Tangled (2010)

Originally published in Wildcat Weekly on May 16, 2025

It’s for extra-textual reasons that the poster for Disney’s Tangled hangs in the back of HL-5. For follicle-challenged me, a movie about magical flowing locks should stoke envy, not warmth, but the story behind the rectangle I face while I teach overwhelms jealousy. I have the same poster hanging at home, too.

Because my affection is so divorced from the film, I’ve tended to overlook how excellent Tangled is. With catchy songs, a winning story, and two clever character arcs, Tangled showcases Disney at its fairytale repackaging best.

After being kidnapped as an infant, Princess Rapunzel (Mandy Moore) grows up unaware of her royal bloodlines but in possession of a rare gift: her hair has revitalizing powers. Her kidnapper, the vain Mother Gothel (Donna Summer), uses that hair to remain perpetually young while securing her access by gaslighting her “daughter” into believing she can never leave their tower home. When the strapping Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) serendipitously ends up in her living room while evading police, the two set out to answer Rapunzel’s many questions about the dangerous world beyond her cramped home.

Disney released Tangled fifteen years ago, and that age shows. Everything looks fine from a distance, but the character models look rudimentary on a larger modern TV screen. That’s a minor issue in an otherwise gorgeous film that frames lively characters with painting-esque backdrops that evoke a fairytale world. Paired with expressive voice actors, the film overcomes its aged tech, filling the screen with vivid color and a dynamic story beat via a careening screenplay by Dan Fogelman of This Is Us fame.

Watching Tangled last week for the first time in a decade, I found myself newly enlivened by the experience. The songs really do rock, and I don’t just mean forever-favorite duet “I See the Light”; “When Will My Life Begin” and “Mother Knows Best” establish the story’s stars and stakes, while “I’ve Got a Dream” subverts stereotypes in a manner far more profound than I’d ever given it credit for.

Perhaps due to our proximity to year’s end, I realized this week that Tangled is an excellent film for graduates. Rapunzel begins her story trapped inside a small place, yearning to connect and bursting with curiosity about the larger world; by the end, she’s found a new home and family by overcoming her fear and trudging forward into the unknown. There’s a scene in the film where she struggles with her newfound freedom, oscillating between giddy glee and anxious apprehension, and I thought of my classes, many of whom bounce between blow-this-pop-stand dashing out the door and nervous gnawing over the friends and familiarity they’ll flee. Through that lens, I love Tangled for the Class of 2025: Rapunzel wants change yet also fears it. But when she takes the leap, she discovers her place in the wider world waiting beyond her walls.

It’s been a long time since I looked to the future and didn’t see a familiar loop, but I don’t envy Rapunzel any more than I do our soon-to-be graduates. I appreciate the stability that comes with staring at a poster for fourteen years and centering one’s work around the mindset it once inspired.

I hope each Wildcat walking at Golden One next week finds their place and people as Rapunzel does in Tangled, and as many of us have here at Franklin High School.