I always thought the story of Rapunzel was pretty simple, so naturally, I was interested in seeing how they'd do it. Then they released these stills and I was through the moon excited.
The first tip off should have been that Mandy Moore was cast as the voice of Rapunzel. But, I kept my chin up....
And then they released the trailer. Never in the history of movies has my expectations of a film shattered so quickly. Catch the trailer here, and find my commentary after the last beautiful still.
What you just watched was indeed for a Disney movie, as a follow up to the Oscar nominated Princess and the Frog. No, that wasn't a Shrek movie, although had they titled it Shrek and Rapunzel down a 5th of Vodka (see what I did there? Cleverly incorporating the sequel number into the title) I wouldn't have batted an eye. I'll need a fifth to get through this.
Here's what went wrong:
The princess: Let me break this down for you: Rapunzel is a damsel in distress. She is locked in a tower, and thus has not gotten a haircut, resulting in some long ass hair. This is not that Rapunzel. This is the female empowerment Rapunzel. A slightly superhero-esque version of the princess. Her hair has fucking powers! With powers like that, why does she need some strapping prince to rescue her? And without that need, pray tell, what is the point of the movie?
The prince: Who is this guy? Cocky, self-centered, seems to me like he's the perfect foil for our heroine. But Disney has forgotten, in their desire to make the female strong-willed, that boys watch Disney movies too. This is not the type of guy they should grow to be. I know they've got other movies too, but come on. This guy is a joke. And the main character (as is appears in the trailer). Give me someone real.
The style: After all the hubbub about returning to their roots with hand drawn animation they give us this? You're joking me. This is a classic story and deserves to be presented as such.
The music: Reminiscent of the Smash Mouth cover of I'm a Believer in Shrek, the use of a pop rock soundtrack is wildly out of place in the medieval setting. Stick with catering the soundtrack to the era, Disney, a la the Jazzy New Orleans sound of The Princess and the Frog.
The title: Why not just call it Rapunzel? There is no brand recognition with Tangled. If it's an attempt to make the story relevant and hip, it's painfully amiss.
Mind you I had to watch this trailer several times to dissect it. Punishment I wouldn't even put my worst of enemies through.
3 comments:
OH. MY. GOD. Everything you just said is totally spot on. I was ecstatic about this movie when it was announced... and now I don't think I would waste my time seeing it if it was free. I heard a rumor that they were going to change the title to make it appeal to boys more... it was first Rapunzel Unbraided, then Rapunzel, and now... TANGLED?!? Ya, just what little boys want to see a movie named after hair that needs to be combed. Also, rumor has it that her hair has magical healing powers. Flynn seems like a bad mix of Prince Naveen, Gaston and Robin Hood.
I saw this yesterday on IO9 and was also disappointed.
I'm down with the princess not being a distressed damsel, but from the trailer we know NOTHING about her other than her hair has a mind of it's own and she has seroius cabin fever.
It's sad that a studio who's made bank on female-driven media is consumed with appealling to boys. You'd think somewhere between the "The Little Mermaid" 20 years ago and "Hannah Montana" they'd have figured out that boys will watch stuff about girls too.
I highly recommend watching the behind the scenes story on "The Little Mermaid" anniversary DVD. It was the movie that saved the studios animation dept, and no one in Hollywood thought it'd make any money because the lead was a girl. That lack of pressure gave the studio and animators the hutzpah to do whatever they wanted, and it worked.
Clearly Disney could use a little bit of that magical daring again.
I'm almost completely on board except with the animation style, which I actually think is quite beautiful. To me, it truly looks like classic Disney style facial animation and the timing of the characters' movement looks to have finally been translated faithfully from 2D to 3D. I agree with the use of the pop song in the trailer, which just depressed me. However, regarding the story, I will hold out and maintain faith. John Lasseter is in charge and he's no hack... I hope...
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