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…