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FILMTRACKS.COM
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Review of Tangled (Alan Menken)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you're nostalgic for the style of Disney and Alan
Menken's animated classics of two decades prior, for Tangled
competently emulates most of the endearing characteristics that brought
fame, fortune, and Oscar wins to the composer.
Avoid it... if nothing but the undeniable magic of Menken's early 1990's classics will suffice, because while his trusted old formula is great to hear once again, it lacks some of the cohesive emotional punch and vocal refinement of those old favorites.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Tangled: (Alan Menken) The famous Brothers Grimm
story of "Rapunzel" is the source of inspiration for 2010's
Tangled, the 50th animated feature film from Disney in a long
line of classics originating with Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves. 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 Tangled 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 The Princess and the Frog were due to a heavy
emphasis on the "princess" element, Disney unfortunately changed the
title of this next feature from Rapunzel to Tangled, 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 Home on
the Range and The Princess and the Frog, 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 Enchanted 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. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 55:38
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes lyrics and extensive credits, but no extra information
about the score or film. The Enhanced CD teaser software that promises bonus content
leads to a Disney website that in fact had no actual bonus content upon inspection.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Tangled are Copyright © 2010, Walt Disney Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/15/10 (and not updated significantly since). |
