Becoming more ‘Tangled’ up in Disney

So I’m sitting at my desk, digging through code while listening to podcasts on my phone, and up pops the Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast Episode 212, Disney’s ‘Tangled’ Rapunzel and Episode 213. Epic Two-Parter. It got me to thinking about the night I saw this movie, and the impression it made on me.

Let me begin with why it was so memorable. You see, Traci and I saw Disney’s Tangled on a date night, only hours before our son was born. His arrival was a bit of a surprise too, as he was about 2 weeks early. The whole weekend leading up to that Monday night, we had been talking about taking a date day on Friday, and maybe doing some Christmas shopping, but there was something kind of hinting in the back of our minds that maybe we shouldn’t count on that. So throughout the day Monday, we decided we should try to go out that evening. The grandparents were game for watching Susie, Tangled was playing at a perfect time for us to watch it and get back at a decent hour, it was all falling into place.

Dinner was nothing special, a quick stop at a local deli, just so we could make it to the theater in time. We actually arrived about 5 minutes late, and expected that we might have problems with seats. We hustled in from the cold wet night, quickly got tickets and our 3D glasses, and ran back to the theater (well as fast as a 8.5 month pregnant woman could go). Of course, the theater was about as far away as was possible, but we made it. As we headed in, the trailers were still running, “great we haven’t missed anything” I thought, and as we rounded the railing we discovered that seats would not be a problem. The theater was completely empty. We figured out the optimal seats for us, settled in, and put on our 3D glasses. Not another soul joined us all evening. It was great! We could talk out loud and not disturb another person.

The movie was Excellent! Throughout, I couldn’t help think “I’ve seen this before”. This movie to me, was built on great story lines from previous Disney movies. For example, Mother Gothel, reminded me a lot of Judge Claude Frollo from Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, with the subtle psychological games she’d play with Rapunzel. At another time, I believe Rapunzel was singing, and I could almost see Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this. These are all great movies as far as I’m concerned, and when you have a good movie with a good story, you’re bound to have similarities. All that to say I don’t think it took away anything from this movie, but quite the contrary, I thought it helped. As it finished, Traci and I looked at each other and both of us were smiling. It was fun, predictable, and romantic, a perfect date movie, and one I’m looking forward to adding to my collection.

As we headed home, neither one of us anticipated that this was our last time out, but thankfully we were both content if it was. Our evening was perfect, a nice dinner, and movie to our selves, and being able to laugh and cry with Disney just hours before the birth of our son is a memory I’ll never forget.