Tangled

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Tangled's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Tangled completed by The Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 20 December 2010.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines.

ACCM review

This review of the movie Tangled contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

In this Disney animated version of the Rapunzel story, Gothel (voice of Donna Murphy) steals the baby Princess Rapunzel, to ensure she has access to the magical powers of Rapunzel's hair. Gothel brings up Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore) as her own daughter, but locked up in an inaccessible tower. When Rapunzel reaches her teenage years, she yearns to go outside but her mother makes sure she is terrified of what is out there in the wide world.

When Flynn Rider (voice of Zachary Levi), a handsome and charming thief, climbs into her tower to escape pursuing soldiers, Rapunzel doesn't immediately see him as her Prince Charming who has come to rescue her. Instead, she attacks him and locks him up in a cupboard. She eventually makes a deal with Flynn to take her out of the tower in exchange for the crown he has stolen from the palace. Together they have a rollicking and, at times, quite scary adventure. They have to escape Gothel, soldiers, thugs, bandits and floods, as well as a fierce horse called Maximus, and along the way, they fall in love.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Separation from parents; imprisonment

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• Flynn falls onto a pursuing soldier and knocks him off his horse.
  Maximus stamps on the tree where Flynn is hiding and the branch snaps off - Flynn and Maximus both fall a long way to the ground but are unhurt.
• Rapunzel repeatedly hits Flynn over the head with a heavy frying pan. When Flynn regains consciousness, she knocks him out again and stuffs him into a cupboard.
• Flynn falls out of the cupboard and Rapunzel ties him in a chair with her very long hair.
• Thugs in an inn grab hold of Flynn and threaten him with knives. Rapunzel starts hitting them with a frying pan.
• A large thug comes after Rapunzel with an axe.
• Flynn has a fight with the soldiers and Maximus.
• Gothel stabs Flynn in the back and he appears to die.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

• Gothel as a bent, grey, scary, old woman eats a magical flower, which transforms her into a young and beautiful woman.
• Gothel steals Rapunzel as a baby from her loving parents.
• Rapunzel is kept locked up in the tower. Gothel scares Rapunzel by telling her that the world is a frightening place full of evil people, skeletons and nasty things.
• Flynn tells Rapunzel that a little rebellion is good for her and that she should 'break her mother's heart and crush her soul'.
• Maximus is a very scary, aggressive horse.
• Flynn's companions are scary looking thugs, and one has an eye patch.
• The thugs in the inn are all very fierce looking, one has a hook for a hand, and one has blood in his moustache. They call themselves 'malicious, mean and scary'. The fact that they turn into the comedy act of the movie could be confusing for some children.
• Rapunzel and Flynn are trapped in a cave with rising water and almost drown.
• Flynn is about to be hanged but is rescued.
• Gothel ties Rapunzel up in chains.
• Flynn is seen covered in blood.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children in this age group are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• Gothel uses her beauty to charm and seduce the bandits.

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• One of the thugs appears to be drunk.

Coarse language

None of concern

The movie's message

Tangled is an animated adventure comedy for children based on a fairytale classic. The new Rapunzel isn't the classic damsel-in-distress, but her beauty is evident and still important. The film is at times overly sentimental, but is likely to appeal to school aged children.

The main messages from this movie are

• to follow your dreams
• that things and people are not always as they appear to be
• that girls don't need to be rescued and can stand up for themselves

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• love
• loyalty and friendship
• trust
• selflessness
• seeing good in others

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• selfishness
• manipulative and controlling behaviours
• a thief apparently being rewarded