I finally had the opportunity to go see “Tangled” last week, Disney’s latest 3D animated movie. This was shortly after reading the article in the Los Angeles Times that stated that “Tangled” would be Disney’s last princess/musical flick (noooo!!!!), so I definitely had some mixed feelings walking into the theater. Also, since I work mainly in 2D animation, I was a little grumpy about the fact that this film was in 3D…I hate to see 2D die! I had been seeing the previews for “Tangled” for the last few months, and kind of thought that Rapunzel looked a little too “Barbie-ish” and plastic.

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually saw the film…my initial impressions were so wrong! This movie was one of the few I saw this year that actually made me laugh out loud, yet it wasn’t so slapstick and “dumbed down” as a lot of children’s movies are these days. Rapunzel is a strong, spunky heroine (and I loooved the fact that she’s an artist…hmm, wonder why?) She was not as Barbie-perfect as I thought she’d be portrayed, and her abundance of emotions gave her a lot of appeal. Mandy Moore was a nice choice to provide her voice, giving her more of a down to earth feel than previous princesses. Maximus the horse stole the show, and I was greatly impressed by his animation (trust me, you’ve NEVER seen an animated horse do the things that Maximus does!) Mother Gothel makes a great villain, in a wonderful “Mommie Dearest/Ursula” broadway diva way.

I have to grudgingly admit that the movie did, indeed, work well as 3D animation. I found myself entranced with studying the textures onscreen and marvelling over the little details like grass and Rapunzel’s hair. It didn’t lose the “Disney quality” that a lot of classic 2D features had, and I think the whole film was improved by the extra use of space. I saw the film wearing 3D glasses, and liked the layering of the film’s elements and how they didn’t try to make it too “gimmicky.”

To sum it up, I highly recommend this film…Disney seems to have gotten it right again, finally! I hope they’ll continue to tell good stories like this one in the future.

And all I can say about the ending is….*SPOILER ALERT*

wow, finally a princess that I resemble! I know what my costume next year will be….. 🙂