Tangled on CD

Tangled, the new Disney movie, is their take on the Rapunzel story. I didn’t know what to expect. I thought the trailer was funny, but sometimes trailers lie. This time, though, the trailer set up the film perfectly—and it turns out that Tangled is a thoughtful, even provocative, story that deserves a spot on the shelf next to Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, and The Little Mermaid. The music and songs, by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, are terrific, and they carry the film along on a bed of wonderful songs. What they lack in depth, perhaps, they make up for in enthusiasm. While not, perhaps, as good as those in Pocahontas, which to me is a real standout, they do work well. It’s great fun to hear Broadway star Donna Murphy stretch her “evil” muscles in the role of the mother. Her performance of “Mother Knows Best” is like every evil stepmother’s fantasy come to life. Snd Mandy Moore and  Zacahry Levi’s “I See the Light” is just amazing. The new CD captures of all this, as well as a good bit of Menken’s score. I do wish the CD’s tracks were arranged in film order; to separate the songs from the score is needlessly jarring. Still, it’s a terrfic soundtrack for a terrific movie.