Tangled and Rapunzel

Hope you're not tired yet of my Disney posts. I saved you from a super-long super-boring travellog, so I hope you'll forgive me. Especially since it's possible more are coming if my mood calls for it. 

I know that Tangled came out over a month ago, so this blog post is more than a little late, but there's something that's been on my mind...

I've seen the movie three times (twice in 3D) and I absolutely love it. I have been waiting years and years for Disney to make Rapunzel into a movie, and I was really excited when I discovered two years ago that it was in the works.

Then I saw the early previews and my heart sank. Why the heck were they calling it "Tangled?" Why did they replace the prince with a thief? Are there chameleons in Europe? I was so worried they were going to mangle the fairy tale the way they did "The Frog Prince." Granted, Disney has a history of rewriting fairy tales for entertainment value (such as my favorite Sleeping Beauty), but as charming as The Princess and the Frog was, I didn't really like it. So, in spite of glowing reviews from my friends, I saw Tangled for the first time with quite a bit of trepidation.

And within 5 minutes I was in love. I thought that the rewrites were very well thought out, and I even managed to overcome the initial gag reflex over all of the modern speech ("For the first time in, like, ever..."). Then of course, the voice cast was brilliant. Who knew Zachary Levi could sing? Just a fun, uplifting movie. I am thrilled to finally have a blonde Disney princess who is strong and independent and brave. 

I'll be honest: I wish I could find a magical solution that could make my hair so strong and tangle-proof. While she was walking through the forest with her hair dragging on the ground, I kept thinking "That is so unrealistic... oh wait... it's magic hair! Lucky!"

**SPOILER ALERT**

However (I hate that there's a "however", but there is), I wish that the writers had taken the ending just one step further. At the end of the movie, my question was not "Do they get married?"

I want to know what happened with the power of the Sun flower. 

Flynn cuts Rapunzel's hair, leaving it brown and her powerless, or so they think. But then, she is able to heal Flynn's mortal wound with her tears. I have no problem with this. In the original tale she could heal with tears, too, and in this version at least we have an explanation why that would be. What I want to know is if that was a one-time deal. I want to know if this became a trait of the royal family. Was one of the reasons she was so beloved was that she was a great healer? Did her children and their children have this power in some form? Or did it just go away? Was the power truly gone (which would be a true shame, especially since we never knew why the power dropped to the earth in the first place).

Oooh! Maybe they'll explain it in the sequel, 'cause you know Disney loves a good sequel! Okay, maybe I won't worry about it so much.

**END OF SPOILER**

Here is the original story of Rapunzel as told by the Brothers Grimm. I'm pretty sure you'll see rather quickly why the screenwriters decided to change it up. It's no fun portraying a mom as selfish or the dad as spineless, and why can't the prince just bring enough rope to take her away by the second visit? I will say, though, that my friend Joanne Parker wrote a marvelous theatrical adaptation about 15 years ago based on the original story, and it was perfectly palatable to children, so it is possible.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, GO! Even my nephew liked it, so I guess the ploy worked to market to the boys! I already bought the soundtrack, and I can't wait until the movie comes out on DVD :^)