Tangled

So I had some subtitle issues with my (highly legal) copy of Ip Man, so while I get that sorted out, here'sTangled (it's that animated Disney one about Rapunzel).

There is just something so comforting about an animated Disney movie. I grew up on The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin etc. and even watching one now makes me feel like I'm home. The songs are never quite as catchy as when I was a child (but that might have something to do with the fact that I don't watch them on repeat long enough for the songs to be ingrained into my subconscious) but they are still good. I like that there is always a certain darkness in a Disney cartoon, I remember being scarred for years after first watching The Little Mermaid. The part where Ursala is electrocuted by the King's trident and you can see her skeleton made me shelve that movie until I was old enough and brave enough to try again. Thank goodness I did because it became one of my favourites. This movie had traces of that same darkness and I liked it.

I also always like how there is an over arching message in animated Disneys. I like to think this one is "Don't let what you're afraid of stop you from living your life". Another thing I used to appreciate about Disney cartoons was how the characters were all voiced by unknowns, however in recent years Disney has jumped on the bandwagon of getting famous people to do the voice overs. In this case Rapunzel is voiced by Mandy Moore, who I am a fan of. But I find it distracting because I find myself listening to the tone of the voice for hints of Mandy rather than just enjoying what is being said. Oh, and as always, the personified animal characters (in this case a horse and a chameleon) were super cute.

So, overall, another hit by Disney. I have trouble saying "classic" because in my mind the classics were the ones I grew up with, and I am not ready to add this movie to that list yet. I guess I will have to wait until I have children and see what they think, because I am too biased in this department.

I looked up a list of animated Disney films and I draw the line for "classics" firmly at Tarzan in 1999. I thought about extending it to Lilo and Stitch (which would then include Atlantis and The Emperor's New Groove, which we can all agree are great movies) but I don't know if I would go so far to call those classics either. Where do you draw the line when considering an animated Disney a "classic"?

My verdict:

Come on, it's a Disney animated feature film, when was the last time one of those was a stinker?!