Also, some news: this Friday, May 1st, at 7 pm Central time, and 6 pm Mountain time, I'm going to be doing an interview with Kim Ventrella (author of the MG book Skeleton Tree). It will be on Facebook Live, so come and watch! Information is on the picture below, but if it doesn't load for you, you can access the interview at facebook.com/kimventrella.
Okay, so today, I'm giving you another recommendation for TV show to watch, and that show is Tangled: The Series, or, after its name change at season 2, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.
I know a lot of you might be surprised that I'm advocating a Disney Channel animated TV show marketed toward younger girls. Others, who read this blog more, probably aren't surprised at all. And, I was thinking of doing a blog post on why Tangled, the film and show, is better than Frozen (and I still might), but instead, I'm going to do a spoiler-free review and recommendation for this TV show.
1. It's a movie plus three seasons of 20-minute episodes
Let's be honest, time is something we care about. This show is a pretty short binge, all things considered. The show kicks off with an hour-long movie that bridges the film to the series and sets up the major characters and plot points of the TV show. It's IMPERATIVE you watch the movie first, but since each season is about 22 episodes long, and again, there are only three, this isn't much beyond what you'd expect from the series. The movie is titled Tangled: Before Ever After.
2. All three seasons are on Disney+ and yes, the series has ended
No nasty hiatuses for you, you lucky dogs! And yes, you have no idea how lucky you are. All three seasons, plus the original 2010 Tangled film and Before Ever After, are already on Disney+, so if you have that streaming service or a friend who is willing to let you use theirs, you have access to it all.
And with that, let's stop talking about convenience and talk about why you should even watch this in the first place.
3. Same voice actors, writers, etc. as the film
If you loved the 2010 Tangled movie, good news: every voice actor is back. Mandy Moore is back as Rapunzel, Zachary Levi is still Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert, and so on, even through the minor characters like the Pub Thugs.
Also, the film's writers are back to create the TV show. Chris Sonnenburg is the producer, again. All of this contributes to Tangled: The Series being less of a spin-off and more of a sequel to the film. Voices and writing feel the same as the film, in natural succession.
Oh, and did I mention Glenn Slater is still the lyricist and the man-myth-legend Alan Menken still composes the songs?
4. The music!
Oh my gosh, the music! This show is a musical! Don't expect every episode to have a song, but they do appear every so often. Major episodes always have musical numbers. These songs range from goofy to deeply serious and poignant, and honestly, it's amazing quality. Like I said, Alan Menken of original Tangled and Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Little Mermaid as well as so much more, is the composer. It's truly stunning.
The cast is also stunning. Aside from Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, the cast also includes Jeremy Jordan (the original Jack Kelly from Newsies on Broadway), James Monroe Iglehart (the original Genie from Broadway's Aladdin), and last but certainly not least, Eden Espinosa (Idina Menzel's stand-by for Elphaba in Wicked, as well as Maureen Johnson in Rent) as new characters. And yes, they're major characters and sing multiple times through the series.
They're stupidly talented, and so the music in this show feels like Broadway. I am currently relistening to the soundtrack for this show. To contrast, I haven't felt like listening to the Frozen 2 soundtrack since January.
Here's a sample of the music. Yes, you only get the audio. No, it's not tied to any major plot arc. No spoilers, remember?
Oh, and the songs get better in every season, in my opinion. They start great and become truly incredible. There is one in season 3 that, in context of the story and characters, may very well be one of the best things Disney has rolled out in the last ten years, or even ever. It literally (and I use the word correctly) took my breath away.
I wish I could share it with you now, but you really should come to it in your own time.
5. Animation is lovely
The style of animation, though different than the film's, is charming. Look at it!
6. The storytelling is amazing
This is a writer's blog, so you had to know I'd get to the storytelling here.
This show is very well-written. The story covers the time between the 2010 film and the short Tangled Ever After, where we see Rapunzel and Eugene get married.
(By the way, I know you all might call him "Flynn." It's hard for me to do that after 3 seasons of hearing him called "Eugene.)
But the show has a real story, with depth and intrigue. It's not filling time, or presenting a bunch of little vignettes of Rapunzel's life in Corona, though you do have plenty of fun episodes that do that. There's an overall story with lore that deepens Rapunzel's connection to the healing flower and something darker and a bit more sinister.
I really don't want to give too much away. But I'll say this: this story is a sequel, and it does everything a good sequel should do. It opens the world up and explores more implications not addressed in the film. It creates a new story instead of rehashing the old story.
Also, the story isn't afraid to get deep or go to dark places. You see the king's trauma over losing his daughter once, and you see the effect of anger and guilt and hate in some pretty interesting ways.
7. Character. Development.
Rapunzel is not a static character in this show. She's grown after the film, but there's a lot she has to learn. For the first time, she's out of her tower and back with parents who love her and want her to be safe. This causes some tension, actually. She's also pretty naive at first and needs to learn more about how to be a person and a royal (read, leader) in her kingdom. This show is about how she learns and becomes.
You see Rapunzel in her bright, bubbly self that we all know, but we see that tested. We see her doubt herself and have to make hard choices, and we see her annoyed with other people, including her loved ones.We see her hurt, and fear.
And it's not just her! Every major character has a character arc. Eugene has an arc: what's a former thief to do, when his only skill is stealing and he doesn't do that anymore? Who is he now? And the other characters, the new ones, also have their own arcs.
These character arcs are fully in-character. They make sense, and never blindside the viewer. You watch as the characters develop in realistic, though not always good ways. On a side note, this show has the kind of villains I wish other writers were brave enough to try. Honestly, if you think Disney's idea of a "villain" is Hans from Frozen (who is so mustache-twirling hamfistedly written they had to tell us three times in Frozen 2 that he was, in fact, the villain) or even coldly depraved Scar or Maleficent, you've got a good surprise coming for you. Can you say "understandable motives while still doing awful things"? Can you say "nuanced"?
By the end of the series, I was satisfied. Characters had developed, without suddenly becoming entirely different people. It never seemed forced or faked, just real people developing in realistic ways.
8. This is a hopeful, wholesome show
Guys, it's Tangled. This is a show about a girl who made instant friends with a bunch of thugs and who sees the best in people and situations. The music and story drive toward hope and how, together, people can do amazing things despite very difficult times. This music ties into the inspiring message well, and hey, don't we all kind of need that narrative right now?
Beyond that, get ready to see healthy relationships, romantic and platonic, portrayed, the Power of Friendship, the infectious nature of seeing the good in others, and lots of other wholesome, cheerful subjects, all handled with excellent storytelling.
So, yeah. Watch this show. You don't know what treat you have ahead of you.
