REVIEW: Tangled

Douche.

Now I didn't entirely dislike Tangled, so bear with me. But isn't this basically Shrek only without the handsome prince being replaced by an Ogre joke. AKA, the idea that spawned a decade of irony-seeping, one eye winking intolerable kiddie flicks. Isn't this that, only not even that? I guess the Flynn Ryder character here is a bit more of a douchebag, but you know, this is some slight stuff. Tangled encompasses the lazily anachronistic tone of the many beloved Dreamworks animations, mining fairy tale mythology yet again and well, feeling very, very rote. You saw the musical numbers right?

Yet Tangled is kind of fun in spite of its repeated efforts to be itself, the casting of Zachary Levi helps a great deal, the man otherwise known as Chuck Bartowski was a good move, the guy is kind of effortlessly winning and perhaps is always going to be more naturally amusing then say, Mandy Moore is going to be. Ms Moore, who has always been mildly likeable, mildly amusing and mildly talented, gives a mildly impressive performance in the lead role of Rapunzel (A fact I kept forgetting, because the film only really wanted to mine the Rapunzel for its proclivity for jokes about really long hair.) She made me smile a couple of times, though I have to ask am I just naturally setting Mandy Moore a lower standard, and any time she manages to be a mildly enjoyable presence I'm inclined to misinterpret the mildness for being better then it is. Its a question I may never answer. Perhaps because there is no answer, and the whole circle of Mandy Moore will go on and on until people don't care any more.

Anyways, Tangled. It had an enjoyably airy and light tone, it skipped along going exactly where you expect it to go, from its cheap and easy mocking of fairy tale conventions to its entirely sackless conclusion. And its created yet more bad press for step-parenting. Hollywood, make a movie about a step-parent saving a kid from a horrible family. I dare you.

Rating: 5/10