Tangled

The recent Disney-not-Pixar animated releases (The Princess and the Frog, Meet the Robinsons, Chicken Little) have had a certain schizophrenic quality, as though constantly weighing their mission to provide watery family entertainment against the all-ages appeal of Pixar and the edgier fare of other studios. Tangled, which switches gears almost every other scene, is the full embodiment of these warring agendas. This take on the Rapunzel story is funnier than any Disney-not-Pixar cartoon has been in years, but it’s also waterlogged by a series of insipid pop anthems meant to rope in the tweens. There is a winking-at-fairy-tales quality courtesy of Shrek, a ballad-shrieking evil stepmother straight out of Wicked and more plot threads than it needs. The ultimate lesson—that there are no glaring gender inequalities which can’t be solved by a cute new haircut—is more than I can tackle in this space.