Tangled - a review of the film

Tangled is a beautiful film to watch - the animation is superb, the lighting that is rendered is simply gorgeous. The story is pretty darn fun too - shame about the appalling ending.

**SPOILERS ALERT**
I will summarise quickly as I have to write about Kung Fu Panda 2 and Yip Man as well. The story starts with a quick intro into the birth of Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) and it involves a magic Sun flower that bestows our little cherubin with magical qualities - via her hair of course - it glows and it's super cool - and interminably long which means it's a force unto itself but the animators come up with astoundingly creative ways for this young chirpy girl to not only deal with her hair (permanent neck ache anyone?) but it's sorta a real cool weapon and it has healing abilities.

Enter the lazy and uninspiring 'anti-hero' character who doesn't do much but add to the aesthetic and is well sort of fun..? (voice goes high like asking a question) And this is where the film falls on itself because it follows a rather predictable plot of two people needing to achieve something so they have a mutual need to work together vis a vis a 'deal' that is struck but each have their own agendas. The only depth is a clever plot line involving Rapunzel and her 'mother' - it brings up all issues of trust and love and is the only deep substance in the film - it has layers and all that but anyone else wonder what the hell that woman did all day?

BEFORE - cool healing hair! YAY

The 'hero' than spoils it all by trying to save Rapunzel at the end but makes a right pig's ear of it - he manages to get a fatal wound then bl**** cuts Rapunzel's hair off!!! WTF? I DID NOT get over that event at all because that hair was super amazing and could heal! Yes, there is the issue that baddy people would take advantage of that but apart from her evil 'mother', there was no one else who exploited her for her hair - that threat was never actually properly established and given weight and credibility because Rapunzel manages to travel all around the land and even reaches the kingdom etc and no one has exploited her for her hair - no one even appears to be even mildly bemused and/or intrigued that her hair cascades several feet behind her. And can we get over this lame 'teardrops save lives' malarkey? I must say I felt rather cheated because up until then the film was decent and in fact the characterisation of these animated people were really very, very good in terms of acting and performance - the expressions, the reactions - all very impressive.

AFTER - MY HAIR?!! Perfectly layered in choppy style by the way!
GODDAMMIT I was going to heal the sick!

Blah blah blah - plucky princess goes back to her real king and queen parents and happy ending etc etc.

Best part of the film - when the kingdom releases the numerous floating lamps and the entire sky lights up - so gorgeous - as the lighting of the lamps travels through the city, it mimics the glowing of Rapunzel's hair. Oooh pretty.

VERDICT: 7/10.

A Review of TRON: Legacy

Having read varying reviews online about this film, I didn't have high expectations going in but gallantly accepted my friend's suggestion that we stay neutral while viewing. The actual experience of it was rather enjoyable, in part to the other viewers who sniggered and didn't take the film too seriously either (not in bad way, mind, in a jovial acceptance summarised by the guy who blurted out 'Downhill from here' when the Disney ident appeared at the start).

Before going in to see this film, it was interesting that I had spoken to a few people about the con that is 3D film (our brains already create 3D perspective, most films are made 3D in post, an excuse to charge more, it detracts from story etc etc). SIDENOTE - when the trailers played, the Pirates of the Caribbean made my point for me - the ridiculous bit when the knife slams through the door looked silly in 'coming out' - it detracted from reality rather than adding to it. But I halted all cynicism once the movie played.

**SPOILERS***
Firstly, I'd say that I haven't watched the previous Tron and know little about the story around it, so I did come at it rather fresh, as they say. As an overall film experience it wasn't half bad, and let's face it, it was always going to rely heavily on visuals. I was rather carried along with the aesthetic once we got to 'The Grid' world; it reminded me of Jonny Quest which I watched when I was younger. The downside was the CGI young Jeff Bridges which wasn't convincing at all. Silly when they had flashbacks of Kevin Flynn when younger, we might as well have been in a video game (where 3D belongs - ok I shut up now).

The story wasn't terrible, there was potential for interesting layers, i.e. Zen Buddhism, the art of doing nothing, conflict without fighting, perfection vs imperfection etc. Some other critic wrote how the script was a rehash of East of Eden, which I don't agree with - it wasn't up to that standard at all, there were some terrible one liners but it could have been worse. Most characters were engaging enough and of course, the strongest performance came from Jeff Bridges.