As an uncle to a beautiful little niece I probably appreciated this movie more than most twenty-something guys would.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Disney movie that actually had a classic Disney feel to it. Tangled brings audiences back to the feeling of the glory days of Disney movies. – Particularly films like Cinderella and The Little Mermaid.

Rapunzel (the lead character) is the ultimate Barbie doll. A singing princess with rediculously long hair that glows when she sings. – And also heals people. I’m sure that alone blows the mind of many of today’s young princesses.

Where the film goes off the beaten path, in a good way, is using a love interest whose personality is a lot less Prince Charming and a lot more Sawyer from Lost, which for me was a welcome change.

Like Cinderella, this movie addresses the idea that not all adults are trustworthy. It may teach kids about discerning between honest and dishonest behaviour in adults, but only if the child watching it is mature or wise enough to begin with. The characters aren’t flat-out goodguy/badguy – the majority of them have layers.

My favourite character was of course the horse, which is saying a lot because I am not a horse person, but I appreciate character in animals, and Maximus has more character than any other horse I know – fictional or otherwise. When I first heard his name I totally thought the guy called him “Hot Sauce”, which it turned out was strangely fitting.

What your kids will walk away with…

A strong sense of transition. I think it did a good job of showing changes in life as gain, where we would be tempted to see them as loss. As a guy typically fearful of change, I really appreciated this movie for what it did.

I actually think the kind of person who is going to get the most out of this movie is any young lady transitioning into adulthood who never has (and never will) lose her sense of princess-dom and her love for Disney movies. The rest of us will still get several good laughs and an overall warm feeling inside. As for myself, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to work on my Smolder.

{:)