What Do The Critics Say?

"The artwork and 3D animation on this film are superb. It is filled with bright imagery and glorious colors in the grand tradition of Disney animation. loosely based on the German folk tale of Rapunzel, recounted in Grimm's fairy tales. The story is modernized somewhat into a story about a girl becoming a woman and throwing off the shackles of childhood and seizing power for herself." Robert Roten LARAMIE MOVIE SCOPE "Tangled positively blooms with ravishing images, rousing, story-centric musical numbers (take note Glee fans) and sequences that actually use 3D as an enhancement rather than as a distraction. Disney's latest fairy tale makeover is a sheer delight, a solid-gold piece of family entertainment that hits just about every button you could wave a wand at." Jim Schembri THE AGE "Ssuperb storytelling, a top voice cast and an appealing irreverent tone, which combined with traditional hand-drawn animation, immerses us in an exquisite reality. Just like The Princess and The Frog delighted us with its unique slant on things, so too does Tangled, with its well developed surprising characters and Alen Menken's catchy, melodic songs. Mandy Moore is perfectly cast as Rapunzel." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "Tangled is family friendly yet made to appeal strongly to adults, with the moral of the tale revolving around the idea of not holding yourself back. With the aim of bringing the fluidity of hand-drawn animation into the CGI realm, Tangled is not only visually splendid, but it's one to get swept away in. This is animation of the highest order. The action is tremendous." Annette Basile FILMINK "Stressing plot, character and humor over pop-culture gags, "Tangled" takes cues from Pixar and thrills the viewer with action and romance. Its lush, 3D environments and likable story make "Tangled" a triumph that should sit next to Disney’s best with ease. Animation at its best and it's this season's biggest surprise: it treats its audience with intelligence while giving them a jolt of fun." Christopher Smith BANGOR DAILY NEWS

"Respecting its venerable origin and setting, the Disney team only mildly tweaks the original tale. Thus we have lovely teen heroine Rapunzel imprisoned by cruel 'mother' Gothel in a tall stone tower in order to protect the girl’s magic mane that protects the evil Disney she-dragon from aging. Utterly charming, visually sumptuous and often witty, this new 3D musical rendition of the old fairy tale; will delight youngsters and teens while holding the attention of the more hair-challenged among audiences." Doris Toumarkine FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL "The Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale Rapunzel has been elegantly and thoughtfully animated by the directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard; the movie can stand with the best of the studio’s later work. There are no unnecessary pop references here, just fluid, graceful storytelling. The clear-eyed and energetic musical numbers were written by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater." Bruce Diones NEW YORKER "Tangled is easily Disney's best traditional animated feature since The Lion King. The film has an old-fashioned feel: unrepentantly sentimental, unashamedly sincere, an unapologetic fairytale; in short, an instant classic. Full of thrilling daring do, Monty-Python slapstick and soaring music, Tangled proves that nothing gets straight to our hearts faster than good, old-fashioned, sincere storytelling." Brandon Fibbs BRANDON FIBBS "Screenwriter Dan Fogelman and the Disney animators also create a rich ensemble of supporting characters, including a small tribe of not-so-bad Medieval ruffians, a formidable white horse with a knack for tracking outlaws and a sly chameleon who sticks loyally by Rapunzel's side. The amazingly resourceful Maximus the horse, physically modeled after animated Disney horses of old, is a great comic character unto himself and especially effective in 3-D." John Wirt ADVOCATE "Here, however, the retelling proves enormously beneficial as we’re given a strong workable story with plenty of adult-tinged humour to keep everybody satisfied. Of course, Tangled doesn’t stray from the classic romantic plot; there are struggles that come and go, where someone always gets hurt before the equilibrium is restored. Sure, we all know how it’s going to end, but .. who honestly cares?" Katina Vangopoulos CUT PRINT REVIEW

The Inside Story Executive Producer John Lasseter (chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios) describes "Tangled" as "so full of hilarious characters, but it also has tremendous action and a lot of heart. We wanted to create a unique world and story that evoke the rich, dramatic feeling that is classically Disney, but is also fresh and humorous, and that gives the audience something it has never seen before in computer animation. The filmmakers have created a world that builds on Disney’s heritage but transports us to a land that is completely new." Producer Roy Conli notes: "It's this wonderful story of two people who don’t really know who they are yet, and in the course of the film, they both discover their destiny. We wanted to break some of the stereotypes that had been done before. Flynn is a guy who’s been there, done that, and seen it all. Rapunzel is a sheltered, naïve: but smart girl; who hasn’t been there, hasn’t done that, and hasn’t seen anything! He helps bring her to a place where she can see herself more clearly, and she helps bring him to a place where he can change some of the mistakes he’s made in life. Together, they fill in what’s missing in each other." Lasseter tapped two of the studio’s most revered talents to helm Disney’s fiftieth animated feature. As the animation industry’s top rising stars, Nathan Greno and Byron Howard were called on to create a movie that could sit on the shelf next to classic Disney animated films and be an entertaining roller-coaster ride for modern audiences. And Lasseter, who is a two-time Academy Award ® winner ("Toy Story" & "Tin Toy") with directing credits that include "A Bug’s Life" and "Cars", says they’ve done it. "They are some of the most talented young directors I’ve ever seen. They have such incredible story sense, but one of the things that I love about them is their sense of humor. And they really understand what makes a Disney film a Disney film: the heart. Walt Disney always said, 'For every laugh, there should be a tear.' They have such a fresh, contemporary twist on something that’s classically Disney. "It looks like a classic Disney animated film, but it’s also in 3D CG animation," adds Lasseter, "so it’s really unlike anything we’ve ever done before." Howard directed Walt Disney Animation Studios "Bolt", the 2008 animated comedy adventure that grossed more than three hundred million worldwide. Greno, who joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1996 and served more than a decade in the story department; was story supervisor on the 2008 film "Bolt". He also wrote and directed the acclaimed 2009 short "Super Rhino". With its incredible cast of appealing human and animal characters, fantastic settings (from castles and towers to forests to pubs) and spectacular visual effects including a climactic scene with as many as fourty six thousand glowing lanterns, "Tangled" is a contemporary comedy for audiences of all ages that also represents a technical and artistic milestone for Walt Disney Animation Studios and for the art of computer animation. "Audiences may think they know what to expect from a film featuring Rapunzel," Greno says, "but we flipped it on its head to make a movie that’s relevant, fresh and different. Byron and I both love the classic Disney films, and we wanted to go back to this cool, retro look from the fifties, and mix it with contemporary storytelling, pacing, action and humor. This puts a whole new layer on this kind of story." "The scope of this movie is gigantic," Howard ("Lilo & Stitch" & "Mulan") adds, "with horse chases and sword fights, prison breaks and floods. The story gave us a chance to take modern-day moviemaking sensibilities and pump it into a classic story." The story of Rapunzel has long fascinated the master storytellers at Disney; the story has been in development since the 1940s under Walt Disney himself. Howard recalls: "Nathan was working on the story before we became the directors, and he saw a real spark in Rapunzel that was starting to come out. That grew into our initial conversation about the movie. We asked ourselves, 'Who is this character, and how quickly can we get her out of the tower?' We knew that she had to propel the whole story, and if she’s stuck in this room for the whole show, we’re not going to get anywhere. That really affected what we needed her character to be." "We wanted to make her a more dynamic character, and that meant having someone else to balance her out," Greno adds. "She needed someone to be her foil and equal: a character who could hold his own against this quirky, intelligent girl. She’s very smart, but she’s not worldly. She has this limited world view and doesn’t really know what’s out there. That’s where Flynn Rider comes in. He’s the worldly, sharp guy who’s been around the block a few times and knows how the world works. Throughout the film, they both fill in what’s missing in each other." Working together with Howard, Greno, head of story Mark Kennedy ("Chicken Little") and screenwriter Dan Fogelman ("Fred Claus") along with some important creative contributions by two time PGA Award winner John Lasseter (2002 & '10), the film took on an exciting new direction and became an exciting tale of two characters on a swashbuckling adventure. Kennedy ("Beauty and the Beast") recalls: "John really wanted the film to capture audiences. It was always important to him that Rapunzel be a very strong character and that her life in the tower was not unpleasant or terrifying. He explained to us that she is the daughter of a king and queen, and it would be in her nature to be bold despite her circumstances. We set out to find these characters that are fun and interesting and that the audience would want to spend time with." "Nathan and Byron had a very clear notion of what they wanted to do with the story from the very beginning," Fogelman adds. "They wanted to tell a classic Disney story in a completely new way that would fit the style of CG animation. This meant pushing the comedy and the characters into a kind of twenty first century sensibility while still keeping many of the elements that audiences have always loved about Disney films. The key was always finding the right balance. “Finding the right voice and tone for Flynn, and making him entertaining, was probably the biggest challenge. He’s at his best in this movie when he’s playing little mind games with other people and entertaining himself along with them. He’s the kind of character who’s having fun with the words whether or not anybody else is enjoying them as much as he is. There’s something very Cary Grant-like about him. At his heart, he’s really kind of a lost soul who doesn’t quite know what he wants and who he is." "We tried to make Flynn Rider the most handsome, most attractive male lead Disney has ever had," Howard revealed. "We did a lot of research. We had all the ladies of the studio come in to the 'Hot Man Meeting', where we gathered pictures of the favorite handsome men, we collected pictures from the Internet and from books and from women’s wallets. They were very specific about what they liked and what they didn’t like." But as Greno revealed: "the women would come in and they’d put up these pictures of the hottest guys they’d ever seen, then point out the flaws in all of them." And as Howard concedes: "Everybody got ripped apart. Nobody was perfect." Animating human characters has always been one of the toughest things to do in computer animation. Under the direction of animation supervisors Glen Keane, Clay Kaytis and John Kahrs, the animation on "Tangled" represents another milestone for animating humans, as well as some very appealing animal characters. Supervising animators Lino Di Salvo and Mark Mitchell worked in concert with the trio of supervisors to keep the animation at a high level. In all, the animated cast includes five main characters, twenty one thugs, the king and queen and thirty eight townspeople. "Rapunzel is one of the toughest characters we’ve ever had to animate," says Kaytis ("Meet the Robinsons"). For actress and singer Mandy Moore ("Dedication"), lending her voice to the character of Rapunzel was an eye-opening experience. "There’s a unique challenge in having to imagine a world that doesn’t necessarily exist, using story sketches and the director's descriptions to visualize the storyline. At the end of the day, all you really have to rely on is your imagination. The most enjoyable part of being involved in "Tangled" has been tapping into a creative side of my brain that I’ve never tapped into before." "Mandy has this great soul to her voice, along with an amazing clarity and purity," Howard observes. "She also has this down to earth, girl next-door quality that makes her everything you could hope for in a Disney heroine. Not only is she a fine actress who could deliver the dialogue, but she’s a great singer as well." Zachary Levi ("Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel") says he has "always been a huge fan of animation and have genuinely wanted to do a voice for Disney my whole life. Donald Duck was my favorite and I was convinced at one point in my life that I would try and get a job talking like him. There’s a level of energy that you have to bring to the recording process, and you really have to just let loose and put a lot of emotion into what you’re doing." "When Zac came in to record, he immediately understood who the character was. He was this likeable swashbuckling thief and he could really pull it off. Zac really helped us find the character," Greno recalls. For the part of Mother Gothel, the directors envisioned a character who could be wickedly evil and wildly entertaining at the same time. They saw her as more of a psychological villain along the lines of Cinderella’s stepmother. Two time Tony Award winner Donna Murphy ("Passion" & "The King and I") is "an amazing, all-around performer," Howard notes. "She has this great flamboyant, theatrical way of acting, and an incredibly strong voice that she really gets to showcase in "Tangled". We had a back story worked out for the character, but Donna came in with so many questions and wanted to know things that we hadn’t figured out yet. It helped us to flesh out the character. Donna became the character and gave every molecule of herself to the performance." Co-starring in the voice cast are: Brad Garrett ("Til Death"); Jeffrey Tambor ("Arrested Development"); M.C. Gainey ("Lost"); Paul F Tompkins ("There Will Be Blood"); Ron Perlman ("Sons of Anarchy") and Richard Kiel ("Happy Gilmore"). Two time Annie Award winner Glen Keane (1992 & 2002) is an expert on the subject of animating hair. "If you look at my characters, their problems are always defined by their hair. In the case of Rapunzel, her hair is a constant reminder that she has incredible potential. The hair had to have a sensuous pattern to it. It had to have weight to it. Rapunzel’s got to be able to touch it and use it." The team developed new software, called Dynamic Wires and new techniques to carry out the filmmaker's ambitious ideas for animating the hair. What's It All About?

When the kingdom’s most wanted, most charming and on the run bandit Flynn Rider, decides to hide out in a mysterious tower, he’s taken hostage by Rapunzel, a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with seventy feet of magical, golden hair. Flynn’s curious captor, who’s looking to escape from the tower where she has been locked away for years, realizes the handsome thief may be her ticket to freedom. She will give him back the crown he's stolen crown and she's hidden, if he will take her to where the floating stars are. Unbeknown to the young girl, the floating stars are actually lanterns released every year on her birthday: a ceremony started by Rapunzel's mother and father, the very king and queen from which Flynn has stole the crown. Flynn is not keen to go back to the kingdom. After reaching an agreement the unlikely duo sets off on what will become, an action-packed escapade.

The Verdict "It's a 'no brainer'. The team at Disney Films have a winner on their hands. A wickedly, wonderful, glorious film that encompasses everything adults and children love about the grand, colorful style of animated Disney movies we've not only grown up with over the decades, but more importantly: grown to love. The voice cast is superb! The songs are fabulous (look for the OST CD in-store now). The characters are adorable: even the rough and tumble thugs. And the singing? It's just sensational, with standout performances from cast and an exceptional turn from two time Tony Award winner, Donna Murphy. "Tangled" features five new songs. The score is by eight time Oscar® winning composer/songwriter Alan Menken ("The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", 'Pocahontas' and 'Enchanted') and the lyrics are by Glenn Slater ("The Little Mermaid"). Above all this, there is one 'star' who continually steals the show: the mighty white stallion Maximus. The expressions the animator have created on this horse are attention grabbing to say the least. "Tangled" is family entertainment at its best. Unmissable! 5 STARS." Who's Voice Is That?

Mandy Moore Zachary Levi Donna Murphy Ron Perlman M.C. Gainey Jeffrey Tambor Brad Garrett Paul F. Tompkins Richard Kiel Delaney Rose Stein Nathan Greno Byron Howard Tim Mertens

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Rapunzel Flynn Rider Mother Gothel Stabbington Brother Captain of the Guard Big Nose Thug Hook Hand Thug Short Thug Vlad Young Rapunzel/Little Girl Guard #1 / Thug #1 Guard #2 / Thug #2 Guard #3

The Production Team Directed by Nathan Greno & Byron Howard Screenplay by Dan Fogelman From the fairy tale by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm Produced by Roy Conli Executive Producers Glen Keane & John Lasseter Original Music by Alan Menken Film Editing by Tim Mertens Casting by Jamie Sparer Roberts Production Design by Douglas Rogers Art Direction by David Goetz Run Time 100 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Run Time 100 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2011 - Disney Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2011 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.