[5.3/10] I think I’ve taken for granted how excellent the animation and music is in nearly every Disney animated film, even the lesser lights. For every Disney film that didn’t leave a big impression on me because of story or character, I usually almost reflexively acclimate to there being some damn good musical numbers and animation that has wowed me so many times that I don’t even think about it anymore.

Then, a movie like *Tangled* comes along, and the animation and design work is choppy and inconsistent, and the songs vary from decent enough to forgettable, and you realize how much even the mildest films in the Disney canon tend to have redeeming elements even when their story or characters are otherwise not much to write home about.

Now I want to be fair to a film made in 2010, in a relatively nascent homegrown animation division, even if it doesn't match Disney’s standards in hand-drawn animation. But on the other hand, Disney had its partnership with Pixar that proved, in contemporary films like *WALL-E*, *Up*, and *Toy Story 3* that you could do beautiful things with computer animation, which makes me hesitant to give *Tangled* a pass.

In brief, its characters look like sentient barbie dolls rather than real people or more exaggerated cartoon characters, which is a hindrance from the get go. A number of the movements in the film are stiff and robotic, and on the other end of the spectrum, the film often has its characters over-gesticulating to try to convey emotion since expressions or other subtle indicators can’t seem to get the job done in terms of communicating soul and character. And the setting is a generic fantasy land, with little about it distinct or noteworthy.

The visuals aren’t a total loss. The film finds some creative ways to use Rapunzel’s hair, making her an odd but effective combination of of Rube Goldberg and Spider-Man (though it seems to lengthen and shorten at will). And the sequence where the kingdom releases the floating lanterns, and she and Eugene experience them, is downright gorgeous. But too often, there’s bits like unconvincing and frankly cheesy glowing effects, or generic character designs that make this movie not much to look at, which is pretty shocking coming from Disney.

And the songs are not completely without their charms. “Mother Knows Best”, the villain song of the piece, has some fun patter and an arch sensibility that makes it fun if not groundbreaking. And “I’ve Got a Dream”, the standard comic relief ensemble song, is plenty of fun as well, though only barely related to the rest of the movie. Everything else sounds like a rehash of songs from better films (“A Whole New World” was practically bleeding through the celluloid here), or bland pop nonsense without the zip of a solid showtune. *Tangled* is not one of those Disney musicals where you’ll walk out of the theater still humming those tunes, and it’s a shame.

When you strip away sterling visuals and catchy tunes, all you’re left with a pretty standard-issue fairytale story without much verve or flair. There’s not much of a sense of cause and effect in the film -- things just kind of happen, semi-conveniently, or for no reason at all, and the plot advances via the mysteries of montage and opaque scheming. Some hardscrabble ruffians help save the day for reasons that are thin at best. The emotional crux of the film is driven by one of those tricks and misunderstandings that should be obvious even to a naive young woman who’s been locked in a tower her whole life. And there’s wacky, wild set pieces that seem conspicuously designed to be deposited into trailers and convince boys to come back to Disney for a princess movie after the box office stumbles of *The Princess and The Frog*.

The characters are, ironically enough, two dimensional and not very engaging. There’s some solid chemistry between Rapunzel and Eugene, but the veer more into the realm of the annoying than the endearing for most of the time, and the film has a broad sense of humor which doesn't help on that front. (See: the horse that acts like a bloodhound for reasons unknown.)

Rapunzel herself is an amalgamation of every prior Disney princess put together, (proportional to box office share, of course) and never becomes memorable beyond her follicles. Eugene fares a little better, especially in the mid-movie scene where he explains his sympathetic backstory which accounts for his lucre-driven motivations. But he mostly comes off like a warmed over Han Solo retread who has more personality than the average Disney prince (something welcome, at least) but still feels like too familiar an archetype without enough distinguishing features.

Again, the film does have its bright spots. While Mother Gothel is a little derivative of prior villains as well, her passive aggressive mom routine is something new to Disney that speaks to unhealthy familial relationships in the modern age in a way that the “evil stepmother’ stereotype of *Cinderella* doesn't anymore. And the film lives up to the proud traditions of scoundrels earning their happy endings by making some kind of sacrifice (albeit one that, in another proud Disney tradition) is effectively undone by some combination of magic and true love by the time the credits roll. But even there, the film ends in a fairly anticlimactic fashion, and it’s themes are a little odd, although in keeping with the studio’s “listen to your heart” ethos.

To be frank, *Tangled* feels like a Dreamworks film in Disney clothing. That sounds like more of a knock than intended, but the two studios have different tendencies and tones, and this film comes off like an effort to find a middle ground between the two and creating something with less clarity or success than either. Even when you’re dealing with a lesser animated musical, the art and the songs can keep you going. But when that’s missing, all you have is another reheated, desultory princess flick without the chops or the charm to be anything but an self-knock off of the studio’s own greatest hits.