Review: Disney's `Tangled' updates Rapunzel

Rapunzel takes it all in with the curiosity of a wide-eyed innocent. Gamely totting around her long trail of hair, she uses it inventively — like an Indiana Jones with a built-in whip.

Flynn is less memorable. He's uncertain of himself, but he's slowly pulled in by Rapunzel's goodness. It is, of course, a predictable arc, but it's managed without much feeling. Flynn is flip and rather obnoxious. When he tells Rapunzel, "Sorry blondie, I don't do back story," we think: She can do better.

His slacker nature works better when he, without much fanfare, tells Rapunzel that famous line, "Let down your hair" — the fairy tale equivalent of "Release the Kraken!"

Both Rapunzel and Flynn too much resemble Barbie and Ken, lacking both superficial and emotional individuality. Moore and Levi are flat. And we can't help but wonder how Rapunzel's lifetime locked-away didn't produce a disorder or two.

The animation, overseen by Glen Keane ("Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin"), reaches its apogee in a row boat scene, reminiscent of "Kiss the Girl" from "Mermaid." Flynn and Rapunzel are surrounded by countless floating lanterns in the nighttime sky and reflected in the water.

The romance doesn't match the visual splendor, but no matter: The lushness is enough. The 3-D — which is fine by current standards but generally dims the images — is best here, immersing the audience among the glowing orbs.

For the songs, Disney turned to another stalwart, Alan Menken, who composed the scores to "Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid" and a number of the less memorable Disney movies of the `00s. There's no hit here — "I See the Light," "When Will My Life Begin?" — but the songs (with lyrics by Glenn Slater) get the job done, particularly Mother Gothel's big number, "Mother Knows Best."

For a story about shrugging off suffocating parental security, it's a good lesson: Sometimes, Mother doesn't know best.

"Tangled," a Walt Disney Studios release, is rated PG for brief mild violence. Running time: 104 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.