: (Alan Menken) The famous Brothers Grimm
story of "Rapunzel" is the source of inspiration for 2010's
, the 50th animated feature film from Disney in a long
line of classics originating with
. Kidnapped by an evil mother witch as a young girl, a
princess named Rapunzel, with long hair of magnificent healing powers,
lives out her childhood locked away in a tower from which she can see
the lights of her kingdom in the distance. Her relationship with Mother
Gothel becomes strained as Repunzel reaches the age where she seeks her
freedom and attempts to escape, a situation complicated when she meets
and falls in love with a petty criminal with whom she will have to join
efforts to reach her kingdom. The character formula for a Disney
animated film follows the studio's usual standards, even utilizing
secondary animal characters for comedy relief, though the studio made a
concerted effort to thwart the effects of CGI on the look and feel of
the picture, forcing the computer models to adapt to traditional brushed
techniques meant to give
a uniquely throwback appeal. The
most controversial aspect of the film, ironically, was its title;
fearing that some of the disappointing box office returns experienced by
the previous year's
were due to a heavy
emphasis on the "princess" element, Disney unfortunately changed the
title of this next feature from
, a
choice heavily criticized by fairy tale loyalists. One of the more
satisfying production decisions involved the return of composer Alan
Menken to the equation. Most of the studio's animated features of the
2000's were not musicals; the only two really to be sculpted from the
same mould as the Disney classics of the early 1990's were
, the former being
Menken's only such production of this period while the latter was
clearly better suited to Randy Newman's sensibilities. The success of
Disney's mixed live action/animation
in 2007 (and
Menken's three Oscar nominations that resulted from it) probably
bolstered the studio's confidence in handing the musical reigns back to
him. That's a remarkable thing to say, because many of those in denial
about Menken's dominance in the 1990's need to recall that the composer
has more Academy Award wins than any other living person.
The assignment of
Tangled turned out to fit
perfectly with the style of Menken's writing, yielding a throwback
musical that will match the visuals with a presentation that will likely
prove successful for those still in love with the format of films like
Beauty and the Beast and
Aladdin. While it's great to hear
Menken once again whip up an emotionally satisfying and well constructed
musical,
Tangled will not compete with the classics mentioned
above. The same was said about
Home on the Range; these later
Menken efforts are generally quite good, and a certain amount of
nostalgic appeal always exists when hearing them. While not as memorable
as the 2004 feature in terms of the individual flair of the highlighted
songs (and returning lyricist Glenn Slater's words aren't quite as
catchy),
Tangled is a more rounded overall package. It combines
four traditional character songs, two of which with the usual reprises,
with a fifth that is integrated directly into the score and serves as
the primary thematic identity for that portion. The formula is followed
so well that one of the songs represents the yearning title character
with attention to hope and identity, another ominously sooths on behalf
of the villain, another bounces with the funny vocal inflections of the
comedy relief, another flourishes between the lead love interests, and
the score concludes on Menken's trademark chime-banging, choral
crescendos of royal celebration. Only a couple of twists are introduced
into this tested scenario, the soundtrack's only true detriment provided
by the fact that Disney did not allow Menken to write an end credits pop
rendition of any of his songs. The resulting song "Something That I
Want" from Grace Potter is hideously out of place with everything that
precedes it. The other change from the norm is Menken's decision, after
initially reading the story of Rapunzel, to tackle the character's
musical demeanor with a folk rock stance. While this sound bursts forth
with cool, contemporary attitude right off the bat on the album's
presentation, it diminishes as Rapunzel's character becomes less
isolated and her musical identity mingles with others'. At that point,
outside of a few pleasant conversational sequences for the guitar,
Tangled instead reinforces Menken's recognizable orchestral
tendencies, a slight disappointment given the unique personality of the
film's primary song.
Rapunzel's "When Will My Life Begin?," representing the
soundtrack's best mainstream appeal and the most likely candidate for
awards consideration, is a Broadway-style rock song (Andrew Lloyd
Webber's
Evita is emulated in some of the progressions) with
acoustic guitar, Hammond organ, and aggressive percussion. Mandy Moore's
performance in the lead is passable but a little too rough around the
edges to put the stamp of approval upon her for this role. A princess'
voice is typically prettier and better enunciated in spoken portions, so
Moore may bother some listeners. This applies especially to the two
reprises of "When Will My Life Begin?," both of which orchestral and
requiring better performance range in the merging of spoken and sung
lyrics than Moore seems comfortable providing. More accomplished is
Tony-award winning Donna Murphy's performance as the witch in "Mother
Knows Best" and its reprise. The song's lovely romantic melody and
instrumentation is betrayed by its absolutely evil lyrics, culminating
the classic line, "Don't ever ask to leave this tower again," the
threatening moment when Murphy truly earns her pay. The wickedness of
the reprise will undoubtedly remind you of
The Hunchback of Notre
Dame. The song of comedy relief opens with an accordion (what else?)
and launches into a honky tonk piano and slapping percussion imitation
of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer." One area in which Menken really
has trouble exploring new territory is in these kinds of silly villain
or secondary character songs for the ensemble cast, all of them
reminiscent in some way of "Gaston" from
Beauty and the Beast. At
least there's no yodeling in "I've Got a Dream" (behold
Home on the
Range for that pleasure), and Moore's contribution actually works
well when mixed with all the colorful secondary voices. The love long,
"I See the Light," has shades of "A Whole New World" from
Aladdin
in its lyrics, layering of vocals, and secondary progressions, and
Zachary Levi's voice is conservatively appropriate in a youthful way
while Moore's performance is once again lacking in depth of inflection.
The sixth song in
Tangled is actually the thematic basis of the
score, "Healing Incantation" a brief performance by Moore in its own
track. The lyrics of this pretty melody are heard in both the "Prologue"
and at the conclusion in "The Tear Heals." The descending figures of
this theme often mingle with the other songs' melodies in the score,
giving the entirety a decent sense of continuity.
Aside from some of the source-like, generically
Medieval-sounding music for the kingdom ("Kingdom Dance" and the start
of "Kingdom Celebration"), the score is remarkably consistent in its
orchestral demeanor. Only small hints of the folk influence from
Rapunzel's song inform the score, arguably a detriment. A number of
Menken's ten score cues do feature the composer's fluffier sound for
these musicals, usually weighing the woodwinds with emphasis. But of
interest in
Tangled is the occasional employment of darker
material, including the beefier action sequences clustered near the
start of the score section of the album. Menken unleashes some truly
majestic choral dread in portions of the score, and to fully appreciate
the range of emotions in this work, listen particularly to the changing
seasons within the cue "Campfire." Aside from the expectedly corny
celebration music to close out the film, for those seeking effortless
fantasy of unrestricted beauty, then "Waiting for the Lights" gives the
choir some outstanding moments of activity (on either side of some
compelling solos for guitar and piano). The downside of Menken's score
is also typical to his career. The action material is basically
functional, but has two subtle flaws; first is the continued Carl
Stallings-like prancing of rhythms and percussion usage and second is
the extremely flat, dry quality of the recording. Menken's scores have
almost always required the addition of some reverb on the user end,
because otherwise the ensemble always sounds half of its actual size.
The "Flynn Wanted" chase cue in
Tangled especially suffers from
this badly restricted sound. Together, the score and songs are still
strong enough to merit a solid recommendation, however. One of the
ever-frustrating aspects of these Menken musical albums is the
rearrangement of the songs and score so that they are grouped together
and thus hopelessly out of order. The narrative of
Tangled is
butchered on the album release, in part because Disney apparently must
think that listeners are too stupid to find Moore's upbeat "When Will My
Life Begin?" if it was placed after the "Prologue" where it belongs.
Despite this major quibble with the album presentation (along with
lingering dissatisfaction with Moore's performance and the dry ambience
of the general soundscape),
Tangled is Menken doing what he does
best and should not be discounted simply for what it is. He may not have
the same magic that brought him fame, fortune, and Oscar wins in the
early 1990's, but the old formula still has some life in it yet.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Alan Menken reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.71
(in 17 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.47
(in 59,664 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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