Bryron HowardRessenyes

Comedy

Fairytale

I LOVE it

2291

The magically long-haired Rapunzel has spent her entire life in a tower, but now that a runaway thief has stumbled upon her, she is about to discover the world for the first time, and who she really is.
Rated PG for brief mild violence

Cuenta la historia de una familia extraordinaria, los Madrigal, que viven escondidos en las montañas de Colombia, en una casa mágica situada en un enclave maravilloso llamado Encanto. La magia de Encanto ha dotado a todos los niños de la familia un don único, desde la súper fuerza hasta el poder de curar... Pero se olvidó de un miembro de la familia: Mirabel. Cuando ésta descubre que la magia que rodea Encanto está en peligro, decide que ella, la única Madrigal normal, podría ser la última esperanza de su extraordinaria familia.

A girl without magic tries to save her family's magic.

2.5/4 (Okay).

There's a small family drama buried under the mountains of pointlessly complicated exposition, and it has its moments, but it could have been 20 minutes long. The design is great. Weirdly, Miranda's songs are one of the weakest parts (of an overall weak movie).

(Jan. 2022)

Very greatly abridged version of the Disney movie story of Rapunzel, but the illustrations are taken from the show and are well chosen.

Part "Truman Show", part "Homeward Bound", and with just a soupçon of "Taken", this Disney film is rightly credited as the precursor to the Disney Revival (much like "Great Mouse Detective" was for the Disney Renaissance). It's charming, cosy and fun. My main complaints on it are all just that it's very good at everything, but great at very little. It's got pathos, but doesn't pack quite the emotion required to be truly memorable, and while funny, it's not sufficiently so to be a great comedy, either. A huge accomplishment breaking out of the slump of the half-decade of production that preceded it (Brother Bear, Home on the Range, Chicken Little, Dinosaur, The Wild and Meet the Robinsons, all ranging from very forgettable to outright bad), it might not go into the history books as one of the big Disney accomplishments, but it certainly paved the way for other films which did.

Surprisingly, from Menken, the songs are perhaps a bit forgettable (though still good), but the movie is otherwise a spectacular effort in nearly every way.½

中英文

This Disney film had passed me by last year but it was great. Very entertaining and great fun. Strong female character lead too.

For real...

I love to laugh and this book gave my lungs a great work out. Even reflecting on the book I literally just finished, I--

Now if you're considering reading this book, you probably are reading a lot of heavily gif reaction 5 star reviews like it's turned into an episode of Oprah's favorite things...



Right? Go ahead, look around, my review will still be here...Did you look?! Those people who have read Tangled, or PWRT, who are gushing about the hilarity, the freshness brought to the genre, etc., they're not blowing smoke up your ass, it's true.

This book is pretty frigging great.



So let me break it down for you, the PCT (People Considering Tangled)

Quick Summary: A connoisseur of women aka thinks he's God's gift to women meets his match when he least expects it. And for the first time has work for it (and did he ever) and the heroine is not TSTL! She gives as good as it gets. And the passion, tension and frustration that powers through the entire story ends with a happy ending. Sounds good, huh?
Still wondering? Okay.

28 year old Drew Evans has it all - he's got a great career, he makes tons of money, great family, awesome friends...and all the tail he could ever want. He's spoiled, immature and chauvinistic at times. He's a jerk, a lovable one but a jerk nonetheless.



But he's a man and according to Drew, the crass thoughts are always on men's minds. Did I mention the entire story is from Drew's point of view? He's a guy's guy. But Tangled is a story about his change from guy to a man.

And who is the divine creature to bring him to his knees? Kate Brooks, the 25 year old new associate at Drew's investment firm. She's educated, not a pushover and engaged to another man. No problem right? It's not like Drew even cares because he doesn't care when it comes to women. He's more of a sex 'em and leave 'emtype. So what if he can't stop thinking about he? So what if she's always on his mind?



It's not like he's emotional or nothing. Bros before hoes and all that jazz, right?

The two are forced to work together while still fighting their attraction and each other. The great cast of friends and family help keep the good vibes going the entire way until the end.

And what a ride it was. Literally. And yes the sex was hot! Wall-bangingly, heart-pacingly, drool worthy hot! and some of this too!!



So should you read this book?

Why?

Because



















=

or The flu" if you ask Drew

There is no cliffhanger, a HEA well deserved and a fresh literary voice to discover, so...



5 stars from me, I look forward to reading more from this author in the future."

Rapunzel leaves her tower.

Cute. There's lots of good physical humor.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: C

Enjoyment: B

GPA: 2.5/4½

I probably wouldn't have gone to see Zootopia if it hadn't seen all the positive viewer comments about it. People whose opinions I usually trusted said it was far better than they'd expected. Of course, some of those same people also said that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the best movie ever, so I tried to take their recommendations with a grain of salt.

Most of what I knew about Zootopia was based on the one theatrical trailer I'd seen, the clip of Nick, the fox, and Judy, the rabbit, at the DMV. This clip was okay the first time around, but it was almost painful to watch the second and third time. It also left me with the impression that Zootopia didn't really have much of a plot. Thankfully, the movie was much better than that clip led me to believe. In fact, I loved it so much that I went to see it a second time.

I'll keep my synopsis as spoiler-free as possible, but keep in mind that that means I have to leave out a lot. Basically, in the world of Zootopia, mammals have evolved to the point where they've become sentient. Predators and prey now live in peace, although prejudice is still a problem – animals who were traditionally prey are sometimes fearful of animals who were traditionally predators, and foxes, in particular, are looked down upon (why foxes and not tigers, lions, or any number of other predators? I have no idea).

Judy is a rabbit living in the rural town of Bunnyburrow. Although her parents would love it if she became a carrot farmer like them, Judy's greatest dream is to become a police officer, the very first bunny cop. She accomplishes her dream and is even assigned to Zootopia, the big city she's always wanted to visit, but reality isn't quite like she imagined. While doing her job and trying to keep her spirits up, Judy meets Nick, a cynical and street smart con artist fox. After Judy makes a rash promise, Nick becomes her best bet for finding the missing predators and keeping her job.

This movie was a lot of fun, but it also had a greater number of darker and more serious moments than I expected. I knew, from comments on Twitter, that it dealt with racism and racial profiling, but I didn't know any specifics beyond that. Judy's disastrous press conference made me gasp, and Nick's story about his childhood was surprisingly dark (nothing inappropriate for a children's movie, although it could hit kids who've been bullied pretty hard). I loved the bit during Nick and Judy's first meeting, when she called him a “real articulate fellow” and he responded “It's rare that I find someone so non-patronizing” (both times I saw the movie, I could have sworn he said “patronizing” rather than “non-patronizing,” which would have been even funnier since Judy didn't notice, but every source I can find indicates I must have heard wrong).

That's not to say the movie didn't have problems. Both times I saw it, I hated the first scene with Clawhauser, the overweight cheetah cop. The “he somehow lost a doughnut under his chin fat” part was awful, an extremely lazy and unnecessary fat joke.

Another problem: the movie couldn't seem to figure out exactly how it wanted to portray predator-prey relations. The mayor, a lion, was a predator who loved being in the spotlight, and none of Zootopia's citizens seemed to have a problem with him. Also, foxes were the only type of predator subjected to on-screen prejudice. Like the world-building, the details of the movie's message didn't always seem to be very consistent or fully realized.

Speaking of the world-building, there was a lot to love, if you didn't think about it too much. The city of Zootopia was amazing. I loved the architecture, which was clearly inspired by nature and by the needs of its animal inhabitants. I loved the various ecosystems, even if I couldn't help but wonder how they were achieved and how natural local weather patterns were dealt with. I loved the city's variety, even if I kept thinking things like “Are certain species paid more or less than others?” (you'd think they'd need to be, if a popsicle for an elephant costs $15 while Nick charges little rodents $2 for his “Pawpsicles”) and “Is interspecies marriage a thing?” On the negative side, the more I thought about it, the less accommodating and the more segregated the city seemed.

The top thing I loved about this movie was probably Judy and Nick's friendship. I liked them both individually: Judy's enthusiasm and optimism were great, and Nick was wonderfully complex and also fun to watch at work. However, they were even better as a pair. I should mention that this is maybe the third Disney movie I've seen with some version of “I love you” used in a non-romantic way, and it's the first one that wasn't a little awkward about it. Although a certain subset of the Zootopia fandom would disagree with me, the fact that the movie didn't shoehorn romance into the story and allowed Nick and Judy to become close friends rather than a romantic couple was wonderful.

All in all, the things I loved vastly outweighed the things I didn't, and I definitely plan on buying the movie when it comes out on DVD. I may break down and look up some fanfic, assuming it's relatively easy to find stuff that doesn't pair Nick and Judy up romantically or sexually (yeah, that's unfortunately a thing).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)½

A bunny cop solves a mystery

The most adorable character design ever. Great animation. And the moral is complex enough that adults could learn from it.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: A
Music: C

Enjoyment: A

GPA: 3.1/4½

A dog actor thinks he is really his superhero character.

It's a fun movie. A lot of the gags are stolen, but the performances are very funny. The story is painfully formulaic.

Disney's reimagining of the traditional fairy tale Rapunzel takes some liberties with the basic story, but remains an entertaining story. Rapunzel, trapped in a tower for as long as she can remember, longs to get out to see the lights that appear on her birthday every year, but her mother insists on keeping her "safe" inside the tower. When the opportunity presents itself, Rapunzel knocks out a handsome stranger with a frying pan and blackmails him into being her guide in the outside world. Flynn Ryder (the handsome stranger) and Rapunzel run into unexpected obstacles and learn about each other and themselves along their journey. This story is brimming with passion, drama, and adventure, sure to keep the whole family enthralled. Recommended purchase. Rated PG.

Stuck high in a tower, alone almost all of the time (except for her pet chameleon), Rapunzel bakes, sews, paints, reads, and tries all sorts of things to keep herself occupied. But when a man invades her tower looking for a place to hide, she realizes that he is her ticket out of the tower and to the lights she has wanted to see ever since she could remember. CGI animated, the almost realistic animation style brings this amusing Disney Princess tale to life. Recommended. Ages 8-13.½

Cute.

DVD

Walt Disney. Los Clásicos. Núm 50

John Travolta, Miley Cyrus and Susie Essman