Disney's "Tangled"

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I recently watched Disney's Tangled with my little cousins who absolutely loved it. I have to say, I loved it as well. I went into it with low expectations about their accuracy to the Grimms' tale "Rapunzel", so I wasn't let down when the story was hardly similar to the one that I love so much. As with all Disney films, an avid fan of the "original" story can expect to find only the basic premise in the Disney version. This can be said for Tangled. 


So today, I thought that I would not do a lengthy review, but a brief discussion of the differences between the film and the earlier story, for fun more than anything!

Below is a list of the major differences between the movie and the Grimm version. The normal font represents the movie, the italics represent the story.

• Rapunzel's parents are royalty.
• Rapunzel's parents are peasants.

• Rapunzel's mother eats a sorceress' yellow flower, created by a drop of sunlight, that can cure any illness. The sorceress is using this flower as a source of eternal youth.



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• Rapunzel's mother eats a sorceress' rapunzel lettuce out of her garden without permission, hence the name "Rapunzel".

• The sorceress steals Rapunzel away from her castle at night.



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• Rapunzel's father gives her to the sorceress to repay the debt he incurred by stealing her lettuce for his wife.

• A ruffian finds Rapunzel in the tower and she bribes him in order to get him to take her out of the tower.
• A prince finds Rapunzel, asks her to marry him, and is building up resources to sneak her out of the tower.

From the point that a man enters the tower, the stories diverge onto two paths. Disney's Rapunzel leaves the tower with Flynn, the before-mentioned ruffian, and follows a path of self-discovery accompanied by a pet chameleon, a handsome guy, and, oh, magical hair.
In the Grimm version of the story, the sorceress discovers that the prince has been in the tower and banishes a PREGNANT Rapunzel to a desolate land. The prince throws himself out of the tower in grief and is blinded by thorns on the way down. He wanders for years before he finds Rapunzel again by chance.
The two stories use the same grand finale: Rapunzel's magical tears. In the movie, her tears save Flynn's life. In the Grimm story, they give her prince back his site... just in time to meet his twin children.

Overall, this story was a successful reinvention of the Grimms' tale. Disney did what they had to do to make the Grimms' racy story appropriate for children. They took the basic characters and premise and entirely changed the tone by adding more likable characters, a stronger female protagonist, sing-a-longs, and animal pals.

Do I think the tone change and predictable additions cheapen the story? Yes, I do. However, the Disney vs. Grimm discussion is best saved for another day. Maybe next time?

Grimms' Girl