Spoiler Concept Art!

Just a few spoiler images from the artbook!

Spoilers! Part 2

It's 4:30am where I'm at....Happy Halloween everyone!

SPOILER BLOG PART 2

EDIT: I forgot to add this funny moment from before they head to the pub! Right after Rapunzel has first ventured from the tower, she hears a rustling sound coming from the bushes, and clings to Flynn’s back with her arms and legs, terrified. A cute little bunny rabbit hops out, and Flynn deadpans: “Careful. It can probably smell fear.” Hysterical! Anyway--

Meanwhile, Max is still doggedly searching for Flynn. He hears someone approaching, hides behind a rock & pulls a branch over to cover his head (the rock & branch form a horse-shaped silhouette, funny enough!). Gothel is the one he hears—she’s on her way to get the paint Rapunzel requested for her birthday. Thinking she’s Flynn Max leaps out and scares Gothel, but backs off, disappointed. Gothel notices the royal emblem on his harness and says “but where’s your rider…? Rapunzel!” Thinking the kingdom guards have discovered the tower, she makes a mad dash back as Max looks on, bemused.

            Gothel reaches the base of the tower and calls for Rapunzel: nothing. Frantic, she digs out the stones covering a secret door, then shifts a floor tile up and away into the main room of the tower, which is dark. She calls and calls for Rapunzel, and tears the curtain from the window for light: no one’s home. She notices one of the wooden steps on the staircase is not aligned properly, and underneath she finds the satchel with the wanted poster and crown. She leaves to find Rapunzel, but not before grabbing a knife/dagger from a drawer. Uh-oh…

            Back to our main couple, Flynn is chatting up the ‘restaurant’ that he’s taking Rapunzel to, acting like it’s a nice, upscale joint. When they see the sign for the Snuggly Duckling, Rapunzel says something like “Oh, I love ducklings!” and Flynn mocks her (the “Yay!” moment from some of the featurettes, haha). He fling open the door—“Garcon! Your finest table please!” and Rapunzel is horrified to find herself in a den of thugs and ruffians. Flynn pushes her inside, but soon it’s him who’s scared—the thugs have one of the wanted posters of him. They hold it in his face and ask, “Is this you?” The picture has the biggest, ugliest nose yet, and Flynn says “Oh now they’re just being mean!” The thugs grab Flynn and send a messenger off to find the royal guards so they can collect the reward for his capture. Rapunzel breaks up the brawl, telling the thugs that Flynn is her guide and she’s been dreaming about the lights her entire life: “Haven’t any of you ever had a dream?!” So the ‘I’ve Got a Dream (Pub Song)’ begins. This tune is so funny! At one point they all look to Flynn, but he says “I don’t sing,” and is immediately surrounded by knives/swords…next thing you know, he’s up on the bar dancing and singing about his dream—a private island and “piles of money!” It turns out Hookhand is a talented pianist, Atilla makes cupcakes, the biggest thug collects ceramic unicorns and the ugliest is a romantic, etc (Note: Flynn uses one of the little unicorns whilst describing his materialistic dream, haha!) Meanwhile, Gothel has tracked them and watches from the window; her jaw drops when she hears Rapunzel sing “I’m so glad I left my tower!”…

            The royal guards break up the party, and Rapunzel and Flynn hide behind the bar as they come in with the arrested Stabbington Brothers in tow (remember, Flynn left them to their fate earlier and escaped himself—and they’re not happy about it). Hookhand reveals a secret passage, marked with the Snuggly Duckling symbol, that leads into an underground tunnel, and the pair escapes while the other thugs distract the guards (the shortest/oldest thug holds out his wrists, saying “Ya got me!”) Max arrives on the scene and immediately sniffs out the secret passage, so all but the skinniest/weakest-looking guard follow Max’s lead to chase after the escaped duo. Not a good idea, as the Stabbingtons easily overpower the weak guard and cut off their bonds, now free to hunt for Flynn themselves…the smallest thug spots Gothel by the window and says “Well somebody get me a glass, ‘cause I just found me a tall drink of water!” Gothel acts coy: “Oh stop it, you big lug…” and suddenly whips out the dagger, sticking it in his face and demanding “Where’s that passage lead?!”

            Rapunzel and Flynn are walking together through the tunnel, and Rapunzel tries to ask where Flynn is from. He says “I don’t do backstory.” Suddenly Max and the royal guards come up from behind, and the pair runs ahead into an open area with a dam held up by support beams. Rapunzel uses her hair like a grappling hook and swings to safety, leaving Flynn to fight off the guards with her frying pan, which is incredibly effective. Max is next, and a much tougher opponent, but Rapunzel hooks her hair on Flynn’s hand and pulls him away as Max watches, dumbfounded. The Stabbingtons are there too, and nearly grab Flynn as he swings above their heads, but Rapunzel pulls him up just in time. Max kicks out one of the beams supporting the dam to make himself a bridge to reach Rapunzel’s position—and the entire dam breaks! Everyone is washed away by the torrent, but since Rapunzel and Flynn had a head start the manage to run into a little cavern before a huge pillar falls and blocks the entrance—enough to trap them inside, but not enough to keep the water out, and the cavern is rapidly filling up. Rapunzel panics and Flynn dives repeatedly to try and find an exit—nothing, it’s too dark to see. He cuts his hand on a sharp rock, and Rapunzel frets that the entire situation is all her fault. She tries to dive and look herself, but Flynn grabs her shoulders and stops her: “It’s no use!” The mood is somber as both think they’re going to drown, and when Rapunzel says something like “I’m so sorry, Flynn,” he tells her “Eugene. My real name’s Eugene Fitzherbert. I just thought someone should know.” Rapunzel, thinking it’s only fair to offer a confession for a confession, admits “I have magic hair that glows when I sing,” which makes Flynn look at her like she’s nuts, haha!

            Inspiration hits, and Rapunzel sings to make her hair light up: this gives them a chance to see a spot in some loose rocks near the bottom of the nearly-full cave where water is draining. The two dive and frantically dig, and just in time they break through and are spit out into a stream in the woods. Flynn is weirded out by Rapunzel’s powers, and just an aside: he looks very, very good with wet hair haha! Meanwhile, Gothel is standing near a hollow tree with a panel with the Snuggly Duckling symbol on it: this is the true exit from the secret passage. She’s obviously lying in wait for Flynn, dagger at the ready—but it’s the Stabbington Bothers that emerge. She hides and hears them saying they want to kill Flynn, and gets an idea. She steps forward and offers the Brothers the satchel and crown, but then hints at a much greater treasure they can have if they help her—Rapunzel’s magic hair, AND revenge on Flynn…

            The two are now sitting around a campfire, and Rapunzel is wrapping her hair around Flynn’s wounded hand as he watches, obviously thinking the entire thing is utterly bizarre. Rapunzel starts to sing the Incantation, and her hair begins to glow; Flynn’s eyes grow huge, and he glances at Pascal, who hold up one of his feet and points at it like ‘check it out!’ with a smirk, haha! Flynn sees his hand is completely healed, and begins to get a little hysterical as Rapunzel pleads “don’t freak out, don’t freak out!” I also found this very interesting: never are Rapunzel’s powers made out to be anything other than rare and unnatural, and I imagine that Flynn having such a reaction would only encourage Rapunzel to believe all of Gothel’s attempts at harming the girl’s self-confidence. She probably sees herself as almost freakish. Flynn chokes back his hysteria and asks about the magic; Rapunzel tells him about how she’s been told there are bad people who would want to use her hair for evil, and reveals to him that once her hair is cut it loses its power: she shifts the golden mass and reveals a tiny, short piece of hair that’s brown, the very same section Gothel cut when Rapunzel was a baby. It seems that not only does the hair lose its power when cut, but it never grows back either. This, she explains, is why she could never leave her tower. Flynn then tells her a bit about his past that he wasn’t willing to reveal before: he’s an orphan. Saying something like “I’ll spare you the tale of poor little orphan Eugene Fitzherbert…it’s kind of a downer,” he tells Rapunzel about reading a storybook to “the other kids” about a fictional hero called Flynnegan Rider, which is where he got his new name. Rapunzel innocently asks “Was he a thief, too?” and Flynn looks a little ashamed: “Well, no.” Of note: My theory about the prologue and epilogue being narrated by Flynn stems back to this: just as he once read to the other orphan children, it’s like he’s ‘reading’ to the audience when he narrates the beginning and ending of the film. Anyway…

            The two are sitting close together and gazing into each other’s eyes softly; Flynn shakes himself visibly and gets up, saying a little gruffly/embarrassed that he’s going to get more firewood. Rapunzel calls: “For the record, I like Eugene Fitzherbert much more than Flynn Rider.”

            Gothel arrives on the scene and sings a reprise of ‘Mother Knows Best,’ trying to convince Rapunzel to come back with her: “Don’t be a dummy, come with Mummy!”. Rapunzel will have none of it, telling Gothel she’s “met somebody” and “I think he likes me!” Gothel snarks and sings again: “Rapunzel knows best! Rapunzel’s so mature now!” and says things like how could you ever think he’d want you as she gestures at Rapunzel as though she were some lowly creature, and tells Rapunzel ‘when you see that he’s been lying/don’t come crying [to me]!’. She shows Rapunzel the satchel and crown and says that’s all Flynn wants from her, and “see how fast he leaves you” once he gets it back; Rapunzel insists he wouldn’t do such a thing, but she’s unsure herself. Gothel dares Rapunzel to give Flynn the satchel and see who’s right, and Rapunzel takes it and says she will. Gothel fades back into the shadows, and Rapunzel stands holding the bag with her back to the fire, troubled…

            Flynn comes back, saying something like “Hey, am I gonna get, like, super powers now? Or will I just have one really strong hand? Because that would be kinda strange…” The audience loved this, and apparently Zac Levi ad-libbed it during recording and they kept it! Rapunzel doesn’t seem to hear him at first, and he asks if she’s okay: she whirls around, apologizing and saying she was just deep in thought. The bag is nowhere to be seen…until the camera shifts, and we see Rapunzel has hidden it in a tree stump. She’s not quite ready to test Flynn’s loyalty…

            Morning at the campsite, and everyone is asleep. Rapunzel and Pascal on one side of the fire, in a nest of hair coils, and Flynn on the other using a rock like a pillow. He’s woken by something wet dripping on his face: it’s Max, soaking wet and leaning over him, angry. Flynn just glances at him and says: “Well I hope you’re here to apologize,” haha! Max is furious and tries to drag Flynn away by the leg, but Rapunzel stops him. As Flynn watches she tames the ferocious Max, who wags when she pets him like a dog as Flynn, off-screen, can be heard saying “Are you kidding me?!” and “Oh come on!” Rapunzel asks Max to not arrest Flynn until after she’s seen the lights, and when he looks skeptical she adds “It’s also my birthday…just thought I’d mention,” haha! This gets Max to cave, and he and Flynn shake hand and hoof on their uneasy truce. Rapunzel, satisfied, walks ahead, and as soon as she’s not looking Max kicks Flynn in the gut!

            The group heads for the kingdom and when they arrive at last, Rapunzel is amazed by all the sights and sounds and people; Flynn and Max are too busy shoving each other like bickering brothers to notice, haha! But her hair is a problem, as passers-by are stepping on it. Flynn helps her gather it up, spots four little red-headed girls braiding each other’s hair by a fountain. He whistles at them and they light up when they see all of Rapunzel’s gorgeous hair and come running! It takes all of them, holding a section of hair each, to braid it all, and Flynn watches with a smile on his face as Max waggles his eyebrows at him suggestively, hahaha! This is also the beginning of the ‘Kingdom Dance’ montage, which I loved. It goes a little like this: Rapunzel starts dancing in the middle of a square filled with people celebrating the lost princess’ birthday out of sheer joy, and she pulls strangers in to the dance with her. Interspersed with shots of the dance are other scenes: the braiding, the group dodging the royal guards, Flynn buying Rapunzel a souvenir purple flag with the symbol of the kingdom, a golden sun, and Rapunzel seeing the memorial of the King and Queen holding their lost baby girl. Flynn is standing on the sidelines of the dance watching, and when Rapunzel waves at him to come join in, he demurs—so Max hip-checks him, like ‘get in there!’ The two keep trying to dance together, but are constantly pulled away by other partners…at the very end of the song/montage, they finally come together, chest-to-chest, breathing hard and smiling as they stare into each other’s eyes. Loved this! From off-screen, a man’s voice says “To the boats!”

            Flynn, Rapunzel, and Pascal climb into a boat; Max is too big, and stays behind on the dock. Flynn tosses him a bag of apples, and says “Don’t worry, I paid for them!” When Max begins to eat he adds “Well, most of them, anyway!” which got a big laugh from the audience. Flynn rows them pretty far out, and theirs is the only boat around in the growing darkness. Rapunzel is idly setting some of the flowers from her braid afloat on the water to pass the time, and Flynn helps by holding a handful of them for her to pick from…awww. Rapunzel worries about the lights being everything she’s dreamed of: what if they’re not? And if they are, what then? Flynn tells her she get to get a new dream…

            The scene cuts to the King and Queen, who are preparing to go out and let the first lantern go. They both look terribly sad, and the King cries; the Queen wipes away his tears and they head outside together. This was such a beautiful moment, and I’m so glad it’s in here—these two truly miss their baby and want her back more than anything. They let the first light go, and what follows is a wave of lights, spreading all over the kingdom and leading into the song ‘I See the Light.’ This entire scene is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and I can’t praise it enough. It literally made me, and many others in the audience, cry. The song is available for download on the internet as of the day I’m writing this.  At one point Rapunzel, who has turned to look at the lights, turns back and sees Flynn holding two lanterns: one for each of them. They let them go together, and the camera follows them as the rise into the air and swirl around together as though they were dancing. Rapunzel gives him back the satchel, but he sets it aside and takes her hands instead…so sweet and romantic. As the song ends they lean in close and nearly kiss, as Pascal turns red and covers his eyes…but just as Flynn’s eyes are sliding shut he sees a creepy green glow coming from the shore. It’s the Stabbington Brothers, and when they see they’ve gotten Flynn’s attention they melt into the darkness, obviously meaning for him to follow. Rapunzel asks “What’s wrong?” and Flynn nervously says it’s nothing, but there’s something he has to take care of real quick. Rapunzel’s face falls, and you can tell Gothel’s warnings are going through her mind: she did just give him the satchel after all…but she says okay, and he rows them to shore. He takes the satchel and disappears into the fog as Rapunzel watches, anxious.

            Flynn tries to give the crown to the Stabbingtons, but they tell him they want more and knock him out, tying him to a boat and shoving it out onto the water. Rapunzel sees a figure approaching in the darkness and says, relieved, “Oh good, I thought you took the crown and left me!” But suddenly the figure splits into two, and the Stabbington Brothers come forward and say: “He did,” and gesture at the ship they tied Flynn to. From their vantage point, it looks like he’s standing and sailing away, and Rapunzel is crushed. The Brothers muse about how much people would be willing to pay to be young and healthy forever; they know about Rapunzel’s magic hair. They try to capture her, and when she runs her braid catches on a branch. As she’s struggling, she hears a commotion from behind her, and when she turns to see she finds Gothel, holding a large stick, standing over the unconscious brothers (she apparently jumped out and ambushed them). Rapunzel runs sobbing into her arms, and the two leave together for the tower…

            The boat Flynn’s been tied to hits the dock, jarring him awake, and he immediately starts calling Rapunzel’s name, knowing she’s in danger. The guards find him, tied to the ship with the stolen crown in hand, and arrest him as Max witnesses the entire thing…

            Rapunzel is sitting on her bed back at the tower as Gothel acts sad but can’t resist saying “I did try to warn you…” She gazes at the flag Flynn gave her, and suddenly notices a similar shape in the artwork on her walls: she’s been painting the symbol of the kingdom because she subconsciously remembered it! She has a rather violent epiphany as all the pieces of the puzzle come together in her mind, and she staggers into her vanity, shaken. Gothel comes up to see what the commotion is, and Rapunzel confronts her: “Right, Mother? Or should I even call you that?!” A mirror is broken as they argue, and Rapunzel declares “I’ll never let you use my hair again!” Gothel gets a frightening look on her face, and the screen darkens as she says “You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I’m the bad guy…”

            Flynn is in a cell, and the guards come to collect him. He asks nervously “Where are we going…?” and the guards just sneer at him (they may say something, but I can’t recall). Flynn says “oh…” and gestures at his throat: he knows they’re taking him to die. As he’s being marched through the dungeon in cuffs, he sees the recaptured Stabbington Brothers in a cell, and he knocks out the guards walking with him and jumps over the cuffs to get his hands back in front of his body. He grabs the nearest brother and shakes him violently, demanding to know how they knew about Rapunzel: “How did you know about her?! Tell me!!” The brother says “the old lady told us!” and Flynn is grabbed by more guards and dragged away bodily. He looks out a window and sees the gallows, with one noose waiting for him: I think there was a voiceover here of someone saying ‘that thief is going to be hanged for his crimes,’ and it might have been Gothel, but I can’t recall enough to be sure. Just in time the pub thugs arrive and help him escape, and Max carries Flynn off on his back to the tower (this was a lot of action, which is great to watch but tedious to describe and read). They arrive at the tower, and Flynn calls out for Rapunzel to let down her hair…and after a pause, the hair comes down without a word. Flynn’s face lights up, and he climbs…

            Flynn jumps in the window, happy—but his face falls instantly when he spots Rapunzel on the floor, chained and gagged, struggling and trying to warn him. But it’s too late: Gothel sneaks up from behind and stabs Flynn in the stomach with her dagger, and Flynn falls to the ground writhing in pain as Rapunzel screams behind the gag. Gothel tells Rapunzel “we’re going somewhere far away, where no one will ever find you again!” and tries to drag her away by the chains: Pascal tries to stop her and is kicked away. Rapunzel puts up such a mighty struggle that Gothel finally exclaims “Stop fighting me!” The gag slips enough for Rapunzel to say angrily: “I’ll never stop fighting you for my entire life…unless you let me heal him. Just let me heal him, and I’ll go with you…wherever you want. Let me heal him and I’ll stay with you forever.”

            Gothel is convinced, and unchains Rapunzel; she chains Flynn instead, saying “In case you get any ideas about following us.” Rapunzel rushes to his side, and Flynn begs her not to go through with it; and let me tell you guys, this is not some weak, “ouch a flesh-wound” death scene here: Flynn is very obviously in serious pain and it’s tough to watch (in a good way, haha). Rapunzel says as long as he’s okay, she’ll be fine, and gets ready to sing…Flynn stops her, acting as though he wants to embrace her one last time, and when she leans in…he swipes at her from behind with a broken mirror shard and cuts off all of her hair! This was EPIC. Everyone gasped! Gothel screams and gathers the cut hair, but it’s turning brown and losing its power in her arms. She instantly begins to age, and pulls the hood of her cape over her head as she cries out; Pascal trips her with some of the ‘dead’ hair, and she falls through the window. She’s dust before she hits the ground, and the empty cape lands in a heap.

            Flynn is dying, and Rapunzel desperately tries to sing the Incantation, but the magic’s gone…he tells her “You were my new dream,” and she responds “and you were mine…” He goes limp, and Rapunzel cries over his body; as she cries, she finishes singing the Incantation and a tear lands on Flynn’s cheek. Suddenly the tear is absorbed into his skin, and light glows from the wound on his stomach: the magic was inside Rapunzel all along, and this one last drop is healing Flynn! This scene was where the movie reaches Beauty and the Beast-level emotion and power: it was literally like a moving painting. It was so gorgeous it literally took my breath away, and I could hear gasps from others, too. Simply astounding, visually and emotionally. I could actually hear a little girl in the crowd sobbing very hard—she must have thought Flynn was gone for good! It was adorable.

            Flynn stirs, and quips “Did I ever tell you I have a thing for brunettes?” He’s revived! Rapunzel hugs him tight, and they kiss—and yeah, it’s a good one! I think I started really crying at this point, haha!

            Flynn has a voice-over again as he narrates the ending: Rapunzel is reunited with her parents first. Her mother approaches this newly short-haired brunette girl uncertainly, but recognizes her; the King joins them, and they embrace. Flynn is standing by watching and smiling, and the Queen sees him and hold out a hand for him to join them; he does. I loved this; Flynn’s been accepted and forgiven for his past crimes, and he has a family at last. Max now runs the royal guard, who all now use frying pans instead of swords, and in a funny shot we see a late guard run up and offer Max an apple as a bribe for forgiveness—which the horse accepts! He’s a corrupt cop, haha! The thugs are shown too: Hookhand is a pianist, the ugly one gets a cute girlfriend, and of the mime Flynn says “[He] seems happy: he never told me otherwise!” Hah! Of Pascal he says something like “He never changed,” and Pascal is shown changing colors and playing with some of the children of the kingdom happily. Rapunzel is shown, in a pretty new dress (a pale color, maybe white or ivory? I can’t recall), with her new very short brown hair. Flynn has new duds too, although I only remember that it was a black vest; he’s holding Rapunzel’s crown, and when she tries to take it he plays keep-away with it, haha! They kiss again—yes, TWO KISSES, folks!—and the voiceover says: “I know the big question remaining: did we ever get married? Well, after YEARS and YEARS of asking…I finally said yes.” This got a big, watery laugh since most of us were crying by then! Rapunzel says something like ‘Hey!’ and Flynn says “Okay, I asked her. And we’re living happily ever after.”

            And as the movie ends, a balloon-like clump of floating lanterns roll up over the screen, with the shortest thug at the end in a cherub costume. He blows a kiss and winks at the audience…and that’s all, folks.

            This is a fantastic movie that deserves all the love in the world, and if/when I remember any other details I’ll stop back to add them here. Otherwise, thanks for reading everyone!

           

Tangled: The Spoiler Summary, Part 1/?

Since life is getting in the way of me completing this SPOILER-HEAVY write-up, I've decided to post what I have now and keep going as I'm able. This is pretty rough and unpolished, so please forgive me! I simply don't have the time or energy to make this essay quality; perhaps I'll clean it up later.

Again, this is loaded with SPOILERS for the upcoming Disney film 'Tangled.' If you do NOT want to be SPOILED for just about everything in the movie, DO NOT READ! Thank you & enjoy!
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Tangled: Everything I Can Remember & More

My Tangled screening experience went a little something like this: my friend & I arrived at the theater 2 hours early to an empty lot and a locked theater. After about an hour, others began to trickle in; by 45 minutes before showtime, we were standing at the head of a long line of adults and kids; kids ranging in age from 3 to 13, both girls and boys, all looking as excited as I felt. We saw the guy running the screening, a young man with a simple black bag slung over his shoulder, and two men in black suits who were the anti-piracy security guards. Once we got in the door, we had to turn off our cell phones and open our bags for inspection; we were also given free plastic tote bags with the Tangled teaser poster image on one side and Tron on the other. They were empty, but hey, I’ll take whatever swag I can get! XD

            We handed over our printed-out pass and got our seats, dead center, as the theater steadily filled with chattering grownups and squealing, happy children. After waiting for about 20 minutes or so, one of the security guards reminded us to keep our phones/cameras off or be removed…and then the movie came up.

            No previews, just the Disney castle logo…and then Flynn’s wanted poster, with Flynn’s voice narrating: “This is the story of how I died.” I can’t remember the rest of the line of dialogue, but as jarring as that looks here it was meant in a humorous way, something along the lines of “well, not really, but…” Flynn’s voice-over was not at all annoying, obnoxious, overly dramatic, or any of the other things I’ve heard concerns about: he describes the origin of the Magic Flower, which grew from a “single drop of sunlight” and was discovered by an already aged Mother Gothel, who somehow discerns the proper spell to use the flower’s magic—the Healing Incantation we’ve heard before. It sounds decidedly sinister when Gothel sings it.

            We then get a scene of the heavily pregnant Queen in bed, ill, as the King stands over her looking sad; Flynn tells us that she’s very sick and that the whole kingdom is out searching for this magical flower to cure her. Of note: the King and Queen are not named, nor do they ever speak, but their emotions are clearly expressed, and a later scene with them is incredibly moving—more on that later. Gothel, who has been keeping the flower all for herself under a basket/dome made to look like a shrub, hides the flower from approaching searchers and runs—but accidentally knocks the basket askew, and the guards find it and take it back to the Queen. The flower dissolves into a bowl of water, which the Queen drinks, and she is cured. Baby Rapunzel is born with a full head of long golden hair (despite her brunette parents, hint hint).

            Gothel sneaks into the Royal bedchamber, seemingly the very night Rapunzel was born, or at least very shortly after, and sings the song to activate the flower’s magic—and the baby’s hair begins to glow. Gothel snips a piece off, but it turns brown in her hand—both the cut section, and the length still attached to baby Rapunzel’s head. Apparently, when the hair is cut, it not only loses its power and turns brown, but it never grows back…more on this later.

            Gothel steals the baby and spirits her away to the tower; we see a shot of a young Rapunzel learning the Incantation, and as she sings Gothel brushes her hair and absorbs the magic.

            My memory of what exactly comes next, Rapunzel’s song or Flynn’s introduction, are hazy; please bear with me. In the notes I jotted down right after watching, I wrote about Flynn first. Perhaps someone else who’s seen the movie can clarify? I’ll start with Rapunzel…

            We first see Pascal darting around on the windowsill of the tower. He dashes over to a painted flowerpot & colors himself to match, as seen in the ‘Lost: Pascal’ video.  Rapunzel pokes her head out and finds him; they’ve been playing hide and seek. Rapunzel is apparently winning, haha! She asks what he wants to do next, and Pascal indicates the ground below, outside the tower; Rapunzel replies in the negative. Here we get the “I like it in here, and so do you” clip seen in a previous featurette.  Her song, ‘When Will My Life Begin,’ is essentially a montage with the lyrics describing the things she does to pass the time while in her tower: baking, knitting, reading, painting, and brushing her hair. I liked this song, but it’s a later reprise that really stands out.

            Gothel arrives and calls for Rapunzel to let down her hair, which she does; Gothel folds the hair into a stirrup and Rapunzel hauls her up (Gothel makes a comment at some point about how she doesn’t know how Rapunzel can always pull her up the tower, something along those lines…but in a rather snide and unapologetic way).

Right from the get-go the audience is treated to a woman who is as selfish and vain as they come. Her nasty “just kidding!” jabs hurt not only Rapunzel, but the viewer; several times I felt a sharp unpleasant pang at her cutting remarks. For instance, at one point Gothel is admiring herself in the mirror as Rapunzel stands beside her, watching the older woman fuss with her hair and stretch the skin of her face to make it look even younger (facelift?). Gothel says something to the affect of, “Look in the mirror. You know what I see? An intelligent, beautiful, courageous young woman…oh, and you’re here too, Rapunzel! Hahaha! I’m just teasing, Mother looooves you.” Rapunzel can only laugh nervously and shrug it off, saying “Oh, okay…haha…”

Rapunzel is trying to broach what she knows is a delicate and forbidden subject: she wants to leave the tower to see the “floating lights” for her upcoming birthday. As she tries and tries to get Gothel’s attention, she is rebuffed. Gothel cuts her off and asks her to sing for her: Rapunzel, trying to hurry the process which is obviously a ritual for them, grabs a plush chair, pushes Gothel into it, grabs a small stool for herself, shoves a hairbrush into Gothel’s hands and sings the Healing Incantation super-fast to get it over with. She asks about leaving, but Gothel starts in on her about being too weak and helpless to defend herself in the big scary world out there: ‘Mother Knows Best.’ I would agree with a previous reviewer’s likening to the song ‘Master of the House,’ but only if you take the part where they sing ‘Master of the house’ in the Les Mis song and replace it with ‘Mother knows best’; otherwise the rest of the song describes things like quicksand, cannibals (here Gothel pretends to fry a stuffed doll in a pan), and “men with pointy teeth,” which she paints on the floor in red (a simple drawing of a man’s head with shark teeth). The song takes places largely in the dark, as Gothel shuts all the windows and blows out the candles to pop out of the shadows and scare Rapunzel, and includes the line “Skip the drama, stay with Mama!” At one point she taps the flat of her hand under Rapunzel’s chin and says she’s “maybe getting a little chubby!”, which drew hisses from the crowd. I thought this was one of the best songs in the film, as it was very funny and yet foreboding.

Gothel refers to the lanterns as “stars,” which I found very interesting; it is plain that she is trying to keep Rapunzel ignorant and afraid, and her constant belittling makes the poor girl even more insecure (and says something about Gothel herself, shamelessly ripping apart not only a young girl, but a young girl who she’s been raising as her child, just to make herself feel better). She often says “Mother loves you!” to which Rapunzel replies “I love you more,” and Gothel gets the last word by finishing with “I love you most.” You get a real, heartbreaking sense of the fact that Rapuzel does indeed love her more—Gothel doesn’t truly care for the girl at all. She is constantly touching and stroking Rapunzel’s hair, and pats her on the head as though she were a pet. Her endless stabs at Rapunzel’s self-esteem are always followed with “just kidding, just teasing, Mother loves you,” etc. I suppose I’ll take a moment here and address the questions about their mother-daughter relationship. In my opinion, the fact that Gothel does NOT love Rapunzel is more heartbreaking and tragic than if she did; Rapunzel believes this woman to be her mother, and this is the only other human being in her life, ever! Imagine how it must feel, having your mother constantly telling you you’re worthless, but always under a veil of “love” and “concern.” When Gothel says she loves Rapunzel, it rings hollow and false; when Rapunzel says it, she means it, and it’s so sad because it’s not reciprocated and never was. Their “mother-daughter” relationship is an absolute sham, based on lies, and honestly it’s a real “yes, go girl!” moment when Rapunzel finally calls her out towards the end of the movie. In a sense, Pascal aside, Rapunzel has never known love, and never would have if Flynn had not stumbled upon her.

Gothel and Rapunzel part on a bad note, and after Gothel lowers herself down and leaves, Rapunzel lets her hair hang listlessly from the window—there’s a picture out there very similar to this scene, I believe someone used it in a fan-made DVD cover design. It’s a striking a sorrowful image. Let’s move on to Flynn’s introduction…

            The scene immediately starts with Flynn and the Stabbington Brothers sneaking across the roof of the palace; we get the “Guys, I want a castle” line here, ahaha! The brothers don’t appreciate his sense of humor and say something to the affect of stealing enough to buy as many castles as they want. They lower Flynn through the roof into the throne room, where Rapunzel’s crown sits on a pedestal guarded by several men. One of them sneezes, and you hear Flynn say “Hayfever?” from off-screen, and the man replies “Yeah.” This was previously shown in a trailer as Flynn saying “Are you guarding this?” which I liked better, but ah well. The man glances back, sees Flynn holding the crown, does a double-take—but by then the thieves are already running away.

The forest chase ensues; Flynn stops to look at a wanted poster of himself, horrified, and you think he’s upset that he’s a wanted man. Instead he bemoans, “They just can’t get my nose right!” as seen in many a previous trailer. The brothers again tell him something along the lines of ‘get over it,’ to which Flynn replies “That’s easy for you to say…” Here he stares jealously at the wanted poster of the brothers and says “You guys look amazing.” This got a big laugh from the crowd! As the chase continues, the thieves hit a rock wall that can’t be climbed; Flynn tells the brothers to give him a boost, and he’ll then pull them up. The Stabbington brother who does all the talking for the two of them (they’re not named) says something about not trusting Flynn and insists he gives him the satchel with the crown while they boost him up; Flynn acts hurt but hands it over. After he reaches the top of the wall, the brothers say something like ‘help us up now, pretty boy,’ but Flynn reveals he somehow stole the satchel back on his way up and dashes off with the treasure all to himself. Unfortunately the “enjoy prison, I’ll miss the sound of your laughter” line was also taken out…ho hum.

As he’s escaping, he swings around a tree on a vine and knocks the captain of the Royal guard out of his saddle, landing on Maximus. The horse stops when he discovers who’s on his back, and then real chase begins. Max and Flynn grapple over the satchel, resulting in it being accidentally flung onto a precarious tree limb over a misty gorge. Max throws Flynn seemingly over the edge into the gorge, but Flynn manages to cling to the underside of the branch with his arms and legs. A very funny/suspenseful scene here, as Max tries to stomp on Flynn’s hands as the man scoots along toward to satchel at the end of the branch. The branch gives way and they fall; Max is stunned at first, but immediately begins hunting for Flynn, who ducked into an alcove curtained by ivy. Here he first discovers the tower, and stares at it in awe…and then he hears Max, still searching for him, and decides to climb up and hide there. The scene where Flynn climbs inside and is then knocked out by Rapunzel is in most of the trailers out there. Rapunzel pokes at him with the handle of her frying pan, unsure; she checks his teeth, but they’re not pointy as Gothel said. She then shifts aside his bangs, which fell over his face, and sees he’s not scary-looking at all, and she obviously thinks he’s handsome (which of course had the women in the audience chuckling and whispering ‘he’s not scary, he’s sexy!’). Flynn’s eye snaps open during this examination, and she whacks him again—the poor guy really gets pretty banged up throughout the movie! Next was a hilarious and painful-looking montage of Rapunzel trying to stuff Flynn in her wardrobe; when she finally gets him inside, she accidentally slams his hand in the door and pokes his fingers in one by one, which got a lot of laughs from the kids.

Rapunzel plans to show off her conquest to Gothel, proving she can handle herself. She’s bragging in the mirror saying “I have a person in my closet…I have a PERSON in my CLOSET!” (here she spins the frying pan and hits herself with it) when she sees a glimmer behind her reflection; it’s the crown inside the satchel. She pulls it out and looks at it, having no idea what it is; she looks to Pascal, who just shrugs. She slips it on her arm, and the chameleon shakes his head; she tries looking through the large gems like a spyglass, but he doesn’t think that’s right either. Then she tries putting it on her head…a perfect fit. But Pascal still shakes his head like ‘nah, that can’t be it,’ which got more laughs.

Suddenly Gothel calls from outside, and Rapunzel quickly hides the satchel and crown in a clay pot on the floor before letting her up. She tries to bring up the lights again—“You mean the stars?” Gothel says. Rapunzel’s too smart for that line anymore, and shows Gothel a painting of the constellations she’s made from years of observation, telling her that she knows the lanterns are not stars—but this just makes Gothel angrier. Just as Rapunzel’s hand is about to open the wardrobe door, Gothel snaps at her to stop asking about leaving; the girl lets her hand drop. Gothel flops into a chair—this is the preview we first got of her, going “Great, now I’m the bad guy!” Rapunzel defuses the situation by pretending that she was only going to ask for special paint for her birthday; Gothel says “That’s a long trip, Rapunzel! Three day’s time,” but she agrees to go. Before she leaves, she warns Rapunzel one more time about leaving the tower.

Gothel gone, Rapunzel uses her hair to open the wardrobe, and Flynn falls out on his face. She ties him to a chair, and Pascal slaps his cheek with his foot, then his tail; finally he sticks his tongue in his ear, and that wakes him. Flynn looks around confused, and asks “Is this…hair?!” when he sees he’s bound. Rapunzel threatens him from the shadows, asking how he knew about her, and when she steps into the light Flynn seems taken by her beauty. He says, in a very serious and formal tone, “I know not who you are, or how I came to be here, but allow me to say…hi. How ya doin’?” and gives her a leering grin. Rapunzel interrogates him, convinced he’s one of the bad guys trying to use her magic hair that Gothel warned her about, but Flynn just says “What would I want with your hair?!” and tells her he just wants his satchel…which he then realizes he doesn’t have. Rapunzel says she’s hidden it somewhere he’ll never find it, and with an unimpressed look he stares right at her hiding place and says, deadpan: “It’s in that pot, isn’t it.” He gets knocked out again for his cheek, haha!

Pascal licks him again, and Flynn rubs his ear on his shoulder, disgusted: “Will you stop that?!” Rapunzel tells him NOW she’s hidden it where he’ll never find it, and offers him a deal: take her to see the lights and she’ll give the satchel back. Flynn says something like “No can do. Me and the kingdom are not exactly simpatico right now…” but he finally agrees. He climbs down, and Rapunzel finally ventures out of the tower; she stops, afraid, just before her feet touch the ground, but when she feels the grass for the first time she rejoices.

The following couple scenes cut back and forth between Rapunzel celebrating this whole new world (including a great reprise of ‘When Will My Life Begin’) and shots of her huddled, knees to her chin, saying she’s a terrible daughter and how upset mother will be. This was, I think, one of the most interesting and telling sequences in the entire film—this girl is so starved for new experiences, so curious, but Gothel’s instilled in her all these fears and anxieties. Also, she’s worried about hurting Gothel’s feelings—which Flynn plays on as he tries to get rid of her, saying “forbidden road trips” are “all part of growing up, and that’s good…even if it will break [Gothel’s] heart and crush her soul [like a grape].” Rapunzel off-handedly admits her fear of ruffians and thugs, and this is how Flynn gets the idea to take Rapunzel to the Snuggly Duckling pub. TBC…