I was really disappointed in Tangled. I expected more from Disney. While the graphics were stunning I felt Tangled really lacked in two key areas, character development and story development. I know a lot of people really loved this film so let me explain my reasoning before anyone gets miffed.
Tangled feels like a modern story desperately trying to squeeze itself into fairy tale format. An example of fairy tale format would be Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Maleficent spends 16 years trying to hunt down and kill princess Aurora for no other reason than her parents snubbed her at a party. We don’t care why Maleficent does what she does. It doesn’t matter. She’s the evil witch, end of story. As for love, Prince Phillip and Aurora take one look at each other and go head over heels. They know nothing about each other. Not even each other’s name. But why they fall in love is not important. It doesn’t matter. It was meant to be. Fairy Tales do not explain motivations, give reason for events or require any character development to make them flow. They simply ask you to believe.
A more modern story set-up, such as Pixar’s How to Train Your Dragon, requires the information and the character development to make it work. It would seem strange otherwise.
The point is unless you plan on creating a complete fairy tale where nothing is questioned you need character development and story development. Tangled starts out like a pure fairy tale but then immediately becomes a modern tale. Unfortunately some aspects remain in the fairy tale format and as a result the story really lacks as complete work.
Character Development
Rapunzel’s Love for her Mother: One of the most critical relationships in this story is between Rapunzel and the woman she believes is her mother. (In actuality she is a witch who doesn’t care about Rapunzel at all and is simply keeping her around for her magical hair.) The witch uses love as weapon to trap and keep Rapunzel with her. The love (or lack thereof) that they have for each other is a massively important plot point but it does not get the treatment it deserves.
In the beginning Disney seems to acknowledge the strength of the child-parent relationship. Rapunzel has a montage where she’s stuck between being thrilled that she's outside for the first time and freaking out because she's hurting her mother's feelings. She says many times in the show that she loves her mother. But Rapunzel doesn’t react strongly enough when she finds out that the woman she thought was her mother for 18 years is actually a witch who doesn’t care about her. This witch might not be her biological mother but she raised Rapunzel, right? So the bond is there. Rapunzel should have been devastated. Even children who are abused and neglected still try to seek their parent’s affection. Instead she suddenly turns into a tower of internal strength and confidence and seems more or less fine when her mother is killed. If this were a fairy tale, this reaction would be fine. She’s evil and now she’s gone. But it isn’t. Rapunzel loves her mother. She says so through-out the story. That love will not just vanish. It may turn into hate or bitterness but it should manifest in some form. There should have been a screaming match or at least some kind of crying and hysterics.
The Motivation of the Witch: Raising a child is very hard work. Pretending to feel someway about someone when you don’t is just as difficult. And yet, the antagonist does both without question. Again, if this were a fairy tale “because” would be the reason, but it’s not. This witch needs character development very badly. Why did she undertake this tremendous task? Why does she wants to keep on living? What is she living for? Is she involved in some massive plot that takes years to unfold? Is she just afraid to die? We need to know something, anything about why she would do what she did.
Flynn: I know a lot of people adore Flynn. As a character he has a lot of potential given his fun and lively personality but unfortunately he comes off very flat. Flynn tries to be a mix between a thief and thrill seeking adventure but he fails at both.
No one really grows up wanting to become a thief. Most characters either must to steal to survive, like Aladdin, become a thief in order to further some political agenda (i.g. Robin Hood) or live in an environment that promotes and encourages that kind of behavior, like Gambit. Flynn has none of these motivations. Nor does he have any of the quintessential personality traits we often see in thieving sorts. He should have been played as a charismatic guy who acts like he cares but is really only out for number one. (This would be enforced by the scene when he ditches his partners in crime after stealing the crown.)
In a thief scenario he should meet Rapunzel, and actively decide himself to use her to further his agenda. Then they fall in love but he is stuck in his ways. He betrays her and leaves her out to dry thinking her influence will leave him but it doesn’t. He returns to save her because he realizes he finally cares about someone more than himself and is “killed.” As it stands now it feels like he's only a thief for the convenience of the plot. This makes him come off as this half-baked, wimpy little funny friend who has no leg to stand on because his only personality trait is not really his.
Let’s say Flynn is played more as a thrill seeker adventurer than a thief. So he’s meandering through his pointless life, desperately trying to find some way to validate his lonely existence. (This would be enforced by his back story about being an orphan.) But a person who would be comfortable jumping into dangerous scenarios and living as a wanted criminal “just for funsies” is not going to be someone who would marry a princess without a second thought. He would value his freedom and his lack of emotional baggage.
In a thrill seeker scenario he can fall in love with Rapunzel but when he finds out she’s a princess (thus being with her would make a consort or even a potential king) he should have an emotional scene and leave her. Then he finds out she’s in trouble, goes back to save her, has a revelation and decides he needs her more than his freedom.
Flynn doesn’t fit any of these molds. He’s just an easy going kind of guy who likes to have fun.
Story Development
Toward the end of the film Rapunzel sees the decorations she has painted all over her room match the décor of the royal place and she realizes she’s the lost princess. I’m sorry but that is weak, weak, weak. How could she remember something from when she was in the crib? This is a pivotal moment for her. She realizes her "mother" is a phony who has stolen her from her parents and her throne and has rerouted the course of her life! There needed to be something much more solid going on here in order for Rapunzel to suddenly become strong enough to confront and emotionally overcome her mother to such a huge degree that her death is accepted as necessary.
If I were writing this I would have Rapunzel have a handicap whereby she’s unable to tell if people are lying because she has no experience with any other humans. As she travels with Flynn (who being a thief would have loads of excuses to lie to her) she slowly starts to learn when she’s being played. When she returns home she questions the mother, “do you love me,” watches her expression and realizes she’s lying. At the end she can ask Flynn the same question and finds he’s not lying.
Unfortunately love is the other story development that just didn’t happen for me in Tangled. I know they didn't have time but they should have changed the set-up in order to bring Rapunzel and Flynn closer together. I can kindasee her falling for him right away. He is the first man she has ever seen. He’s attractive and charming and she bonds to him as they travel.
For Flynn however, there needed to be more content, more scenes of bonding, more introspection on his part. Right now I get the feeling that only he’s interested in her because she is different than anyone else. As it stands now I don't see their bond being strong enough for him to warrant essentially placing himself in a glided prison as her royal mate. They could have made this stronger. She should be the thing that he has spent his life searching for, a purpose and validation which he never had as an orphan. This is a momentous revelation for him. His entire way of life will be altered if he decides to pursue her. We never see that moment for her. The moment when he decides she is it. We get a hint of this feeling in their duet when he says, “this is where I’m meant to be,” but his actions afterwards don’t really reflect any change in him. The story just kinda leads him to her when he should be headed to her himself of his own volition.
The entire story feels very contrived. The characters exist to further the plot instead of the plot revealing the character’s stories to us. While I understand that story is essentially for kids and there are going to be silly issues that go unaddressed, (like why the people of this kingdom don’t have a problem with a virtual unknown claiming to be the next in line to the throne who, on top of having no proof of her lineage, is also possibly going to make a known criminal their new king) but Disney has produced some masterful children’s stories in the past. Compared to another film from this genre, How to Train Your Dragon, this was just sloppy. I know Disney can do better.
Argg! Cee Lo Green! Why do you do this to me?