Tangled, Disney’s 50th animated feature, is the perfect family film. It is a (strategic) combination of romance, action, and comedy, with a liberal side of mother-daughter drama for the twelve and up. Likable leads, hilarious animal sidekicks, and a truly chilling villain do justice to the staples of classic Disney. Best of all is the computer animation, which brings to the screen a warmth and polish that is simultaneously modern and nostalgic.

Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) is a vivacious teenager trapped inside a tower. She bakes, sews, paints, and reads, all the while singing cheerily, but what she really wants, like most teenage girls, is to escape. More specifically, she wants to escape so that she can see, up-close, the mysterious lights that appear each year on her birthday. Unfortunately, the woman she believes to be her mother is staunchly against this. Mother Gothel (flawlessly voiced by Donna Murphy) is a modern villain–none of this “taking over the kingdom” business. Through deceit, manipulation, casual criticism, and mild co-dependence, Mother Gothel keeps Rapunzel indoors, where Rapunzel will never realize that she is a princess. Where Rapunzel will never discover that Mother Gothel is not her mother. And most crucially, where Rapunzel will always be on hand to use her magic golden locks to keep Mother Gothel young.

All of this changes when Flynn Ryder, wanted thief, chooses Rapunzel’s tower to hide in. Ryder (Zachary Levi) is the first man that Rapunzel can remember meeting, and recalling her mother’s warnings, she knocks him out with a frying pan and checks his teeth for fangs. Alone in the house, Rapunzel pushes Ryder into a closet and considers her options. Eventually he wakes up, the two strike a deal, and they’re off to see the lights before Mother Gothel returns home.

Pascal, Rapunzel’s chameleon best friend, and Maximus, a police horse keeping an eye on Ryder, round out the team. Maximus in particular is delightful, conveying sarcasm, anger, determination, and amusement with just a few forward flicks of the ear or the slightest narrowing of the eyes.

By the time Rapunzel sees the lights, the film has hit a comfortable stride. The digital pyrotechnics of this scene are astonishing; imagine if you can a hundred hazy glowing globes in gold, amber, pink, and lavender drifting serenely upwards, reflected infinitely in the softly rippling water below.

Tangled is not groundbreaking. It might not even be one of Disney’s best. Like recent Disney films, it struggles to find even ground. True love, happy endings, and spontaneous singing is hard to make cool these days. This generation likes self-references and being “meta”. That Tangled is sweet without being

maudlin, and (mostly) self-aware without any awkwardness, is a true accomplishment. Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard found a way to make an old-fashioned princess musical relevant in a disbelieving world. Relevant, even (and I’m going out on a limb here) to boys who will enjoy the action sequences and Ryder’s flippancy. Tangled is far from perfect, it will never replace The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast. But we’ve changed since we last saw those films, and Tangled, after a string of flops, feels a lot like coming home.

Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes, a feature on the making of the film, and the original opening sequence of the film. The DVD provides the original opening sequence. Some of this bonus material is interesting, but none of it is really necessary.