Disney's First Real Kiss in TANGLED
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- Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 November 2013 06:01
- Written by Lupe Haas
Disney celebrates its 50th animated film with TANGLED, a modern retelling of the classic Rapunzel story. In TANGLED, Rapuzel (Mandy Moore) is no longer the lady in distress waiting for her Prince Charming to save her from the tower. Prince Charming is a thief named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) hiding out in a mysterious tower when he is taken hostage by Rapuzel. Rapunzel strikes a deal with the handsome thief to guide her to see the lighted stars in a far away land but she has to be back before her wicked mother discovers her gone. The unlikely duo sets off on an action-packed escapade.
While the gender roles in TANGLED have been modernized so has the cast of characters. As in most animated fairy tales, animals talk and provide the comic relief, the evil characters are one-dimensional, and the lead characters are too good to be true. In TANGLED, the animals don't talk but they do provide the comic relief; the evil mother keeps Rapunzel locked in the tower but treats her with kindness albeit for selfish reasons; and Rapunzel and Flynn Rider's romance is based on real emotion and not just fantasy. Watch Trailer
TANGLED directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard intended to make the characters and their emotions very "real". "It's tricky because early on one of our lighting supervisors came to us to ask 'Do you think people will buy two CGI characters falling in love?' So we were careful in how we designed our characters and how we portray the emotions on screen because it has to be real", Bryon Howard told CineMovie.
The directors took it one step further in bringing life to the characters. They added a true to life sound during a romantic moment that is not common in a Disney or in any animated tale. During Flynn and Rapunzel's first kiss, the romantic moment is enhanced with escalating music as the two slowly lean in for the kiss which is nothing new. When their lips meet, you hear the smoochy sound lips makes when two people kiss in real life. We've heard the comical exaggerated puckering sound in many animated films but this kiss was not that.
Was this viewer imaging the sound or was a real kiss added to the mix? CineMovie asked the TANGLED directors. "Did we foley something?" Byron asked his partner Nathan. "I'm trying to think what we did in foley if we have a kissy sound in there. It's possible. We wanted the most real experience possible for the audience so... It could be in there," added the co-director. 
His co-director Nathan offered a more concrete answer, "When people kiss there's a smoochy sound so we wanted this to be relatable and real. And if that's what happens in real life, that's what's going to be in the movie."
While Disney's TANGLED certainly maintain it's classic Disney fairy tale quality, the modern day envisioning of the classic Rapunzel story is sure to enthrall a new generation of kids.
TANGLED opens in theaters November 24.
