite with their parents, both give up their unique powers (Hercules, god powers, Rapunzel, endless, long grow and glowing hair) to save their partner.
- At the end of the film, Eugene mentioned that it took years for Rapunzel to accept his proposal. The follow up series revealed Eugene asked Rapunzel to marry him on several occasions and she finally said yes after about 3 years, the length of the show.
- The title is quite ironic considering Rapunzel's hair never gets tangled in any way.
- The scene where Flynn breaks into the Corona Castle by being lowered on a rope is a reference to the Mission Impossible films.
Goofs[]
- Mother Gothel did not create an alias or false birthday for Rapunzel when realistically, she would have, though an explanation for the latter could be that the lantern display only started to happen annually years afterwards as a memorial so she never took it into account.
- Rapunzel was able to swim, yet she never had access to a body of water and therefore would not have known how.
- The most likely explanation is that she might have been allowed to learn to do so in the valley around the tower.
- Rapunzel looked a lot older for being a newborn and was able to remember when she was whereas a real human would not, though this is probably because of the magic.
- Rapunzel had no proof that she was the lost princess, yet she was instantly accepted.
References[]
- ↑ Kurtti, Jeff (2010). The Art of Tangled. Chronicle Books, page 11. ISBN 9780811875554.
- ↑ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SM9Qadvc5kE
- ↑ All the News (March 23, 2011). Disney Tangled Artist Claire Keane Asks What Would Rapunzel Do?. Jim Hill Media. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013.
- ↑ https://nerdbear.com/how-old-is-flynn-rider-from-tangled/
External links[]
- Tangled (2010 film) on Wikipedia
- Tangled on Disney.com
- 2D screen test clip for the film Tangled on YouTube
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