About.com Rating



Bottom line: Filled with slapstick physical humor and absolutely gorgeous animation, Tangled tells a fun and adventurous story about the princess Rapunzel. The movie contains some mild sad or tense family scenes, a few mildly scary scenes, and some brief violence.
MPAA Rating: PG, for brief mild violence
Genre: Animated/Fairy Tale
Guide age recommendation: 4+
Runtime: Approx. 100 minutes
Voice Cast: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: November 24, 2010 (wide)

Tangled - Overview

When her secret youth giving flower is discovered by the kingdom and used to save the Queen and her baby, Mother Gothel is furious.

Luckily, though, the flower's precious power is preserved in the little baby Rapunzel, who is born with magical healing hair. Mother Gothel kidnaps the baby, confines her in a tall tower, and raises the beautiful child with magical hair as her own.

Years later, Rapunzel is about to turn 18, and she reveals to her Mother Gothel her greatest birthday wish: to travel to see the mysterious lights that float into the night sky once a year. Mother Gothel denies the girl's request, using psychological manipulation to convince Rapunzel that she is too naive and helpless to leave the tower.

Rapunzel is disappointed, but convinced, until a mysterious outlaw named Flynn pops into her tower window out of the blue. Once Rapunzel determines she can handle the self-absorbed stranger, she makes a bargain with him, convincing him to take her to see the lights. On that note, they embark on an adventurous journey which leads them to find much more than they were originally looking for. But, the law will not give up on finding Flynn, and Mother Gothel will never give up on finding Rapunzel and bringing her back to that lonely tower.

Tangled - Guide Review for Parents

Disney's 50th animated movie, Tangled follows the Disney Princess format, bringing fans another song-filled production about a royal beauty. But, it also diverges a bit with a boisterous, humorous adventure story created using CG animation. In many ways, Tangled deserves the fanfare of such a distinguished place in Disney history, and in other ways, the movie falls a little flat.

The first Disney Princess movie to be presented in CG animation, Tangled comes very close to, if not actually reaching, perfection. The seamless animation is done in the style of a beautiful painting, bringing quaint 2D elements to the 3D world and capturing a look that is both fairy tale-worthy and admirable.

The story is not quite as rich as the setting, however. We don't see the depth in the story line and growth in the main characters like we did in The Princess and the Frog. But, while Tangled falls slightly short in terms of character development and overall story, the movie is funny and just plain fun. With a strong emphasis on both the hero and the heroine, Tangled provides a swashbuckling adventure for both boys and girls. A strong dose of humor makes the movie enjoyable for parents as well.

Another first, Tangled is a PG Disney princess movie. The PG, I believe, comes from a scene where a character gets stabbed, and we actually see blood (after the fact). The movie is not as dark and scary as G-rated classics like Beauty and the Beast or Snow White, but the up-close and personal graphic detail in CG animation makes the events a little more realistic.

This scene and other scenes of peril could be scary or suspenseful for young children. The characters are often in peril, but most times, comedy lightens the mood. Viewing children may also be disturbed by the fact that Rapunzel is kidnapped and raised by her captor, who acts as if she is Rapunzel's own mother.

(For more details on possibly offensive or scary content, please see the "Content Overview" below.)

Tangled - Content Overview

*May contain spoilers.

• Violence (Medium): Most of the violence in Tangled is of the hitting each other over the head with a frying pan sort. Lots of slapstick comedy and unrealistic violence (how do those characters fall off a cliff and land unscathed at the bottom?) occurs, some of it involving weapons of convenience as well as a few arrows, knives, axes, swords, fists and the like. Most of the weapons are just waved around and do little actual damage, except for one scene in which a character is actually stabbed and we see blood after the fact. Some of the characters look violent with ruffian exteriors, hooks for hands and such, but many of them turn out to be softies.
• Scary Scenes (Low): Violence in the movie (noted above) may be scary or suspenseful to kids, but much of the peril is injected with humor and very slapstick in nature. Tangled is more swashbuckling and adventurous, and not very tense, dark, suspenseful and scary. However, the kidnapping of Rapunzel as a baby could be disturbing to young children.

• Sex/Nudity (Low): Rapunzel and Mother Gothel wear dresses that show a little contour or cleavage. A kiss occurs. One old man character wears only a diaper.
• Drugs and Alcohol (Low): Part of the movie takes place in a pub, but it is never stated that patrons are drinking alcohol.
• Profanity (None)
• Disrespectful/Imitative Behavior (High): The movie begins with Flynn declaring, "This is the story of how I died." Many characters hit each other over the head with frying pans in the movie, and of course there is no lasting injury, so kids may be tempted to try something like that. Another theme in the movie is Rapunzel's rebellion against Mother Gothel. While Mother Gothel is evil, parents may raise their eyebrows at lines like, "A little rebellion, a little adventure... that's good, healing even." In another scene, Rapunzel goes back and forth between being thrilled at her freedom and feeling incredible guilt for disobeying her "mother." Flynn is a thief who only cares about getting rich.
• Sad/Unsettling Scenes (Medium): Kids may be disturbed by Rapunzel's kidnapping and her parents' subsequent sadness. Kids will see that Rapunzel is hurt when she finds out about Mother Gothel's betrayal. Also, Mother Gothel's manipulative and hurtful words (said in a voice of kindness, but not kind in nature) are distressing to Rapunzel. The apparent death of a main character may be very unsettling or disturbing for kids.
• Movie Topics Kids Might Have Questions About: magic, kidnapping, rebellion, disobeying parents or authority, stealing, kings and queens, healing power.

Disclosure: The studio provided a free screening of this movie for review purposes. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.