While Growing up I heard and watch cartoons about Rapunzel... the long hair... the tower and the whole "let down your hair" thing but then watching the actual Disney movie was a completely different experience and I really enjoyed it...
The story follows Rapunzel, a young girl who has spent basically her entire life locked inside a tower... She has this ridiculously long magical golden hair and the woman she believes is her mother, Mother Gothel refuses to let her leave because her hair has a special power that keeps Gothel young....
One day, a thief named Flynn Rider shows up in the tower while running from the guards and Rapunzel sees her chance to finally get out and experience the world.... And that's where the fun really begins...
What I liked about Rapunzel is that she doesn't feel like the typical helpless princess waiting for somebody to rescue her.... She's actually curious, energetic and sometimes completely chaotic..
She's been stuck in the tower for so long that when she finally gets outside, she's excited about literally everything but there's also this really emotional side to her character.... You can feel how badly she wants to see the world, while at the same time she's terrified because she's been told her entire life that the outside world is dangerous and honestly, that part felt very real...
Sometimes people can become so comfortable with the limitations they've been given that even freedom becomes scary...
Then there's Flynn Rider...
I wasn't expecting to like this guy as much as I did because He's basically a thief who thinks he's incredibly charming and at the beginning he's honestly a bit annoying but as the movie continues, you start seeing the person underneath the jokes.
His relationship with Rapunzel is probably one of my favorite things about the movie... They're not instantly perfect together... They argue, annoy each other and constantly get into trouble but that's what makes their relationship feel natural...
And then the movie is genuinely funny.. there are some jokes that caught me completely off guard, especially when the characters aren't even trying to be funny...
Maximus, the palace horse, is probably one of my favorites... This horse has absolutely no business being that serious..
Pascal is also adorable and somehow the two of them manage to steal quite a few scenes which is beautiful..
But Mother Gothel?
That woman is terrifying.
She doesn't need to scream or physically hurt Rapunzel to control her... She uses guilt, fear and manipulation but Rapunzel thinks she's being protected by someone who loves her, when in reality she's being kept there for selfish reasons.
The animation is also beautiful..
The movie is over a decade old now, but there are still scenes that look really good, especially the lantern sequence... That scene is probably the moment that stayed with me the most...
There's something about watching thousands of lanterns floating across the night sky while Rapunzel is experiencing the world outside the tower for the first time... It's beautiful and strangely emotional.
The songs also work really well for the story... I See the Light especially is one of those songs that just fits the moment perfectly.
What I think I enjoyed most is that underneath all the magic, comedy and romance, the movie is really about freedom.
Rapunzel spends her whole life being told who she should be and what she shouldn't do.. Then she finally gets the courage to step outside and once she does, she realizes that the world isn't exactly what she was told it was...
That message hit me more than I expected..
Sometimes the biggest thing holding us back isn't the tower around us.. It's the voice in our head telling us we're not ready to leave it.
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Rating: 90/100
