osprey_archer: (fandom!!!!)
osprey_archer ([personal profile] osprey_archer) wrote2011-11-28 05:15 pm

Tangled

New life goal! I want to grow my hair out so long that I can use it as a grappling hook. If it also gains magical glowing healing powers that would be ace, but I won't insist.

As you might have guessed, I just watched Disney's Tangled and was most favorably impressed. And not just by Rapunzel's hair, though its manifold superpowers (let me repeat: grappling hook) and beautiful animation did impress me mightily.

But Rapunzel herself is even more impressive: curious, bright, extraordinarily emotionally resilient. Though Rapunzel is not immune to the witch's insidious year's-long campaign to convince her that she's too weak and naive to survive outside her tower imprisonment, her curiosity about the outside world always outweighs her fear of it in the end.

I have to say, whenever I see people criticizing Disney princesses as bad role models - especially on the grounds that they're weak damsels in distress - I wonder if they've seen any Disney princess movies since, say, The Little Mermaid. Belle is a damsel in distress? Tiana? Mulan?

But back to Tangled. I do have on quibble about the ending:

I realize that Flynn was mortally wounded and therefore not thinking straight but REALLY, I think it would be perfectly acceptable to let Rapunzel heal his mortal wounds and only thereafter cut off her magic hair. His (attempted) noble sacrifice was totally unnecessary.

Also it would have been nice if he had somehow cleared the whole "I'm going to chop off your magic hair to save you from the witch!" thing with Rapunzel - I can see how she might have had objections to that, you know?



But so anyway. The animation is just beautiful. The movement of Rapunzel's hair and her skirts flows smoothly, beautifully rendered, and the scene where the townsfolk release the paper lanterns into the sky, and the light reflects in the lake until up and down mix together and the whole screen is simply glowing lanterns against night sky -

Just enchanting.

[identity profile] mizzmarvel.livejournal.com 2011-11-29 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, the ending kind of took away from an otherwise awesome movie. I wish she could have saved herself at the very end.

[identity profile] bogwitch64.livejournal.com 2011-11-29 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I forgave the handwavery in the ending because I loved the rest of the movie so much. I loved that they left Rapunzel with her "traditional" ditziness. I'm not sure if she was a ditz from inception or she simply evolved that way, but her naivete was, I believe, symbolic. But in this version, despite her ditziness, she never stopped trying. Even when she was scared or doubting, she tried. And, once again, Disney had the princess save herself (for the most part) in the end. I like this trend. :)

[identity profile] so-december.livejournal.com 2011-11-29 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I've hardly seen any Disney movies but I'd hardly call their princesses 'Damsels in distress' :)