Disney tweaks old fairytale to please crowd

Photo Credit: Stephanie Cruz

Disney's producers make modifications to this old fairytale in order to please audiences.

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March 16, 2011

Stephanie Cruz, Managing Editor

Disney producers are trying hard to appeal to a wider range of viewers, especially with their newest animated movie, Tangled.

Tangled is a revamped version of the Brothers Grimm old folktale, Rapunzel, about a princess with long, luscious locks who is trapped away in a lonely tower.  However, the company has tweaked the plot and the characters in order to fit a mold that would attract a larger audience.

The film was originally set to premiere with the title Rapunzel: Unbraided.  Soon after, the name changed to just plain Rapunzel, keeping with the original version.  However, after the recent disappointment in the turnout for the box-office botch, The Princess and the Frog, producers decided that a change needed to be made, in order to avoid the same mistake.

Producers claimed that the reason that The Princess and the Frog flunked was because young boys were deterred by the overly-girlish title of the movie.  Henceforth, they decided to change the name for the third time, also claiming that the new title encompassed the true essence of the movie, since Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) is not the only main character, and she and her male counterpart, Flynn Rider (voiced by Zachary Levi), work in tandem as a dynamic duo.

These were not the only changes made, however.  The plot was  modified to please viewers, as well.  For example, Flynn Rider, the male protagonist of this version, is made out to be a mysterious and rebellious dare-devil, rather than the charming prince that the original character was.  Here, again, producers seemed to have been trying to appeal to younger boys, providing them with a rougher, yet relatable main man.

In addition, to give the film more depth, creators made the decision to focus on the rocky mother-daughter relationship between Rapunzel and Dame Grothel (voiced by Donny Murphy).  Again, this makes the plot more relatable, perhaps, for teens and older viewers.

Ultimately, producers’ schemes worked in the end, as the film raked in $11.9 million on its premiere on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010, coming in second to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in its first weekend of release.  It is also the 14^th highest grossing animated film ever released, earning $551,475,983.

“I didn’t know whether or not I would like it, but I really did enjoy it.  It was adorable, and it’s one of my favorite Disney movies now,” junior Suzanne Steinhardt said.

Tangled will be released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on Mar. 29.  It will be available in one-disc DVD; two-disc Blu-ray and DVD copies; and four-disc Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy packages.

Tags: Disney, fairytale, Movie, Rapunzel, Tangled

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