1. Tangled (Film)

TANGLED (Walt Disney Pictures, 2010)

Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard

GENRE: Animated / Fantasy / Musical

HONORS: Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Film

REVIEW:

With her long magical golden hair, Rapunzel stays locked away in a tower, forced to observe the world from a distance.  Believing her mother’s assertion that she is being kept safe from the people that would want to hurt her, she never complains about her life.  However, just before her eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel asks her mother for permission to step outside the tower to get a closer look at the floating lights that rise above the town every year on her birthday.  After refusing, her mother leaves the tower to go on a trip for Rapunzel’s birthday gift, giving Rapunzel the idea that she can slip out and be back before her mother notices.  Her plan is derailed for a little while when Flynn Ryder climbs her tower to hide from the two men chasing him, but, after knocking him out a couple of times with a pan, she agrees to trust him enough to help her reach the celebration.  Rapunzel and Flynn set out through the forest, encountering a number of obstacles along the way.  While they make the physical journey to the city, Rapunzel undergoes a journey of her own as she discovers the truth about where she comes from and develops into a fearless young woman.

OPINION:

Building off of the story of Rapunzel, Tangled is a fun movie filled with musical numbers that both kids and adults will enjoy.  It’s also just a beautiful film to watch from the clarity of the characters’ faces to the beautiful colors throughout.  In contrast to some of the other Disney princess movies, Tangled focuses on a female character that undergoes a transformation from a scared, eager-to-please young girl to an independent and self-confident young woman.  Although Flynn rescues Rapunzel from danger, she turns right back around and saves him from certain death, resisting the label of the damsel in distress.   With all of the helpless princesses that young girls grow up watching and reading about, Tangled is a refreshing fairy tale that gives girls a princess to admire.

IDEAS:

This film would be great in a library display about stories that feature strong female characters or a display about Disney animated features and their literature counterparts.