An Official HAII Review
My daughters begged me to let them see Tangled in the theater. It was pretty intense. I would stumble out of bed and into the kitchen and find them sitting half awake and haggard, holding a cardboard signs that read: “Will Chore for Ripunzl.”

It didn’t stop there, either. There was pressure from mom, grandma, and the neighbors. My pastor called me into his office to confront me directly on the matter. And “Cats in the Cradle” would suddenly start playing on my iPhone at random hours, with the calendar notification “Daddy Date.” Finally, the campaign prevailed upon me. After it came to the dollar theater, of course. (Okay, it is more than possible that none of the above ever happened. But the commercials put THAT kind of pressure on me.)

Tangled might just be the most effective girl movie of all time. My daughters were hypnotized. They didn’t blink for 90 minutes. The colors, the beauty, the horses, the romantic adventure… add it all up and you have the new look of modern girl entertainment. Seriously.

I don’t need to actually explain the movie, right? You know it’s the story of Rappunzel, the hairy chick who was stuck in a tower, and is set free by a handsome love interest. There’s lots of magic hair, floating lights, “You’re not my real mommy…” moments, and acres and acres of sparkles. And it is all done very well, really. I cannot argue with the quality of the animation or the story. They did a fine job.

My one beef with Tangled is the music. Not a huge fan. I thought that Disney was stepping back from the constant musical numbers in light of the Pixar and Dreamworks films that didn’t put songs in. But this is a princess story. And according to Disney’s self imposed quality restrictions “Princess movies have to have songs.” I get it. But I would rather not.

The Kids

They will adore this movie. Boys too, actually. There is enough adventure to keep the boys invested. Max, the horse, was my favorite character. But the girls… oh the girls. Put it this way: if the little ones in your house have cut their hair in the past six months and then go and watch this movie, you might find them weeping with regret and refusing to come out of their room.

The Verdict: Irritant Free

I nearly rated this as Almost Pleasant, but some parents (moms, especially) might nail me to the wall for not putting this in the top category. And fine. It probably deserves it. The songs were my only hesitation. But I really can’t argue with the quality of what Disney did, here. It isn’t annoying, and your kids will love you more than ever if you buy them the Blu Ray.