Tangled up.

That pun was just too obvious but I couldn't help myself.

Last year I fell just a little bit in love with Disney's back-to-roots princess animation story "The Princess and the Frog", which, though not one of my FAVORITE films of the year, was absolutely lovely. To be honest though, my love for that movie is kind of what made me worry about "Tangled". It seemed to me like Disney was going for a snarky Shrek kind of thing, and I was sort of upset - that sort of thing is better for Dreamworks, and after proving how well they could do it the old-fashioned way, why go back to the same old generic thing?

Thankfully, my reservations were proven to be somewhat incorrect, though after watching Disney's 50th Animated Film EVER I have an entirely new set of scruples.

"Tangled" is, as you all surely already know, a reinvention of the Rapunzel story. Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is a girl whose hair has magical healing properties due to a flower that healed her mom during pregnancy. Her parents, the king and queen of a kingdom, lost Rapunzel when the evil Mother Goethel (Donna Murphy) stole her as a baby to keep her powers to herself. Of course, Rapunzel yearns to be free, and on her 18th birthday, she decides to sneak out of her tower, with the help of a bandit named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) who accidentally lands up there while escaping the king's guards.

This reinvention of the Rapunzel story is quite successful and works perfectly as the vehicle for the typical Disney romance. Duh, Flynn and Rapunzel fall in love and whatnot, but for some reason it doesn't feel corny or anything. A lot of this is due to the technical brilliance of the animation. The movie is so refreshingly colorful and carefully animated - though Rapunzel's hair may not be a consistent length, as my sister lamented, it is still captivating to watch. CGI is very rarely beautiful, and I'm pleased to say that this film achieves some rather aesthetically gorgeous moments.

And Mother Goethel is, simply, one of the best Disney villains in recent years. Where "Princess and the Frog" and even in some ways, "Enchanted" fell slightly short was the very one-dimensional nature of their villains. 'Tis not the case here! The maternal relationship that Rapunzel has with Goethel is rather compelling - we can't forget that she is basically the only mother that she's ever known - and seeing the affection, such as hugs and kind words, between them, makes the villainship so much more horrifying and perfect. Of course, Donna Murphy's brilliant voice work is much to credit for why Goethel is such a great character. She's over the top, she sings wonderfully, and she nails every line.

Sadly, such laurels cannot be awarded to Mandy Moore. Her Rapunzel is occasionally quite good, but too often she sounds whiny, or even worse - as though she's not getting into it enough, which leaves the viewer feeling super distanced from the character. This happens especially during the musical numbers. Her singing voice (at least in my opinion) is kind of annoying, with this weird airyness that is just not convincing.

This leads to another problem with the movie - it doesn't seem committed enough to being a musical! The songs are fine, if not somewhat unmemorable (I mean, it's hard to say anything bad about Alan Menken), but somehow in the context of the entire narrative, they don't feel natural or necessary enough. However, Mother Goethel's song "Mother Knows Best" is probably the best in the movie; it's funny, creepy, and its animation sequence is tight and clever. On the other hand, the movie's musical non-singing score is quite fitting and often transcendent.

Of course, that's not to say that I didn't like the movie. I very much did, and I guess I almost started crying at the end (I'm a leaky faucet though, so don't mind me...). I suppose I'm just trying to identify the reasons it didn't lodge itself into my heart like I would have expected. It's good in so many ways, and it did not fail in the ways I expected - it just didn't reach the level of quality that perhaps it could have. I'm honestly a bit conflicted about it, but I would recommend it even if only so you all will be able to discuss it with me and help me figure it out. Haha!

7/10

Why I Love Hairspray (The Musical Blog-a-Thon)

I simply adore musicals. There's something just so surreal about expressing emotion in song, and the feeling that you get after you watch a great musical is just indescribable! There are several movie-musicals that I simply love, like The Sound of Music and West Side Story, but when trying to think of which was my "favorite", there was one movical that just kept popping into my mind, and that awesome film is Hairspray, the remake of the Broadway musical based on the John Waters film of the same name.

Hairspray tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, played by Nikki Blonsky, an overweight Baltimore teen living in the 60's who dreams of being a dancer on her favorite television show, The Corny Collins show. Tracy is a fun-loving and ever optimistic teen who rejects the conventions of her time period, believes in the best in people, and also wants to fight for integration.

With the help of her friends Penny and Seaweed (Amanda Bynes and Elijah Kelly), Tracy is able to get on the show, which impresses Corny Collins (James Marsden) himself. Tracy also begins a romance with Link Larkin (Zac Efron). Her uncharacteristic success angers the former-beauty-queen Velma Von Tussle (a lovely Michelle Pfeiffer). Tracy's parents, played by John Travolta and Christopher Walken, also get involved in her crusade for equal rights.

Hairspray really is the perfect musical. Every song is great, adds to the movie, and is catchy and wonderful. While watching the movie, you'll want to start dancing during and Welcome to the 60's and Without Love, and you'll definitely have You Can't Stop the Beat stuck in your head once it's all over. Every cast member can sing wonderfully (for the most part) and the in-film dancing is just fantastic.

Of course, it goes without saying that much of why this movie succeeds is its cast. Nikki Blonsky is just radiant as Tracy, and she carries the film away in her debut. Amanda Bynes and Zac Efron are both also wonderful, in probably their best film roles yet, and of course the veterans like John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Christopher Walken turn in fantastic and fun performances. Even the smaller roles played by Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, and James Marsden are memorable and notable. Oh, and perhaps the best acting in the entire movie comes from Allison Janney, whose two short scenes are some of the funniest in the film.

"DEVIL CHILD! DEVIL CHILD!"

The great music, dancing, and acting aside (and I didn't even mention the fabulous costumes and art direction!), Hairspray is the "perfect musical" because of the feeling that you get during and after you watch it. I saw the film three times in the theater (the most I've ever gone to one movie in the theater, by the way), and at least 3 times on DVD, and every time I just feel so happy and uplifted.

Though sad musicals can be wonderful (West Side Story, Dancer in the Dark, Sweeney Todd, do I need to continue?), there is nothing better than a loud, fast moving, fun and uplifting film like Hairspray that just makes you feel so, so good inside after you watch it. You just want to start dancing and singing along with the cast.

Though Hairspray didn't get a single Oscar nomination, and sure isn't as substantial as The Sound of Music, it's still absolutely wonderful. Like I've said, it's got everything it needs to be the perfect comedic musical - a great story, wonderful music, perfect performances, and a greater meaning. It celebrates individuality and is one of, if not my very favorite, musical of all time.

And now a sampling of my favorite songs... :)

This post is for the Musical Blogathon that Andrew is hosting at Encore Entertainment. All the entries will be posted tomorrow by 5, so please check them out! And comment below on your favorite musical or your own thoughts on Hairspray. :)

Best Score Ranking: 1998 Musical or Comedy

This is a very nice category. I'm glad they don't still split the scores up, because that's weird. But, still, this is a great year and I quite love all the scores (except Patch Adams. Sorry Marc!) I'll do the Drama portion of 1998 later. Enjoy!

5. Patch Adams - Marc Shaiman



I'm being maybe a wee bit harsh with only 2 stars, because it's quite a nice score. But...is it Oscar worthy? Not really. Simply because, don't we hear this same sort of thing in every single family movie ever made? I mean, just take any good ol' family film and you'll hear this same exact soundtrack. Just sayin'.

4. A Bug's Life - Randy Newman



Pixar movies always have such great scores! And, my heart melts for Randy Newman. It's really a touching little score, very cute, very nice, and perfect for the movie. Just like most of Randy Newman's work. Haha!


3. Mulan - Jerry Goldsmith, Matthew Wilder, David Zippel



I like the songs more than the actual score, but really, it's great. Jerry Goldsmith is a master, and this is an interesting medium to see him work with! It surpasses many, many Disney movie scores. And yeah, I know I picked the most cliche song in the movie as my sample clip, but I LIKE IT! :( ahaha


2. Prince of Egypt - Stephen Schwartz, Hans Zimmer



I'm not a humongous fan of Hans Zimmer - sometimes I feel like his music is just a little bit too LOUD ALL THE TIME! But, that being said, Prince of Egypt is an absolutely wonderful score and some of the songs, especially "Deliver Us", are just...GOOSEBUMP inducing. *Shudder*

1. Shakespeare in Love - Stephen Warbeck



Was this even a question? This score wipes the FLOOR with all of the others! Stephen Warbeck's subtle, gorgeous work was the icing on the cake that made me love Shakespeare in Love. It doesn't try to be "period", it doesn't try to be overly romantic, it just works so naturally and it makes me feel so warm inside!

If you're curious as to how these scores stack up against the others I've ranked, go check out the newly updated Overall Ranking.

So, what did you all think of 1998? Was Shakespeare your favorite, or did you prefer one of the others? Do you have a particular year you want to hear about next? React down below!

Chicago (2002)

From what I heard about this movie, I thought it was going to be terrible! But I was pleasantly proven wrong. I loved it. It's everything you could ever want in a musical - great singing, catchy numbers, brilliant choreography, flashy costumes, tight editing, beautiful cinematography...I could go on forever the praises of this film. Zellweger is best in show, I think. Zeta-Jones does great in her musical numbers but her regular acting scenes do leave a bit to be desired. Overall though, an amazing movie that doesn't deserve the bad rep it has!

9/10