I would like to think that this movie at least shows that I don't purely associate the original Disney feel with 3D animation, since that was the stretch of movies I claimed felt like Disney was just trying to be Pixar. Because I think even more than Princess and the Frog, this movie has a lot of that old Disney feel to it. I'm glad I decided to stick through the dirge of their first foray into 3D animation because I really liked this one.
This time based on the story of Rapunzel, she is stolen as a child and locked away so someone could make use of her magical hair to keep herself young forever. Of course, she eventually wants to go to the outside world to learn more about it. This eventually happens when a wanted man named Flynn Ryder stumbles across the tower. You can tell at this point that Disney and Pixar had a working relationship because the dialogue flows more like it does in a Pixar movie than anything I would have expected from classic Disney.
And while a lot of the humor and dialogue feel at home with Pixar, it feels like Disney in terms of presentation and theme. There is an air of wonder and whimsy throughout the entire film that would feel right at home in the older titles. It's a blast watching Rapunzel fight with herself over whether or not escape from the tower was right, and Flynn just trying to live out his childhood dream. And more so than just about any other movie, it's very easy to buy into them becoming romantically interested in movies end. Every character interaction in this movie is a lot of fun to watch. The main antagonist for Flynn, for part of the movie at least, is just a stubborn horse that got separated from the knight riding it.
I don't even have a huge criticism to levy against the movie either. It's just a beginning to end the very well-made movie. If there is something I will say about it that could be construed as bad, it's that it doesn't have anything in particular that stands out about it. It does everything very well, but the lack of anything hitting hard does mean that despite the quality, it's not likely to stick in your memory as much as others. Every high point of the movie was done in a better way in past titles. Mother Knows Best may be a great song, but it's not as good as Poor Unfortunate Souls, which is good for all the same reasons. The fast and fun fights are great, but not done as well as something like Alladin. I could go on, but I think you get the point. At the same time, it may have not done anything as well as the other movies but it's managed to do all the things it wants well.
I go into this movie not having any idea how it's going to place when I inevitably do my Ten favorite Disney Films because I think it's going to be placed based on how well this movie sticks in my mind. I can tell you that all the music, aside from Mother Knows best, is becoming a bit distant to me despite having seen this in the past couple of days, so the music isn't going to be the high point on a whole.
This is a good movie, and between this and Princess and the Frog, I'm just excited that some of that magic stayed even after that abysmal run of movies from Home on the Range to Meet the Robinsons. I can give the movie a recommendation, and I'm interested to see how strongly it stays in my mind come to the end of my Disney journey.
