Tangled!

I absolutely loved this movie. I loved it so much that I still would have loved it even if my beloved Zachary Levi was not the voice of one of the main characters. And that's saying a lot. For the past three months I had been planning and looking forward to seeing "Tangled" today, and right before the movie started, I realized I would be devastated if the flick wasn't up to my standards of awesomeness. But for the first time in a very long time, Disney did not let me down.

In this interesting rendition of the classic princess story, our heroine with long magical hair is grounded... for life. For Rapunzel's entire life she was fascinated by the glowing lanterns that float through the sky on her birthday each year, which were really released in honor of her, the missing princess of the kingdom. When the thief Flynn climbs the tower to escape his angry fellow thieves, he is convinced to take Rapunzel out of the tower to see the glowing lanterns. After her brief episode of hilarious bipolarism as she tries to decide between leaving or returning to her tower, she embarks on a journey that changes her life and the lives of everyone she meets.

The story alone was excellent, filled with plot twists, cute songs, suspense, and action sequences. No explosions, but that's ok. Although, the graphic design was beautiful and appeared just as one would imagine their own fairy tale land. There were happy endings all around for everyone but the bad lady who met her end quite deservedly. The once selfish Flynn became Rapunzel's hero at the end of the film, bravely risking his life for the chance at her freedom. She made him a better man. *sniffle*

Apart from the overall amazingness of the story and the presence of my Hollywood crush, there were several other little things about the movie that I adored. One of those things is Pascal. This little chameleon has bit a 'tude and isn't afraid to show it. The ratio of cute to humor to attitude is perfect for this minuscule but necessary character. It has the most adorable smile, but has also mastered the most intimidating of stares. There's no way the little critter can take somebody down, but that look would make anyone think that maybe it could. Now just look at it and tell me you didn't *squee* because it's not the cutest thing Disney has ever created...

Another thing I loved about the movie was the color. Now let me explain. In the last Disney animated flick "The Princess and the Frog", the coloring was mostly dark shades and I didn't like it. Personally, I don't enjoy movies that are full of darker colors because it's generally not as visually happifying. I also didn't like the fact that they killed my favorite firefly, but that's another topic altogether. In "Tangled" however, the coloring was much brighter and vibrant and therefore happier to me. Even when the setting was at night, Disney still somehow managed to insert enough color in the scene to maintain the feel of my ideal fairy tale world. And just in case you're wondering, no, they did not kill my favorite chameleon.

The movie kept me giggling, "awwwww"-ing, and laughing out loud. Probably too out loud. I was so giddy after leaving the crowded theater that I will buy it when it comes out on DVD. Now I won't divulge any more details about the movie, so grab your son, daughter, niece, or nephew and go see it for yourself. If you don't have any of those, then steal a kid from church or something. That is unless you're totally cool with going to see a kid's movie by yourself and getting weird looks from the cashiers. Even if you do, it's absolutely worth it.