I went to see Barbie vs. Thunderbirds Tangled tonight and ended up being quite repulsed.

Sure there's plenty of sass and charm laid down by the actors (Mandy!) and more intermittently by the screenplay (Fogelman?), but the needlessly 3D animation (even though I was fortunate enough to see it in 2D) was distracting in it's primitiveness. This technology needs to evolve by another couple of powers of ten to approach the realm of realmity. The backgrounds and many stylish artistic flourishes are wasted on this 3D canvas, because the cgi foreground is just so darn fakoid. When it finally gets to the climatic "Night of the Glowing Marshmallows", the 3D technique shows itself for the sham it is - - it is pathetic.

Worth watching for a couple of good musical numbers (Meh-nken.) and, of course, just the plain dark curiosity to witness the horror of this level of 3D cgi animation in 2010.

My hope is that they can salvage the data and repurpose the animation to a classic 2D style with some of the same verve that's sporadically evident here. With a little luck and skilled repair Disney's Rapunzel Tangled could yet be a classic Disney cartoon - - let's just pray to see this "emancipated version" available on the DVD. As it stands, it's really rather unpleasant.


2 out of 5.

No problemo! Anytime you feel the need to have your opinions validated, please feel free to read my reviews.

Beautiful animation and full of spirit. I probably liked this only a smidgen less than last year's The Princess and the Frog, and Disney should be commended on putting a fresh spin on the Rapunzel tale. The voice casting is perfect: Mandy Moore's bubbly personality comes through, while Zachary Levi and Donna Murphy's more anonymous voices fit well. The music by Menken and co. isn't extremely memorable, although I liked "When Will My Life Begin" and "I See the Light." A-

Tangled felt like a Disney Princess Movie Mad Libs where you plug in all the traditional plot points and songs and viola! You have a movie.

Predictable in every way.

Worth seeing, but not worth buying the DVD.

A+, it's freaking great

It's about the same quality as Despicable Me (although in entirely different respects) passable but extremely disposable. Doesn't touch the excellent Princess and the Frog, and the wrong direction for Disney.

Flynn Rider is hot!

Film is fun! Great fun!

Crappy songs and a lame plot. Definitely a far cry from those early '90s classics.

Interestingly enough, the past Disney movie that Brave most reminded me of was Tangled. This one holds up pretty well upon repeat viewings.

Tangled is great and I really liked but Brave is far superior and better

Tangled is really great with an intriguing story, even if the soundtrack is hot or miss, mainly due to Mandy Moore's weak voice. Really though, this is my favorite Disney animation since The Lion King. I don't think Frozen is as good as Tangled.

A+

Just rewatched this. A lot better than I give it credit.

Maximus

A. One of the bigger surprises in the excellent year of 2010.

A surprise among a dismal Disney period. Pure formula. Nothing on the classics. But a step in the right direction.

Agree

Yeah, this still holds up really well. If the soundtrack weren't so weak it would be on par with the classics. The animation is really gorgeous, possibly more gorgeous than in other recent Disney films that came after. Despite the relatively small story involving only three main characters, the film feels BIG and epic.

Still an A+

This movie only gets better with age. Nails the tone of the best Disney movies to a tee while also feeling fresh and it’s own thing. The soundtrack isn’t Disney’s best, and Flynn Rider seems like the animators were trying too hard to make an audience favorite character. But that’s really the only weakness here. The story and villain are top notch, the animation finally rivals the richness of their 2D films, lots of great action and humor that flows from the story and characters and doesn’t feel forced. Definitely in the top 5 Disney films for me.

The middle act and some of the songs don't work for me specially the one in the Inn but overall this is a really great movie. The characters are all fleshed out and the ending is heartfelt. It is definitely a top tier Disney movie though I wish the songs had a more lasting effect other than "I See the Light".

A-