| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Mandy Moore | ... | Rapunzel (voice) | |
| Zachary Levi | ... | Flynn Rider (voice) | |
| Donna Murphy | ... | Mother Gothel (voice) | |
| Ron Perlman | ... | Stabbington Brother (voice) | |
| M.C. Gainey | ... | Captain of the Guard (voice) | |
| Jeffrey Tambor | ... | Big Nose Thug (voice) | |
| Brad Garrett | ... | Hook Hand Thug (voice) | |
| Paul F. Tompkins | ... | Short Thug (voice) | |
| Richard Kiel | ... | Vlad (voice) | |
| Delaney Rose Stein | ... | Young Rapunzel / Little Girl (voice) | |
| Nathan Greno | ... | Guard 1 / Thug 1 (voice) | |
| Byron Howard | ... | Guard 2 / Thug 2 (voice) | |
| Tim Mertens | ... | Guard 3 (voice) | |
| Michael Bell | ... | Additional Voices (voice) | |
| Bob Bergen | ... | Additional Voices (voice) | |
After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel knows that the flower's magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of Rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel is now a teenager and her hair has grown to a length of 70-feet. The beautiful Rapunzel has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious of the outside world. One day, the bandit Flynn Ryder scales the tower and is taken captive by Rapunzel. Rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief to act as her guide to travel to the place where the floating lights come from that she has seen every year on her birthday. Rapunzel is about to have the most exciting and magnificent journey of her life. Written by Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)
I was apprehensive, to say the least, when I went to see Tangled, after the disappointment that was Princess and the Frog. First, Disney's back with CGI animation, which hasn't really worked that great except, maybe to some extent, Bolt. Second, the trailers made it look really slapstick -- I'm rather wary of today's animation features that try too hard to be hip and fast-paced and silly.
I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, there were slapstick and broad humor sure to make little kiddos laugh. But I was surprised by the sophistication as well. The screwball comedy between the hero and heroine is very well done; adults can appreciate that. The sidekicks, in particular the Max and Pascal, are hilarious. The hero and heroine are very likable and not flat. And there's a sense of sadness/wistfulness throughout the whole show that the adults will understand.
But what really is great is the animation. This is Pixar-worthy great. In fact, after a while I forgot it was CGI (which tends to be a bit stiff and crude when it comes to character animation). The human characters have that hand-drawn quality even though they're CG. In fact, they're more expressive than the hand-drawn characters in Princess and the Frog. The backgrounds are gorgeous (I can count every blade of grass). And there's an iconic scene where the kingdom rouses from darkness to light with thousands of floating lanterns -- it really is magical. It reminds me of classics such as Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty.
Best of all, the movie is not just all laughs and slapstick. It has heart too. Even the minor characters such as the King and Queen -- you can feel the emotions. And the romance is believable and not cheesy.
Like I said, I was very pleasantly surprised. It's something that is worthy of Pixar, and I'm glad to see Disney back on their game. While Princess and the Frog was a missed opportunity, Tangled is almost perfect.