In many ways, "Tangled" is a return-to-the-1990s for Walt Disney Animation Studios. In that this film is a feature-length fairy tale that features a score by Academy Award-winner Alan Menken as well as animation supervised by the great Glen Keane (i.e. the industry legend behind Ariel in "The Little Mermaid," the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast" as well as the title character in "Aladdin").
While at the same time, this new cinematic version of Rapunzel couldn't be more different from all the Disney fairy tales that preceded it. Given that "Tangled" is being done in CG and Disney Digital 3D. And did I mention that the decade during which this animated feature was in development was a time of extreme upheaval at The Walt Disney Company?
Byron Howard (left) and Nathan Greno, co-directors of Disney's "Tangled." Copyright 2009 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
So given that "Tangled" was a product of both Disney's past & future, how did Nathan Greno and Byron Howard (i.e. the co-directors of this upcoming WDAS release) decide which was the proper way to go with this particular production? V-e-r-y carefully.
At Thursday's "Walt Disney Animation Studios: Character Creation!" panel at Comic-Con as well as in follow-up interviews that they did onsite at the San Diego convention center, Greno and Howard talked about the deliberate & thoughtful approach they took towards "Tangled." How they'd sometimes borrow creative concepts from "The Little Mermaid" (i.e. how, just like with Ariel, Rapunzel is supposed to be the girl next door) as well as production techniques from "Aladdin" (i.e. just as they did back on that 1992 Walt Disney Pictures release, "Tangled" directors consulted all the females working at WDAS about which facial features they liked best on what actors. So that they could then combine all of these elements to make Rapunzel's love interest - the notorious thief Flynn Rider - as attractive as possible to today's audiences).
Copyright 2010 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
But Nathan & Byron were keenly aware that times (more importantly, audience's tastes when it came to entertainment) had changed significantly since the 1990s. Which is why it just wouldn't do to have Rapunzel rescued from her tower by some handsome prince. Which is why they opted to go with Flynn Rider instead. Hoping that - by pairing a handsome rogue with the extremely-long-haired girl-next-door, street smarts versus book smarts - Greno and Howard might then be able to put an interesting new spin on this classic fairy tale.
Of course, you can't tell the story of Rapunzel without making this character's hair a huge element of your story. And given that - at least when it comes to CG films - animators tend to shy away from hair because of all the technical issues involved ... To suddenly be saddled with a character that's sometimes hauling around 70 feet of hair was a huge challenge for the team at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
But Nathan & Bryon embraced this challenge. They made Rapunzel's extremely long locks one of the more magical elements of this motion picture. Which is how her hair became something that Rapunzel would wield like a whip in one scene and then ride on like a swing in the next.
Which is admittedly a lot of fun. But Greno & Howard also knew that - if today's audiences were really going to embrace "Tangled" - they had to get past Rapunzel's long hair and the tower that she was trapped in and turn Flynn & Rapunzel into characters that today's audiences could empathize with and ultimately grow to care about.
Glen Keane at the 2009 Comic-Con International. Photo by Nancy Stadler
Meanwhile, from Glen Keane's side of the fence ... Well, working with character creator Jin Kim, Glen kept pushing to make sure that "Tangled" had some connective tissue with all the Disney fairy tales that had preceded it. That this cinematic retelling of the tale of Rapunzel (just as "Snow White" & "Cinderella" and - later -- "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty & the Beast" and "Aladdin" did) had the same sorts of "golden poses" that Disney's Nine Old Men had labored to create. Those beautifully staged pieces of animation where character & story come together in such a special way that they kind of melt your heart.
Mind you, when it came to "Tangled," inspiration would often arrived in interesting ways. Take - for example - when Disney Consumer Products came through the Sorcerer Mickey building to show off a doll that they'd fashioned to look just like Rapunzel as a toddler. Though this version of the character initially only appeared in the film for a brief moment, Glen Keane was so taken with the winsome look of this "Tangled" doll that he kept one of them in his office at WDAS for inspiration. Which is why - over time - the toddler-version-of-Rapunzel got more & more screen time in "Tangled." And - as a direct result - audiences then became that much more empathetic & sympathetic about Rapunzel's predicament far earlier in this film.
Photo by Nancy StadlerAcademy Award-winner Alan Menken. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
Mind you, another way that Disney typically gets the audience on the heroine's side is through her "I Want" song. And in "Tangled," Rapunzel has one doozey of a "I Want" song in "When Will My Life Begin?" Which is supplied - of course - by Alan Menken.
Now, when they talked about Menken's work for "Tangled" last week, Nathan & Byron were quick to point that - while the songs that Alan created for this film are similar in quality to the tunes that he'd written for "Mermaid," "Beast" and "Aladdin" - Menken labored mightily to make sure that the music that he'd created for Disney's cinematic take of Rapunzel was something fresh, something new.
Academy Award-winner Alan Menken. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
So - in the end - what you've got with "Tangled" really is something that really does take the virtues of the past (where superior storytelling and good draftsmanship came together to created those timeless animated features that have been entertaining audiences for decades now) and then mixes them together with WDAS' ambitions for the future (where the combination of CG and Disney Digital 3D results in this new fairy tale film where the magic seems to spill off screen and then out into the audience).
But when you get right down to it, what makes the very best Disney fairy tales work is the characters. Which is why Greno & Howard made sure that the interaction between the very worldly Flynn Rider (who - up until now - has been able to charm his way / talk his way out of every difficult situation) and the good-hearted-if-somewhat-sheltered Rapunzel was always smart and funny. So that moviegoers would then be rooting for this rather odd couple to ultimately come together
Which is why - come November 24th - audiences are in for a real treat when "Tangled" finally opens in theaters. Thanks -- in large part -- to Nathan Greno & Byron Howard's new-style storytelling as well as Glen Keane & Jin Kim's old-school drawing style.
Your thoughts?
RE:PATF,,, I think it also suffered from the Chipmunks sequel which had nostalgia and a clear "his and hers" element by bringing in the Chipettes. It simply had more of the elements advertised to bring in the whole family;
i cant wait till i get the tangled doll but im a little caught up in the tonner dolls for alice in wonderland sorry disney and i know im dissing my website so im soory and im also ganna watch tangled with my kids kassandra and whyit.
sorry in my last comment there was a typo
Looks horrible ... pass