Tangled 3D (4-Disc Combo Pack) [Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy]

Disney's 50th full-length animated feature film, Tangled is a visually appealing, music-filled adventure full of romance and humor. The movie focuses on Rapunzel, a girl with long magical hair who's lived her entire life imprisoned in a tower by her greedy mother. Naturally optimistic and acquiescent, Rapunzel (Mandy Moore, A Walk to Remember, Because I Said So, Saved!) rarely complains about her circumstances, but for her 18th birthday she longs to leave the tower to see the floating lights that appear every year on her birthday. Her mother (Donna Murphy, Spider-Man 2, The Fountain) refuses her request, but when thief Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi, Chuck) climbs the tower to escape his pursuers, Rapunzel (once she's conked him on the head with a skillet multiple times) impulsively decides to trust the young man and convinces him to help her escape to see the floating lights. Thus begins a journey that alternates quite schizophrenically between optimistic excitement and guilty remorse that will ultimately change Rapunzel's and Flynn's lives forever. Tangled is a masterful blend of humor, adventure, passion, and drama combined with a great musical score and top-notch animation. The Real 3-D effects add to the experience but probably won't really be missed in other formats. Best of all, Disney presents a princess who matures from a meek and compliant girl into a spunky young woman who's not afraid to pursue her dreams and risk it all for love--now that's a Disney princess worth emulating. (Ages 6 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

• 2 original storybook openings
  •50th Animated Countdown
• 3 deleted scenes
• The Making of a Fairy Tale
• 2 extended songs
• 9 Theatrical Teasers

Once the viewer navigates the uncooperative menus, there are a number of special features, some more interesting than others. Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard introduce three deleted scenes. One is set at the Jaunty Moose tavern, a sort of 18th-century biker bar that was replaced by the sequence at the Snugly Duckling pub. Without the upbeat "I've Got a Dream" song to propel it, the sequence plods and does little to advance the story. The directors were wise to remove a silly interlude with a fortunetelling monkey dressed like Johnny Carson's old Karnak character. It's difficult to judge how effective either of the two versions of a traditional storybook opening would have been, as the storyboard drawings are very simple. If the finished artwork had the visual impact of Eyvind Earle's illuminated manuscript pages in Sleeping Beauty, the sequence might have been stunning. But both versions feel overly long and needlessly talky. Two features stress that Tangled is the Disney Studio's 50th animated feature--although they arrive at that figure by omitting the animation/live-action combinations Victory Through Air Power and Song of the South (but not The Reluctant Dragon or Dinosaur). Voice actors Mandy Moore (Rapunzel) and Zachary Levi (Flynn) try to convince the audience they're having fun presenting trivia and brief behind-the-scenes peeks, but the audience is more aware of how hard they're working than how much fun anyone's having. The story of how Tangled reached its final form after nearly 10 years in development and production would have been more interesting. --Charles Solomon