Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies, maybe even my favorite. I’ve seen it many times (I can’t even count how many), and I’m even watching the series…
So, when I saw this was “Inspired by the hit Disney movie, Tangled,” I had to read it.
However, I wouldn’t call this “inspired by.” This was the movie, plain and simple. The drawings, even if they were pretty great, were exact frames taken from the movie. The text was also pretty much the exact text from the movie…
The thing is it lacked the heart the movie has. The movie’s perfection comes from the jokes between Flynn and Max, the expressions Pascal makes, the intonation in Flynn’s voice, Rapunzel’s songs and her connection with both Pascal and Max, etc.
This book couldn’t show any of that and that’s a damn shame...

The story is the same as the Tangled movie from 2010. It’s a re-imagining of Rapunzel, but the only thing it really has in common with the original fairy tale is the girl with long hair kept in a tower.
The princess, Rapunzel, is stolen from her crib by Mother Gothel, because her can magically heal people. Mother Gothel hides Rapunzel in the tower, forbidding her to ever leave it, keeping the precious hair safe. While Gothel is away getting a present for Rapunzel’s 18th birthday, Flynn Ryder ends up in the tower as he’s on the run from the palace guards. Rapunzel recognizes her chance and convinces Ryder, with the help of a frying pan, to take her to see the annual lights festival. Adventure, danger, love and the requisite happy ever after ending all follow.
The story is what it is, it’s Tangled re-done as a manga. I thought the manga art was well-done and I’m sure middle schoolers would like it. I personally appreciated the “how to read a manga” at the beginning. I don’t read many, although Amber does, so it never hurts to be reminded the differences between reading a manga versus a graphic novel.
The stories cute and fun. In all honesty though, I miss the colors, the glowing of the lanterns especially.