Everyone, as I mentioned in my weekend post last night, I plan to review the new Disney/Pixar film Onward soon, as I just saw that film last weekend. However, before I do, we are first reviewing a certain TV show that aired on Disney channel a few years, and just came to a close as of almost a couple weeks ago. It is based on the Disney’s 50th Animated Feature, Tangled. It is the one and only Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, which aired from March 2017, and just ended around early March of this year. Man, does time fly! Well, onto the review!
Season 1 Plot: Following the events of the 2010 Disney film Tangled, Princess Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) is getting settled into her new life in the kingdom of Corona. Not only does she seem to have a good relationship with her parents, the King and Queen of Corona (voiced by Clancy Brown and Julie Bowen respectively), as well as is in a relationship with Eugene Fitzherbert (Zachary Levi), but she makes new friends as well, including her new handmaiden Cassandra (Eden Espinosa). With all that being the case, will Rapunzel take her duties seriously, while also continue to be the free-spirited princess that she has been?
Season 2 Plot: After Princess Rapunzel, and her family and friends discover that crystal rocks from the first season are pointing in a direction that Rapunzel is supposed to go, Rapunzel, along with Eugene, Cassandra, the horse Maximus, and a few other of Rapunzel’s decide to take the long journey to where the rocks are leading Rapunzel to. As they journey along this path, will Rapunzel surprisingly discover her destiny in the end?
Season 3 Plot: After events don’t go according to plan, Princess Rapunzel and the gang must stop and ancient demon named Zhan Tiri from destroying the Kingdom of Corona, and maybe even the rest of the world. Will they be able to stop her in time before it’s too late?
Now, if this show hadn’t come out say sometime before 2016-2017, I’m not so sure that I might have been as likely to watch a show like this. The only reason being is that I haven’t watched a whole lot of cartoon shows since I want to say maybe around my early to mid teen years, sometime like that. However, after a friend of mine told me about another show that aired mostly on Disney Junior by the name of The Lion Guard (which was basically a spin-off show of the 1994 Disney film The Lion King), and that one looked good from some of the commercials, I first got hooked on that show when that started airing first with the TV movie back in late 2015, followed by The Lion Guard airing more in early 2016. A year later, when I heard that Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure around the springtime of 2017, and that it was going to be a spin-off, and/or continuation of the 2010 Disney film Tangled, I was very excited to watch that show on Disney Channel. I watched every episode that aired from March 2017 through March 2020.
After completely watching the show from beginning to end, was it good? Well guys, I have to be honest especially with those of you who never watched the show by saying that I was very surprised by how good the show was in the end. I mean yes, there were some episodes here and there that were maybe a little cheesy from time to time. Still, I there’s no denying that the makers of this show seemed to put as much effort, and heart into this show as possible. Granted, some of the episodes were a little corny, as well as maybe a couple songs that might have not been that memorable, especially when compared to the songs from the actual movie Tangled from 2010. Still, overall, the songs were surprisingly very catchy for music from a Disney Channel show. Quite honestly, if a good majority were to be installed in say an actual movie sequel to Tangled, if one were to have been released, most of them would have more than likely worked really well. In addition to all of this, there’s also the animation. Wow, wow, wow! When you compare some of the animation on some of these Disney Channel shows, especially ones that are based on a theatrically released Disney animated film, to say the cheaper animation style of say movies and shows that were made by Disney Toon Studios from over a decade, or two ago, it is so impressive to see how much the animation has revolutionized over the years. And sure, people may compare the newer hand-drawn animation of this show to the CGI animation that was in the 2010 Disney film Tangled. However, even if the animation from the movie Tangled and the show will differentiate from each other, there’s is definitely no reason to trash either style of animation for either the movie or show, you know? Next there are the characters. Holy cow! First off, they are all written well, and are executed to the best of their abilities. Rapunzel and Eugene are the same likable and lovable characters that we grew to love and enjoy over this past almost decade. Same goes for the animal characters such as the horse Maximus, Pascal the chameleon, and the pub thugs that were in the original film. As for the newer characters like Rapunzel’s parents, Cassandra, the alchemist Varian, and any of the other newer ones, they end up having so much depth and development to each of their characters. So much so that one can easily tell that they were made for a story that would last over the course of a however long any TV series is supposed to run. Not to say that some of the newer characters couldn’t work in an actual movie as well. It’s just that a TV show, or series, seems to help either old characters, or new ones, to grow and develop in each of their character journeys more, you know? This goes not only for the heroes, and heroines in the show, but also for some of the villains as well. One of the best villains of the show was probably Zhan Tiri. She serves as such great symbolism for the devil. She masquerades as an angel of light, so to speak, and can act so manipulative and deceptive that she can easily brainwash certain people into any lies that she spreads that some will likely believe whatever she says as a result. What’s more is that Zhan Tiri, along with the villain from the Veggie Tales episode Larry Boy & The Fib From Outer Space, and of course the devil (who, unlike the other two characters that I mentioned, is an actual person, whether some people choose to believe that or not) serve as great examples as to why working on the side of evil is NOT a good idea in the first place, and never was to begin with. As for the story that is written for the series, it oddly enough works very well. In fact, one could probably argue that Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure serves as a great example of how some sequels might work better as a TV show series than a movie length feature. I mean as I watched even more recent episodes of this show from a few months ago from shortly before and after Frozen 2 was released, part of me sort of became curious as to whether or not Frozen 2 might have worked better as a TV series on Disney Channel as well instead of just a full-length feature film/sequel. Okay, don’t get me wrong, Frozen 2 was still a good film, no doubt about it. However, some of us can probably agree that while that was the case, certain aspects like the story, developing especially the newer characters, and the world building could have maybe worked a little better if stretched out to a TV series length, like two to three seasons as well, or something like that, you know? With that said, while Frozen 2 was still very good, you might find yourself liking the Season 1-3 series of Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure a little, if not a whole lot better. One other thing to mention is that the voice actors do a phenomenal job with playing their respective characters. That goes especially for Mandy Moore, who voiced Rapunzel in both the 2010 movie, and in this show. Can you imagine how much time she most likely had to spend with not only her work on this show, but also playing her role as her character Rebekkah in the live-action show This Is Us (which started airing in the fall of 2016, and that one at least still is continuing to air for however much longer)? I can only imagine how much her hands seemed to be tied up as a result. Well, at least she seemed to succeed in performing in both of those roles to the best of her ability. Finally, there are really good messages throughout the course of this show about learning to not give on your dreams, and not letting your past mistakes/sins define either your present, or your future.
And that’s my review for Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. The show seems to show how much animation has come a long way over the years. That is even if animation made for TV will not have the same great quality of animation as an actual movie may. Still, shows like this, and The Lion Guard (which aired from 2016-2019) serve as really good examples of how, when a story, most specifically one that is a continuation of it’s original source, is stretched out to a TV series length type, it can have plenty of room to either develop older characters even more, or even newer ones for the first time. Also, there is some really good music, for the most part, and both old, and new characters that can grow on you as you watch this show from beginning to end. If you watched 2010’s Tangled, but never this show that aired from March 2017 through March 2020, this is one that undeniably a must-see. Even if you don’t have On Demand, maybe try to download the Disney Now app, or even Disney Channel app, whichever may work best, and watch this show from beginning to end. I certainly had fun with this show, and I’m sure so will many of you as well!
Final Grade: A
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 