My Thoughts Are ‘Tangled’ About Disney Animation’s New Feature

I watched the trailer for Tangled some time ago and it didn’t really leave the best impression on me. Not that the movie doesn’t look like it’s going to be all they set it out to be, it just seems to be following the Dreamworks path of recycled character axioms — complete with blank stares and more than animal like animals — rather than the Pixar of path of original characters and concepts. This comic I found a while back sums up my Pixar vs. Dreamworks thoughts nicely.

See a full sized version here.

That being said, The Disney Blog has just released some concept images of the future meet-and-greet spot for the Tangled characters and I think the design is fantastic. It makes use of a preexisting tower that never really had a purpose and is finally kicking Gepetto’s Sweet Shoppe out of The Magic Kingdom. (Seriously Walt Disney World, I love, you know I love, but how many candy stores do you need? Honestly…)

So here we have an instance where I think I’m more excited to see a promotional / marketing element of a feature than the feature itself. I’m not sure if this should be an insult to Disney Animation Studios, a compliments to Disney Imagineering, or somewhere in between. I’ll still hold out hope that Tangled will pleasantly surprise me.

For those that might not have seen it yet, here is the Tangled Trailer”: