I Went on a ‘Tangled Adventure’, Here’s What I Thought

Thanks to my parents’ subscriptions to several viewing platforms, including DisneyPlus, I now have access to TV shows that I have spent years missing out on.

Rewind to late March/early April. To keep myself sane between episodes of Falcon and Winter Soldier, I decided to watch the series Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. 

Disney’s Tangled came out just when I was starting college. I have always enjoyed the music. The film itself, however, seems less interesting than Disney’s later films of this past decade, especially Frozen and Moana. Disney Rapunzel herself just comes off as a really bland character, always about sunshine and optimism.

Thanks to Tumblr I already knew about…15% of the spoilers for the Tangled animated TV series, including some details of Cassandra’s arc, and I once ran into someone cosplaying the Hurt Incantation version of Rapunzel at a convention. The series was not a high priority for me to watch, in fact it wasn’t even on my radar. But I was reminded of its existence while browsing social media one day and I was like, you know what, let’s do this. 

What I wasn’t prepared for was the great experience that watching this series is: fun and occasionally breathtaking new songs, the Lorbs (^_^), the gorgeous animation, wonderful characters, and the spectacular storytelling. The series took the story of the movie and turned it into an epic swords-and-sorcerers fantasy and I loved it!

‘WW84’ Kicks Off Year of Female Superheroes

For those of you who are wondering, my mom lived through the actual 1980s, so I asked her what she thought of the period setting. Mom said it did remind her of the 80s in a few ways, but the hair and the shoulder pads weren’t big enough. 

Me? I have never been a big fan of the 80s. Hate the hair, hate the fashion, hate the aesthetic, not my first choice on a time-traveling trip even if it saves the time-travel agency seamstress some grief. I know that the 80s aesthetic has been making a comeback but so far I have not had much reason to interact with it.

The 80s were anything but my ideal setting for a Wonder Woman sequel. I wanted to have Diana and Etta Candy and the squad from the first film having an adventure in the 1920s. From the announcement, the promo posters, and the trailers, WW84 looked like it was going to be a tacky 80s period piece. But, lesson learned, never judge a movie by its trailer. WW84 actually turned out to be a beautiful and emotional film.

In a lot of ways it’s even better than the first film, and compared to a lot of other PG-13 action flicks in this day and age it’s relatively lighthearted (emphasis on relatively, there are still a few dark moments). I suppose that’s thanks to the 80s aesthetic. 

Book and Film Globe/WarnerBros

A policy I am considering adopting is seeing the film/show twice before writing the review. When it comes to the big screen, though, that might be a stretch because the nearest movie theater is twenty miles away. That being said, my mom and I made the twenty-mile trip to see WW84 on the first Monday of January. It was my first time at a movie theater since The Rise of Skywalker came out, obviously because of the pandemic. It was just me and mom and a handful of other people that sat well away from us in the theater.

 And let me tell you, seeing WW84 on a big screen was WORTH IT. It’s a great movie on it’s own, but it definitely deserves a big screen.

This post is addressed to people who have already seen the film, as it will be a discussion of my thoughts about the film with spoilers. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading here and go watch it.

An Ode to ‘Clone Wars’

(I should have posted this months ago, I know, but my life and my health have been kind of crazy, you know how it goes)

IT’S OVER! The landmark animated series that was abruptly canceled in 2012 got twelve more episodes, and the last four of these were devoted to an epic and emotional finale. I cried. My mom cried. Lots of people cried. We knew how it would end and who would survive, but it was still devastating to watch.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars got the finale it needed, but because of Clone Wars, the Star Wars fandom will never be the same.

Hamilton At Last!

Disney did the universe a favor by giving us Hamilton for the Fourth of July, instead of making us wait a year and a half. As yet, I have only seen it once. I watched it on Independence Day eve with a group of my cousins. I was going to wait, but I felt like I would enjoy it more seeing it with family, even if I wasn’t allowed to sing along this time. Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t throw away my shot. This is just a few thoughts on my first viewing.

In the last five years, I have seen enough memes, photos, and GIFs of the original Broadway production of Hamilton that I already knew the show, to an extent. I’ve seen several of the Ham4Ham videos and I’ve even saved a couple to my YouTube playlists. I’ve even made my own memes and fan edits. So actually watching it all the way through was like seeing it for the tenth time instead of the first.  

Yup, I’m one of those people (Pinterest)

Looking back on this weekend, I am easily tricked into thinking I actually DID watch the show on stage instead of a recording. Maybe that is because the TV it was on was 55”.

Because of the online fandom, I knew there were things I was missing from not actually seeing the stage performance, stuff that people online had discussed/revealed for the benefit of those who hadn’t seen Hamilton on Broadway or elsewhere. 

Giphy

Yes, No, Maybe: ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ in Review

I thought the entire premise of the Star Wars sequel trilogy was to be “better” than the Prequels: better dialogue, more practical effects, no “whining” Anakin, and so on. Episodes 7 and 8 managed to reach…some of these goals, but overall episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker—the one that was supposed to tie off the unified “saga”—feels like a step backwards from that premise and from Star Wars as a whole. 

My main grievances are Palpatine “returning” as the main villain, the deaths of one or more main characters, the treatment of the main heroine and villain/antihero, and some moments of tacky dialogue.

I understand that there are people who thought that Revenge of the Sith was a terrible film. Back in the day there may even have been people who thought Return of the Jedi was sub-par. The thing is, The Rise of Skywalker has flaws that are even more appalling and inexcusable than those two films combined.

‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ Not Great but Pretty Good

I know this movie has been out for about a month now but I finally saw it last weekend and I think that it merits a short review, and since it’s been out a few weeks we’ll include some light spoilers.

When the sequel to Maleficent was announced in 2016 I had a little trepidation because, well, sequels are usually never as good as the original. Unlike some people, however, I was a little more optimistic because in the past I had played with a few fanfiction ideas based on the first film, so I had a vague idea about a few directions a sequel could go. 

The final product? Well, obviously it’s not the story I would have written. But I enjoyed it. There were a few story elements that were directly borrowed from the first movie, (notably a sleeping curse) but contrary to my apprehensions it was not a total remake. There were some parts of the movie where I thought I could guess what was going to happen next and ended up being wrong.

A ‘Fiddler on the Roof’…in a Modern Anatevka

(In case you’re wondering, the next post will be my Captain Marvel review)

You know that you or a loved one has been in a production of Fiddler on the Roof recently when you find yourself saying ‘Mazal tov’ a lot.

To be brutally honest, Fiddler is not my favorite musical, but since the first of the year when the local high school began rehearsal in earnest, my appreciation for it has gone up a thousand percent.

The Film, The Story, and the Characters

I’ve seen the 1971 movie a few times, don’t get me wrong. My most memorable time viewing it was on the road trip when I moved from Texas to Utah to go to college and watching it in the car with my siblings. Right at the scene where the townspeople found out they were being forced out of Anatevka, we crossed the state line into New Mexico. I’ve always thought that was kind of significant. But up until now, I have never seen any stage productions, so bear with me.

Double Review: ‘Grindelwald’ and ‘Aquaman’

The only two movies I got to see during the holidays were Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Aquaman. These two films don’t have much in common other than the fact that (A) they’re both Warner Bros and (B) they’re both installments in major franchises.

You should have seen these films by now, so I will discuss the spoilers in depth as I wax eloquent about my likes and dislikes of both.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

I went to see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald right after it came out on Thanksgiving weekend. Let me start out by saying I do have some serious problems with this film. The biggest one is this: I refuse to believe that trim, smart-looking Jude Law is supposed to be Albus Dumbledore in any way, shape or form. I don’t care if it IS the 1920s, I want to see him with a long beard and awesome wizard robes.

‘Solo’ Comes Up Short

*Spoilers included*

I never thought I was one of those fans who would care about how Han Solo was depicted. I’m more invested in the Skywalker family arc and Jedi awesomeness. But, as it turns out, I do care about Han Solo. And I did have expectations about how his character’s origins would be portrayed in the spinoff film Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Han Solo in A New Hope is a successful though challenged smuggler. He’s courageous but brash, he’s arrogant and pushes people away. He puts himself first no matter what, and the only real friend his has is Chewie.  A twinge of conscience, however, prompts Han to aid the rebels at the battle of Yavin. The perception of the fandom is that Han Solo in his prime is hardened and hardcore. The reality is that he is kind of a good person who just isn’t typically nice.