This poster was the best one I could find to feature in this entry because it features all of Erini's favourite characters. First, Maximus, the Captain's horse who later becomes the commander of law enforcement. Not sure what his rank was in the end, but he was saluted with frying pans, something that I'm sure he put into regulations. Exactly how a horse that cannot speak would put forward regulations, but we're also dealing with a time period where 99% of the population was illiterate. Also it's Disney and more importantly, Hollywood. Just forget it and enjoy the show.Second, Pascal, Rapunzel's chameleon who is a good sport to all her antics and activities that she does to stave off boredom and make the time pass. Whenever we read her animal book, Erini makes it very important to point out the chameleon. She's starting to call it a chameleon instead of Pascal, but that's just how much she likes this character. I figured she would think he was funny, but when he poked Flynn in the face with his tail, she was sold. Poking is an inside joke for our family. Poke to the face, even funnier. So there you go Disney. You want another memorable character? Make sure they poke people.
I'm not sure how Erini felt about the villains/bad guys, but when Rapunzel and Flynn enter The Snuggly Duckling, she was a little scared and wanted to leave the theatre. Think quickly, since I had seen the movie before, I told her they were going to sing a song right away. To that she replied, "Okay," and sat down. I was relieved that she calmed down, because although we were at the 2D Tuesday screening, it was still a little pricey to go to South Edmonton Common. "I've Got a Dream" was a very fun number that Rini enjoyed as much as I did. But they were not the antagonists. The twins, who I think bear a very strong resemblance to Kay from Sword in the Stone, were kind of mean and wicked, and made for good contrast to Flynn's demeanor.
However, Donna Murphy's performance as Mother Gothel was the show stealer. Taking quite a departure from the roles I remember her from in Spider-Man 2 and Star Trek:Insurrection, she plays a very strong antagonist. The term villain seems a little strong, until you think about the fact that she has lied to Rapunzel all her life, just to keep the healing abilities of the flower to herself. And not just for a week or two, but eighteen years. You could wear out a thesaurus looking up all the words to describe a person like that, but here comeuppance was quite the surprise.
Most Disney Villains meet their demise by, what I like to refer to as, the "Disney Fall." First met by the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, lightning strikes the cliff she was standing on, and she falls to her death. Though we are not given any evidence of it. Oddly enough, this was brought to my attention in a promotional book for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in which the villain, Judge Frollo, falls to his death into a lake of molten lead. Ouch. After that, I noted all the other villains that meet their fate through the "Disney Fall." Gaston from Beauty and the Beast; Clayton from Tarzan; Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (she does get hit with the sword first, but then falls over, then off the precipice they were fighting on); Rourke from Atlantis-The Lost Empire. The list goes on.
The very interesting thing about Mother Gothel's end is that it is handed by the animal sidekick. Usually the main character is involved, or the secondary characters. In this case, once Flynn/Eugene cuts Rapunzel's hair, Mother Gothel has met her end. Normal fare for Disney, but the character that seals her fate is Pascal. He take a bit of Rapunzel's cute and magic-less hair and trips Mother Gothel as she's stumbling around the room. This causes her to lose her balance and sends her falling to her doom, ending with an empty robe at the bottom of the tower. She had long wasted away, and the magic of the flower was her only anchor to the world. Though she put on a wonderful act to show that she cared for Rapunzel, she really only cared about the flower. She had nothing else to live for. Once that was gone, so was she. So was it truly a "Disney Fall?" The fall was not her end, but it was the final nail in the coffin, so I would say yes, but it was a very good version of the "fall."
Will this be going on the 'Must Own' list? Most definitely, but the question is which combo pack? Goodness knows that by the time it's released for home viewing, there will be the 3D Blu-ray combo pack with the 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, AND the digital copy. If that's the only version available, then yes, I'll get that. If I can get a version without the 3D, and it's cheaper, then I'll go with that. Knowing me, I'll probably scour the internet to find a coupon for the 3D combo pack. But that's something that we'll address at length.
I was hoping to get through this without using a pun like that. Nuts.
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