tangled is disney's redemption movie. after the flop that was last year's the princess and the frog, the rapunzel-focused tangled is a return to the disney magic of the 1990s. while there aren't nearly as many musical numbers as princess and the frog (or any of the earlier disney flicks), the film's styling and storyline are far more entertaining. tangled puts a different spin on the rapunzel story that i had never heard/seen before, which made it a lot less predictable than i was expecting. and, because it was a children's movie, it definitely passed the watch test - i think i might have looked one time. mandy moore and zachary levi are perfect fits for their characters (rapunzel and flinn rider, respectively), and the mosty unknown supporting cast does a great job bringing the crazy group of characters to life. definitely check out tangled to get back in touch with your younger self.
here's your first look at disney's tangled. originally called rapunzel, the film's name was changed after last year's the princess and the frog failed to attract boys to theaters. tangled is said to be a reworking of the classic fairy tale about the girl with long, long, long, long, longggg hair trapped in a tower. as fat as i know, this is disney's first ever cgi-animated musical. the cast includes mandy moore as rapunzel and zachary levi (tv's chuck) as flynn, the guy who is followed in the above teaser trailer. i can't tell if the story will in fact follow flynn more-so than rapunzel, or if that's just a marketing strategy. the latter is my guess. hopefully tangled will bring disney back into the "classic" animation - the look of the cgi was created to mimic hand animation - and musical - the guys behind the little mermaid and beauty and the beast - game.
disney hasn't introduced an animated princess since 1998's mulan (with the exception of giselle in enchanted), but this holiday season, we'll be introduced to the newest one. princess tianna, voiced by dreamgirls' anika noni rose, is the first african american princess and will first appear in the princess and the frog. the story is loosely based on the frog princess, the old story about the princess who kisses a frog to turn him into a prince. above is the newly released trailer for the flick and it looks like tiana will fit right inwith the likes of cinderella, ariel, and pocahontas. this is the first princess movie located in "modern-day" america, in new orlean's french quarter. the synopsis of the film is as follows:
a prince named naveen from the land of maldonia is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician dr. facilier. the frog prince asks a waitress named tiana to break the spell by kissing him. however, the kiss doesn't break the spell, but instead turns tiana into a frog as well. together, the two of them must reach the good voodoo priestess of the bayou, mama odie, while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator and a hopelessly romantic firefly along the way.
the film also features the voice talents of oprah (as the princess' mother), john goodman (as tiana's rival's father), and terence howard (as tiana's father). the film is scheduled to be released december 11th with all new music by randy newman, the music man behind every one of disney's pixar hits. princess tiana (whose age was upped from the typical 16 to 19, which is a lot more reasonable) isn't the only new princess on the disney block; rapunzel is also getting the mouse house treatment. rumor is kristin chenowith is set to voice the long-haired princess. the movie is being done in cgi (not through pixar), but with a traditional oil-paint look. the film will be released in november of next year. are you excited for new disney princesses? i think it was about time.
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