Disney gets "Tangled"

When I first saw a preview for Tangled, I thought, "This looks awesome!" When David and I saw it Thanksgiving day, we were blown away.

Tangled, for the hopefully few of you who may not yet have seen it, is Disney's latest take on the classic Grimm Brother's tale of "Rapunzel." This film was apparently years in the making, as Disney execs struggled to decide which direction to take this well-known story. Did they take the Grimms' slightly dark and twisted route? Did they take a sarcastic path? And then, finally, the creators of Bolt came in and saved the day; they would keep Rapunzel, her hair - and after that they would create a whole new story.

Mandy Moore makes an amazing comeback as the voice of Rapunzel, with several sweet and impressive songs. Rapunzel's character is drawn as sweet, unsure but courageous, and loyal. Locked away in a tower by a selfish woman who wishes to keep Rapunzel's gifts to herself, she is surprised when Flynn Rider (voiced by Zachary Levi) stumbles into her path. Levi is fantastic in this role, and amazed me with his vocal talent in his duet with Moore, "I See the Light" (already nominated for a Critic's Choice and Golden Globe award). Rider is a rouge figure, who oozes confidence and tries to charm his way out of everything. It's an unlikely coupling, and you can guess at the ending. But then there's a twist, and then another, and in the end we were shocked by the amount of heart, humor and originality thatTangled possesses. Disney goes back to its roots with morals, animals with characters that had us in tears laughing, a daring couple that learn from one another, and a bad guy that doesn't die a terrible and scarring death. Disney hit one out of the ballpark with Tangled, creating one of the best animated films (in my opinion at least) since the Beauty and the Beast. And then there's a twist.

Because of the tremendous flop that was last year's The Princess and the Frog, Disney has announced that they have no future plans for creating anymore fairy tale movies. Ever. The end. From now on, it will only be movies like Up, Wall-E, and Cars. Now, while there is nothing wrong with these movies (though I must insert that I thought Cars was really made more for children under the age of five), Disney was founded on fairy tales and princesses! However, after last year's failure, Disney proclaims that the market for these movies is fading fast to only those little girls under the age of six...and their mothers. "Tweenagers", they claim, want role models like "iCarly" and "Hannah Montana."

I'm sorry, but tell that to my 19-year-old sister (sorry, dude), who asks for anything Disney Princess-related for every birthday and any other gift-giving occasion. And what about all of those 8-year-old girls I babysit who want me to watch Sleeping Beauty with them, or dress up as Ariel from The Little Mermaid? What about the fact that if you walk into a Disney store, more than fifty percent of the merchandise is of the Disney Princess variety? God help me if my little girl ever wants to give up dreaming about meeting her Prince Charming and trade it in for being a prostitot like Miley Cyrus.

Tangled is amazing. David and I have seen it twice in theaters already - the second time taking his entire family to experience it too - and if David will let me, I'll go see it five more times! I want Disney to get the message that we do still want castles, magic (not black!), animals for best friends, and happily-ever-after's.

So if you for some reason haven't seen Tangled yet, please do. I promise it is worth your time and, yes, even the ever-outrageous cost of a movie ticket. (If possible, see it in 3D because it does make the experience a little more fun.) Your whole family will love it - even the boys.

*If you'd like further proof of Disney's decision, visit this L.A. Time's article.