Tangled (2010, U.S.)

I had heard lots of good things about this movie, and it was cute. The story is the basic Rapunzel story, except she's a whole lot more involved in her fate than in the tale I remember. Her standard Disney animal sidekick is a little chameleon named Pascal, who is absolutely adorable. Her adoptive mother is suitably evil. The prince of the story is replaced with a sort of charismatic highwayman named Flynn Rider, which added a lot to the story since he had his own set of problems to add to hers. (They meet as he flees from palace guards when he and two hulking cronies steal the kidnapped princess's crown from the castle.) The hulking cronies (who turn against Flynn quickly) are perfect specimens of grunting stupidity. Rapunzel is spunky and determined. The animation is bright and fetchingly done. (One element that I absolutely loved were the floating lanterns that the entire royal city released on the anniversary of the princess's birth, which were just breathtakingly beautiful and pure magic, even in animated form.) I liked the first person narration that framed the story with quasi-prologue/epilogues. The plot is pretty strong. The only thing I thought was weak was the songs, which were just okay, but they were no Aladdin or Little Mermaid or even Enchanted. Otherwise, good stuff.

Adventure, humor, romance, and a happy ending... It's typical Disney fare and enjoyable as these things go. A fun twist (or tangle) on a classic story.

Rating: 3.5

Newsies (1992, U.S.)

Newsies is my friend Jennifer's favorite movie. It's a musical. It's historical. So why haven't I seen it before now? Good question! I was about two minutes into the film when I decided that I was just going to have to like it. Everything about it was great, from the opening credits to the final number. And 18-year-old (pre-Little Women!) Christian Bale... what's not to like? He was actually quite a good singer and dancer, although it seemed like they left him out of as many dance sequences as possible. Strange.

The main thing I had to complain about was that there could have been more musical numbers. And a bit of the choreography was pretty lame, but most of it was amazing and fresh, for lack of a better word.

Really, I don't know what else to say about this film. One of a kind. Makes me yearn for the glory days of Disney, when they had class. Now it's garbage like Hannah Montana. Oh, to be young again.

Rating: 4.0