By Coinciding with the release of rival princess caper Frozen 2 this week, YouTube’s Screen Junkies have finally shed light on the admitted inconsistencies in charming Disney classic, Tangled, in their latest Honest Trailer.
As a fan of Screen Junkies for many years, I was a little surprised to hear that they hadn’t previously brought Tangled under scrutiny. But with the attention of Disney divided between its latest Frozen instalment and the recent launch of the formidable Disney+ streaming service, someone needs to keep tabs on their earlier content, just to keep them in check.
Topics of discussion include and are not limited to: formulaic musical numbers in the form of Alan Menken B-side hits; friendly sidekick creatures conditioned to behave like canines; vilifying lonely old women for profit; and the affliction of the generic Dreamworks face. Oh, and if you reframe it, there are Midsommar parallels that can’t go unmissed.
While there’s no doubt that Tangled has always been one of the more progressive classics, winking at the audience — take Flynn Rider looking completely aghast when a tavern full of crooks burst into song — it’s enlightening to see it taken into professional hands. And with Frozen 2 set to break records with its cool $127 million opening weekend despite not claiming too much new ground, take this video as a reminder of some of Disney’s better and more self-aware earlier releases.
