Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Tangled

Welcome back one and all to a very special edition of Deep Dive Disney where not only will we be covering one of my personal favorites but also kicking off Disney’s Revival Era in earnest. Last time we covered a film in the animated Disney canon, we waved goodbye to 2D animation with the Princess & The Frog. From here on out, it’s all Pixar style computer animation, and to start it off, Disney went back to what they’ve always been good at, adapting classic fairy tales, in this case, the story of Rapunzel. Now, I’m going to assume most of you at least have a working knowledge of the story of Rapunzel, but since this film takes a lot of liberties with the source material and creates its own mythos around the skeleton of the original story, even more so than some of its predecessors, I’m going to recap the story anyway. This is the story of how Flynn Rider died. Don’t worry, this is actually a very fun story and the truth is, it isn’t even his. This is the story of a girl named Rapunzel, and it starts, with the sun. It seems that ages ago, a small drop of the sun fell to Earth and grew a magical flower. The flower had the power to heal the sick and injured. Because of its power, an evil hag named Mother Gothel coveted the flower for herself, using its magic to keep her young and beautiful for centuries. Meanwhile, the nearby Kingdom of Corona was flourishing under their kind and benevolent king and queen and its people rejoiced at the announcement that the queen was with child. However, the Queen fell ill during pregnancy and the only hope to save her life was to seek out the legendary golden flower. The flower was able to heal the queen, but the magic had an unexpected side effect. The magic of the flower passed on to the Queen’s baby daughter, specifically her blonde hair. Gothel tried to steal the magic hair but found that once it was cut from the girl’s head, it turned brown and lost its power. The evil old crone only had one choice, kidnap the child and exploit her magic to maintain her eternal youth and beauty. And so, Gothel locked Rapunzel away in a tower hidden in the woods and manipulated her for eighteen years into believing that she was the girl’s real mother and that the world outside her tower was a dark and evil place in order to keep her submissive and obedient. However, Rapunzel nonetheless became fascinated with the outside world, particularly a cluster of floating lights that are seen in the night sky every year on her birthday (in actuality a bunch of lanterns released by the kingdom in tribute to the lost princess). On the eve of her birthday, a handsome thief named Flynn Rider happens upon the tower while trying to hide from both the authorities, his vengeful partners in crime who he screwed over, and one extraordinarily tenacious horse. After nearly giving him a concussion, Rapunzel coerces Flynn into acting as her guide to see the lanterns in person. And so the two set out on a journey that brings them closer together and also uncovers hidden truths about Rapunzel’s true past. For a Disney Princess movie, the writing is surprisingly clever and the characters incredibly likable. So, let us now dive into, Tangled.

Main Character:

This is definitely a case where two characters share the title of Main Character in equal measure. While you can definitely argue that Rapunzel is definitely more of the central focus, Flynn Rider is too important a character to stick him in the side characters section. In any case, let’s begin with Rapunzel, voiced by Mandy Moore. Rapunzel is, by design, a very naïve character. I say by design because, well, naïve is what Gothel groomed her to be. She’s been conditioned to be naïve and submissive so Gothel can more easily get what she needs out of her. While this conditioning by her captor has understandably ill-prepared her for the real world, it has done nothing to quell her rebellious spirit and endless optimism, hence her insistence on being taken to see the lights. It’s actually somewhat inspiring when you think about it that she manages to still be a ray of light even though she’s surrounded by darkness. Another thing I appreciate about Rapunzel is how she seems to have made the best of a bad situation, finding plenty of hobbies within her tower and using the time she has alone to hone those skills to perfection. Such skills include painting, candle making, guitar and ventriloquism. Impressive! However, Rapunzel being so happy in a twisted sort of way actually makes her situation all the more horrifying. Gothel has essentially created an illusion of comfort and security that Rapunzel has completely fallen for. She can do anything she wants… provided she never leaves the tower. Say what you will about the bad hand Cinderella was dealt, at least she always knew where she stood. Rapunzel’s journey is that of slowly breaking the illusion her false mother has created and figuring out who she really is. Now there’s Flynn Rider, or perhaps I should call him Eugene Fitzherbert. (Actually, if you want to get really pedantic, I should call him Prince Horace of the Dark Kingdom but that’s a completely different story.) Before we get into the man himself, I definitely want to shout out his voice actor, Zachary Levi, best known in recent years for playing the main character in DC’s Shazam. Funny story about Levi taking the role: Apparently, Levi is a really big fan of the Kingdom Hearts video game series and agreed to voice Flynn with the specific intent of playing him in a future installment. Lucky for him, his dream came true in Kingdom Hearts III two years ago. The irony is that Mandy Moore did not return to voice Rapunzel despite having previously voiced a different character in the series. Anywho, Flynn, Eugene, whatever you want to call him, is my favorite character in the movie. He is loaded to the brim with charm and charisma. He’s almost like a slightly more selfish version of Aladdin in a lot of ways. Raised in an orphanage, a young Eugene Fitzherbert was inspired by tales of Flynnigan Rider, wealthy adventurer. I guess when you’re an orphan with nothing, someone who has everything is pretty appealing. Adopting his Flynn Rider persona, Eugene did his best to emulate his namesake, carrying himself in the manner of a dashing rogue type but in reality, is little more than a petty thief. He aspires to one day be rich and powerful and live the life his role model led, but that’s much easier said than done. In all likelihood, Eugene’s life of crime was simply the easiest route to achieving his dream of wealth adventure. While Flynn is understandably a bit more world-weary and cynical than Rapunzel, there is a sense of wide-eyed optimism that matches that of the princess buried deep beneath his façade. Underneath all that dashing rogue persona he’s adopted and that ridiculous “Smolder” thing he does, there’s this belief that as Eugene Fitzherbert, he’s nobody, but as Flynn Rider, he can be someone worthwhile, again, not unlike Aladdin and his Prince Ali persona. When Rapunzel tells him that she prefers Eugene, a switch seems to flip in his mind.

Together, the two characters have incredible chemistry. They balance and compliment one another almost perfectly, definitely making these two rank among my favorite Disney couples out there. Every time Rapunzel makes a silly but optimistic comment, Flynn answers back with a usually hilarious and sarcastic one-liner. It’s a fun dynamic that is explored excellently over the course of the film and the subsequent animated series.

Villain:

Oh lord, here we go. Remember when I said that Facilier was the last truly great Disney Villain, even knowing full well that Gothel here, voiced by Broadway Veteran Donna Murphy and designed to resemble Cher, was right around the corner? Well, a lot of you took that to mean that Gothel was not a great villain and that’s not exactly accurate. Gothel is indeed a great villain, but while Facilier, was fun and likable in his own way despite being a bad guy, Gothel is an absolutely detestable creature and it’s hard to find anything to like about her. In fact, with the obvious exception of Frollo, Gothel might just be the most Loathsome character we’ve encountered here on Deep Dive Disney. It’s actually rather fitting that I compare Gothel to the Judge as the two characters actually have a lot of similarities. Both essentially kidnap an innocent baby and lock them away in a tower for their personal use, both are incredibly selfish, both are willing to kill in order to get what they want and both rank amongst the worst parents in Disney history. The key difference between the two (aside from the fact that I’m pretty sure Gothel never committed genocide because she wanted to get laid) is in their general attitude towards their evil deeds. I’ll give Frollo this; for as much as an irredeemably evil bastard as Frollo may be, at the very least, he seems to believe his own bullshit and genuinely thinks that what he’s doing is in service of some greater good. Gothel on the other hand, just doesn’t care. Gothel seems well aware of the fact that she’s a twisted narcissist and while she may conceal her motives from Rapunzel to better suit her needs, she is definitely not lying to herself about how nasty she really is. And nasty is certainly the right word because Gothel is a serious piece of work. What makes her so loathsome isn’t so much her outright cruelty, though that is most assuredly a factor, but rather the manner in which she chooses to be cruel. While usually described as a witch, Gothel seems to have no actual magic of her own, just a knowledge of how to tap into the preexisting magics of other things like the sun drop flower. That’s sort of a fitting metaphor for what Gothel is, an exploiter and a manipulator. The word of the day is “Gaslighting.” For those unaware, gaslighting is defined as manipulating someone by psychological means into questioning their own sanity. Every word out of Gothel’s mouth is straight out of the emotionally abusive parent playbook. She tells Rapunzel that the world outside her tower is cruel and frightening and manipulates her into thinking that she is too weak to handle it while at the same time never giving her the opportunity. She also makes a point to put down Rapunzel’s appearance and intelligence every chance she gets. Every time the subject of going outside comes up, she tries to steer the conversation away from the subject, often by criticizing Rapunzel for “mumbling.” When Rapunzel is persistent, only then do Gothel’s true colors come out as she asserts that Rapunzel will never leave the tower. Probably the worst thing she does is extinguish every hint of rebellion by crying crocodile tears and proclaiming “Great, now I’m the bad guy.” She does this to engender sympathy for herself and force Rapunzel to back down. Every time she pulls this crap it just pisses me off and makes me want to reach through the TV and punch that self-satisfied smile off her face. This, if you can believe it, is a very good thing. Effectively, Gothel is made loathsome for all the right reasons, a great way to write a villain in my opinion. A nice touch with the character is how she slowly ages throughout the film. This is both expository, as it shows how dependent Gothel has become on the magic of the flower over the centuries that she looks significantly older after only twenty-four hours, as well as symbolic, since it can be said that Gothel’s true face is revealed to Rapunzel more and more as they interact. At the end of the day, Gothel is a monster, but sadly, she’s also the last of a dying breed of unambiguously evil, over the top villains. From here on out, we make way for the often-divisive era of “Twist Villains.” My thoughts on the idea of twist villains will be given on a case-by-case basis. Still, while Gothel is a high note to end on, I truly hope that she isn’t truly the last of the old style of Disney Villains.

Side Characters:

There actually aren’t a ton of side characters worth talking about in this film, but I’ll discuss the ones we have. We may as well start with Pascal the Chameleon, who’s a fairly standard but still very entertaining animal sidekick. Pascal does not speak, which I think was a wise choice. Not because I’m against talking animal sidekicks, I actually rather enjoyed Ray and Lewis from The Princess & The Frog, but rather, because much of the comedy comes from his facial expressions and body language and I feel as though he could talk. In similar veign of Pascal, we have Maximus, the coolest Disney Horse of all time. Maximus is a Horse of the royal guard who will be damned if he’s going to let a criminal like Flynn Rider escape justice and will do whatever it takes to see the thief behind bars. There’s just something utterly hilarious about Max’s relentless, almost terminator-like pursuit of Flynn Rider. He even sword fights him at one point which even Flynn admits is one of the strangest things he’s ever done. However, I do appreciate that Max eventually recognizes that there are bigger fish to fry and calls a truce with Flynn, helping him reach the tower in time to save Rapunzel. In the TV series that would follow, Eugene and Max maintain a very enjoyable dynamic that’s mostly friendly but still occasionally antagonistic.

The Stabbington brothers (who are canonically named Sideburns & Patchy and are both voiced by the great Ron Perlman) should ideally be discussed in the villain section, but Gothel is so exponentially worse than the two brothers, who really only want to get even with Flynn after he took the crown they stole together and left them for the guards. They get more appearances in the TV series, including an episode where they team up with several past villains introduced in the show to form a pirate crew and one really weird episode where Rapunzel and Pascal wake up in the bodies of the Stabbingtons as teenagers.

Discussing the Stabbingtons leads me nicely into the thugs who frequent the Snuggly Duckling, a seedy pub at the edge of the forest. I actually really like these guys, and not because there are such talented actors like Brad Garrett and Jeffery Tambor voicing members of their ranks. These guys, at first glance, seem to be the sort of evil ruffians that Gothel warned Rapunzel about, but while they may be malicious, mean and scary, they’re actually a bunch of softies with diverse and interesting aspirations, such as becoming a concert pianist, finding true love, opening up a bakery or becoming a successful mime. These guys actually tie nicely into what I believe to be the overall message of the film, but we’ll get there when we get there.

Songs:

While I wouldn’t place it on par with The Lion King or The Princess & The Frog, the songs in Tangled are still pretty solid and often a lot of fun. Let’s just go through them one by one.

We open with probably my favorite song in the film, When Will My Life Begin. This song is, naturally, Rapunzel’s I want song but what she wants is understandable. She’s spent all this time developing all of these unique skills, and yet she has no one to share them with, so all she really wants is to start her life and find her place in the world, something she’ll only be able to do if she leaves the tower. On top of that, the song is catchy as hell and Mandy Moore has a beautiful voice.

In direct opposition to the previous song, we have our villain song, Mother Knows Best. It’s not the strongest villain song we’ve ever had, but it serves its purpose, that being to emphasize the disturbing stranglehold she has over Rapunzel’s life. I’ll give Gothel this, she may be a loathsome creature, but she’s got one hell of a sense of showmanship, though I think that’s mostly down to Donna Murphy.

I’ve Got a Dream is where we learn about all the various quirks of the thuggish patrons of the Snuggly Duckling. It’s bouncy and fun and gets a few laughs, but what’s especially noteworthy is that this is the sequence that gives us the famous Flynn Rider meme. You know the one, where someone on Twitter posts a picture of Flynn with swords held at his throat and asks you to provide an unpopular opinion on a certain topic. In actuality, Flynn has swords held at his throat because he refuses to sing, so as my own little joke, any time I see the Flynn Rider meme, I simply respond with Flynn’s verse in the song.

Finally, there’s I See the Light, the love duet between Flynn and Rapunzel. I mean, what can I even say about it. The song is absolutely beautiful, the scene is really sweet and the animation and atmosphere are the best in the entire movie. It’s a bullseye all around.

If you’re curious, there was actually a Tangled stage musical made for the Disney cruise lines that’s free to watch on YouTube and it’s actually pretty good. While the story remains the same, they actually add a few new songs and they’re pretty good as well. My personal favorite is called “Flynn Rider: Wanted Man.” Check it out if you’re interested.

Memorable Scenes:

Far and away, the most memorable scene in the film is when Flynn and Rapunzel first meet. It all starts where Flynn climbs the tower in order to hide from the guards, only to be smashed in the head by a frying pan wielding Rapunzel. Incidentally, the Frying Pan would go on to become the signature weapon of the franchise, which I find very amusing. After Rapunzel convinces Gothel to go on a trip that will take at least three days, she decides to wake Flynn up, using her long hair to tie him up so she doesn’t try any funny business. Personally, I think she should have gotten him some medical attention first since he was unconscious in that closet for at least two hours and undoubtedly has a concussion, but whatever. What follows is an absolutely perfect display of the previously discussed chemistry between the two characters, including a very amusing bit where Flynn tries to act like a typical Disney prince, but just ending up coming across like a wannabe Gaston. Once Flynn is finally coerced into acting as Rapunzel’s escort, we get another great scene where Rapunzel goes outside for the first time and goes back and forth several times between being incredibly excited to be out of the tower and horrified by what Gothel will say if she finds out. It’s hilarious.

Speaking of Gothel, easily the most satisfying scene in the film is where Rapunzel finally figures out that she’s the lost princess. Now that she knows that Gothel has been filling her head with nothing but lies for her entire life, any power the witch once held over her evaporates immediately. Gothel tries all the usual techniques to get Rapunzel back under her control, but none of them work. It’s infinitely satisfying to see Rapunzel finally stand up for herself, rendering such a detestable character powerless and pathetic in the process.

Story:

We touched on this a little bit when we discussed the pub thug characters, but there definitely seemed to be a recurring theme of “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover” throughout the film, the aforementioned thugs simply being the most obvious example. Rapunzel may seem like some weird girl who lives in the woods, but unbeknownst to everyone, including herself, she’s actually the lost princess. Gothel presents herself as a caring maternal figure, but we know that she’s anything but. Flynn Rider seems like a thief and a scoundrel, but in actuality, he’s actually poor orphan Eugene Fitzherbert, trying to improve his situation in whatever way he can, even if that way isn’t exactly legal. Is it the strongest message we’ve seen in one of these movies, not really, but it’s a nicely presented one all the same.

Something that doesn’t really have to do with anything I just said but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to discuss it concerns Rapunzel’s hair. Per the fairy tale, Rapunzel’s hair is insanely long, with the TV show referring to it as being as least seventy feet. Now, we all know that this is a fairy tale and probably shouldn’t be critiqued for its realism, but I can’t help but notice that throughout the movie, despite being dragged, on the ground, through the woods, along the floor of a cave and whatever else it goes through, Rapunzel’s hair remains perfectly pristine. That hair should be an unmanageable nightmare of knows with dirt and twigs stuck in it within the first hour of Flynn and Rapunzel’s journey. I know it’s a weird thing to get hung up on, but the name of the movie is Tangled, and Rapunzel’s hair never actually gets tangled. The title of the movie is a lie!

The Dark Disney Factor:

While the aforementioned TV series has more than a few gnarly moments, the film itself doesn’t go too hard on the Dark Disney Factor. The Darkness in this film is mostly derived from the horrific and sometimes disturbingly realistic manner in which Gothel gaslights Rapunzel. However, we do get at least one scene that’s dark and disturbing in the old fashion way, and that the manner in which Gothel meets her demise. It starts when Flynn Rider shows up to save Rapunzel, only to get a knife in his back courtesy of Gothel. With Flynn mortally wounded, Gothel, now having fully dropped any pretense about her true intentions with Rapunzel, plans to take her away where no one will find her. Rapunzel agrees to submit to Gothel on the condition she be allowed to use her magic hair to heal Eugene. When she tries to heal him, Eugene, knowing full well it will cost him his like, cuts Rapunzel’s hair, causing it to lose its magic completely. With the magic that sustained her unnaturally long life now gone, Gothel begins to age rapidly, writhing in pain and anguish as she does before finally falling out of the tower, turning to dust before she hits the ground leaving only her cloak behind. I'll admit, I wasn't crazy about the Deus Ex Machina that brought Eugene back to life, but I'm glad the movie has a happy ending. Final Thoughts:

Tangled is an awesome movie. It takes a simple story and does so much with it. The film is loaded to the brim with likable characters, great songs, gorgeous animation a truly terrible villain and so much more. It truly deserves the title of one of Disney's greatest and was a great way to kick off the revival era in earnest. And if you liked these characters and want to see more of them, I got good news. In 2017, Tangled The Series (later retitled Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure) began airing on The Disney Channel and went on to last for three seasons. You may not be expecting much from a show about a Disney Princess, but believe me when I say, I personally got more out of Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure than I did out of Avatar The Last Airbender. I know that in some circles saying such things would be considered sacrilege but I will stand by what I said until the day I die. The show expands on the lore of the original film in some unique and unexpected ways. All of the original characters are back for the fun with all of the original actors reprising their roles. The new characters introduced are all a lot of fun and even feature some big names in their voice cast including Clancy Brown, Bruce Campbell and Lance Henriksen. Even Donna Murphy returns to reprise the role of Gothel in a few dream sequences and flashbacks. The entire series is available for streaming on Disney+ so if you got the time, I highly recommend checking it out. In the meantime, next time we look at yet another Pirates of the Caribbean movie.