Ever since it was created, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure (or just Tangled: The Series depending on where you look up the name) looked like it was just going to be another throwaway Disney channel show for little kids. Being based off the incredibly popular 2010 Disney film, this whole idea started off as a Disney Channel Original Movie named Tangled: Before Ever After, and then transitioned into a regular episodic show which lasted from 2017-2020. With its art style, tone, advertising feeling incredibly kindergarten in nature, the show didn’t come across like something that would appeal to older audiences and adopt a similar tone to something like Gravity Falls, The Owl House, or Amphibia. But after a lot of people showered the show in praise, it made it seem like it had more to offer, and its safe to say that this show did a lot more than exceed expectations. Set directly after the events of the film, the princess Rapunzel (voiced again by Mandy Moore) and her boyfriend, Eugene (voiced again by Zachary Levi) start to adjust to life in the palace, but something calls Rapunzel out into the outside world. Along with her lady-in-waiting, Cassandra (voiced by Eden Espinosa), Rapunzel travels outside the palace walls to discover these mysterious black rocks which hold a strange magical property, one that when touched, gives her back her long blonde hair. As more gets uncovered about these black rocks, the three realize that their answers line far away from the kingdom and (eventually) set out on a journey that will ultimately lead to a destiny that has been fated since Rapunzel’s powers were granted to her, one that will cause her to clash with another ancient being which pines for the power of the sun-drop (Rapunzel’s power source) and its sister rock, the moonstone. From what it looked like it would promise, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure tries much harder than it needed to. Coming from a good, but imperfect film, this series expands upon everything the film got right and goes to far more interesting avenues. While still being pretty flawed, this is an excellent follow up to its movie.

Nowadays continuing on from a ‘’happily ever after’’ story for a fairy tale is nothing new (even for Disney), but this show doesn’t just use this excuse to tell cutesy stories and overuse the name for something just to market to kids (for the most part). One of the film’s strongest aspects was its ability to retool the original fairy tale and make it work in a modern environment. Here, it just continues to do that by expanding upon its characters, ideas, environment, and powers to create a more realized environment, tone, and tale for Rapunzel to be a part of. The show’s second and third seasons take a pretty light-hearted series and transforms it into a more mature, but still child-friendly, story. It feels drastically different from other modern animated Disney shows because of that; it feels more wholesome, unique, and less threatening than them, but while still giving its audience a well-thought out tale with improved elements that doesn’t talk down to them, it feels like the best of both worlds when it comes to giving something that is meant for younger audiences. Characters that are well-established show off true colors, the pace picks up much quicker and gets going to the end-goal at a decent rate, and it even has plenty of moments that would make younger audiences be taken aback or gasp (it did that for some adults as well, so it has to be effective). Its best work is definitely in its latter half when everything feels realized and has a clear direction, whereas it’s getting there that the show stumbles into its first issue. The first season of the show not only feels like what people should have expected from it (a harmless fluffy show that is all ‘lovey-dovey’), but it’s slow as anything and filled with its own form of annoying cartoon cliches and tropes (another paranoid father trying to prevent his daughter from leaving him, never seen that before). It’s appreciated that it is much better written than others of its type, but the meat of the story is really in its second and third act, so it may need to be sat with to truly appreciated it. Honestly a majority of the show’s filler sections really halt a lot of its good-will and feel like rest-stops to a great road-trip that have to be put up with in order to get to the good stuff. Also, the show’s finale is, while still good, incredibly predictable and doesn’t have many surprises (which normally wouldn’t be an issue if the show didn’t try and wasn’t effective at being unexpected). It may not give something incredibly different, but honestly something being basic but satisfactory is much better than getting something unexpected but unfulfilling.

The show greatly increases the likability and distinctness of its cast, not only because it has more characters to work with, but it has more time to flesh them out and make them a bit more defined than they were previously. It expands upon its old cast and makes them more interesting and memorable names, but also creates a bunch of new faces that are equally as endearing and memorable. Rapunzel and Eugene were good characters to begin with, but with time, improved writing and a better understanding of their characters, the voices actors feel much more comfortable in the roles and what was once distracting and off now feels perfectly naturally. Both go through decent development in their own stories as well as in their love life as they both share great chemistry and the manner in which they handle marriage is pretty refreshing for a Disney channel show. The side characters are also really great too; with memorable designs, great voice actors and being surprisingly memorable despite some not having much screen time, a lot more effort went into a majority of them than was honestly needed. The two that majorly stand out are Cassandra, whose rule evolves from supportive snarky side character to something far more intriguing down the line, and a character named Varian (voiced by Jeremy Jordan), whose popular voice actor and adorkable science nerd kid really endeared him to fans . These two are very written characters with their own established backstories, roles and personalities that are greatly affected and changed as the show keeps going, the direction their characters go in feel radically different to whatever the tone originally set them up to go down. Even the villains are much more memorable; some surprise ones that come down the line are bound to throw some kids off and even expose them to different ideas of how to perceive their bad guys (i’m serious) and the main big bad of the show feels delightfully simplistic in the manner of how classic Disney villains were written; while not being the most interesting or developed character, it is weirdly enjoyable to have another Disney baddie who is evil just because they want to and have fun while doing it.

One of the bigger changes from the movie to the show is obviously the change in animation. Going from 3D to 2D would be a pretty jarring change, but the show and effectively Tangled itself actually works far better in the 2D space than it did in the CG one. While the movie’s technology was definitely good, it wasn’t distinct, realistic, or stylized enough to warrant the new style and the story and characters felt like they were 2D creations that were shoved into a 3D environment.  Here, the visual style doesn’t look the best on the first viewing (it has a feel of one of those pastel kiddie fairy tale books where it feels half flat half proportioned), but it’s also a style that evolves overtime. The expressions get better, the color palette gets more interesting, the camera angles got a lot more dynamic and unique, and it feels less flat and becomes more solid and formed as the show continues on, its another part of the show that will have to be put up with for a bit before it really sets in. The kingdom of Corona (awkward title) is also much more realized than it was in the film; it has so many cool new areas outside of the palace that are great looking locations and it feels much more like a liveable environment that people would actually be interested in finding out more about, especially with its connections to ancient magic and the stone that gave Rapunzel her power. The music and songs are written by famed Disney songwriter Alan Menken, and because of his inclusion, the show becomes like a full-blown Broadway show thanks to these song numbers. While the music in the movie was decent, this stuff is far superior and more effective and timeless due to how they adopt a more modern Broadway sensibility, but still feel distinctly Disney as well. They’re written great, they sound big and full of powerful instrumentation, the singing is phenomenal (thanks to the amount of Broadway singers in the cast) and they do a great job progressing the story as well as just providing good catchy memorable numbers.

What should have just been another ‘’Sofia the First’’ actually turned out to be far more impressive than anyone would have expected, and that’s probably why Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure got as much love as it did. Nobody was expecting anything from it because of where it was being shown, what it looked like, and how it didn’t feel like it was going to be challenging and new similar to the other successful Disney animated series. But that’s also what makes it stand out, it can get away with a few more of its noticeably bad elements because this still feels like its catered to a much younger audience than those other shows, and its handling of its characters, story, world, visuals, and music just comes across as that much more amazing because it didn’t need to try so hard. The first season is legitimately pretty annoying to get through in moments and the show’s filler does take the story hostage a few too many times even later down the line, but when it gets going and it sticks with the good stuff, it is impressively engaging for what it is. If you have the time or have kids of your own, this one is a nice surprise to check out. I guess Frozen loses this round, as for a follow up, this is far superior to Frozen 2.

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