Who says you’re “too old” for cartoons? Disney’s newest film Tangled will surely touch your heart with its version of the classic tale of Rapunzel. This reviewer was drawn to the movie because it was based on the unpopular princess. Don’t pass on this movie just because it’s from Disney. The amount of time and effort put into this movie by director Bryon Howard and the Disney animators shines in this magical masterpiece. Everyone, young and old, will enjoy this movie.

Tangled revolves around a story of a golden, magical flower that heals those who are sick and acts as the fountain of youth for whomever sings an enchanting spell to it. The queen of the land who is giving birth to her first child goes into distress, and the king orders all of his men to search for this magical flower to save her life. Another character, an old woman named Grothel, is a frequent visitor of this flower and uses its power to keep from looking old and ugly. After the royal guards find this flower, they bring it back to the castle and use it to save the queen. Thanks to its powers, the queen successfully gives birth to adorable baby girl, Rapunzel.

Strangely, Rapunzel grew up to have blonde hair despite her parents’ brunette traits. Grothel, who has been secretly watching over the family ever since her flower was taken away, notices this and realizes that the new princess retains the powers of the flower in her hair and sneaks into the castle to kidnap the child. Ever since her disappearance, the king and queen, along with all the other citizens of the land, release lanterns into the sky every year on Rapunzel’s birthday as they continue to search for the princess. Meanwhile, Grothel, or Mother Grothel  as she has Rapunzel call her, feeds her new “daughter” lies of being her biological mother and constantly tells her that the world is a dangerous place, so she must never leave their tower in order to keep Rapunzel’s powers to herself and keep her from being found by the royal guards.

Rapunzel grows to be a mature teenager who spends her free time cooking, painting, drawing, and brushing her 70-feet long hair in her lonely tower with her one and only friend, Pascal the chameleon. She constantly daydreams and draws pictures of the bright lanterns she has seen in the sky on the days of her birthday and wishes that she could leave her tower and see these lights in person.

One day, the wanted bandit, Flynn Rider, steals the crown of the lost princess from the castle and is chased by a bunch of royal guards and a white steed, Maximus, who is determined to capture him. He stumbles upon Rapunzel’s tower while Mother Grothel is out, climbs up the side of the tower gets in through the window. Rapunzel knocks him out with a frying pan, locks him up in her closet, and eventually ties him to a chair with her gold locks. When he awakens, she suspects that Flynn has come to cut off her magical hair or kidnap her to use it for his own purposes.

Rapunzel then turns the situation around and takes the crown Flynn stole, hides it, and tells him that she won’t give the crown back unless he helps her leave the tower and guide her to the place where the lanterns are released. Flynn reluctantly agrees to help her and the dynamic duo embark on their journey. As Rapunzel explores the world with Flynn by her side, they start to understand each other, get along, and fall in love.

Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) feels the same way a majority of teenagers feel: trapped by their parents, except our parents don’t feel younger around us like Mother Grothel does. Despite being separated from the reality of the world, Rapunzel is very intelligent and adapts to the different situations that she and Flynn encounter. I think Moore did an excellent job with her voice acting and singing throughout the movie.

Eugene Fitzherbert, AKA “Flynn Rider” (voiced by Zachary Levi) is every girl’s prince charming, minus the “prince” part. He’s a thief who will steal your heart with his funny, quirky, daring personality and dashing good looks. I was a little skeptical at first about Levi voicing a character who plays the role of the charming hero because I couldn’t stop thinking of him as Chuck Bartowski, the crazy secret agent from Chuck, but I couldn’t have been more wrong because Flynn Rider is plenty crazy. It was a perfect fit and his duet with Mandy Moore was absolutely stunning. I had no idea he could sing and he pulled off every note. Bravo to him!

Singing is an absolute must in Disney movies. As soon as I sat down in the theater, I mentally prepared myself for cliché songs that would blast from the speakers, but there was no need. Sure, the songs were kind of cliché, but they flowed with the scenarios without making one stand out more than the other. One of the songs I must applaud is “I See the Light” composed by Alan Menken. The song is sung by both Levi and Moore and their voices blended together in sweet harmony as Rapunzel and Flynn sit on a boat surrounded by the romantic glow of millions of lanterns floating up into the night sky. That, my friends, is the kind of warm, fuzzy magic that only Disney can create.

The graphics and animation in this movie were amazing. I’ve got to give the animators two thumbs up for their work. Tangled was inspirational, funny, and entertaining. It’s a great movie to see with the family and friends. I laughed, I cried, I loved this movie–and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Tangled contains similar elements as Aladdin, such as the “princess meets simpleton” theme and beautifully performed songs; so, if you liked Aladdin, you’ll definitely fall in love with Tangled.