Moana has officially been announced as the next Disney Princess movie to get a live-action remake, but it should have been Tangled. This isn’t to say that Moana’s story isn’t deserving. The girl from Motunui is one of Disney’s most unique heroes, and Maui was a fast fan favorite. However, because Tangled was released several years before Moana and is full of details that would make it perfect for live-action, it should have its chance in the new medium first.
Dwayne Johnson, who gave his voice to Maui in the animated version of Moana, took to Twitter to announce that a live-action remake (which he would be taking part in) was in its early stages at Disney. This was a surprise since House of Mouse’s previous live-action remakes had been the studio’s older movies that could benefit from a modern twist. The news that a newer animated film was being remade has opened the door of possibilities for others to follow. However, it really should have been Tangled that started this new live-action journey.
5 Flynn & Rapunzel’s Chemistry In Tangled Makes A Great Casting Opportunity
Newer Disney movies like Moana have taken to cutting out the traditional love story. This isn’t a bad thing and has allowed the princess heroin to establish stories that are meaningful in other ways. However, this isn’t to say that there is no value in a good love story, and Tangled proved this with Flynn and Rapunzel. The princess still had dreams and aspirations and was far from a damsel in distress. The fact that she fell in love along the journey made her story all the better.
Ultimately, Tangled worked as well as it did because of Flynn Rider and Rapunzel’s chemistry. Both characters were a twist from their traditional character archetypes, which made their playful banter all the more endearing. This quality in their relationship would make them a lot of fun to cast for a live-action remake. Finding two actors with this same level of chemistry would be challenging, but seeing them brought to life would mean an even more swoon-worthy and enjoyable love story.
4 Mother Gothel Was One Of Disney’s Last Traditional Villains
Another thing that made Moana unique was the lack of a traditional villain. For much of the animated film, it’s assumed that Te Kā is the central bad guy. However, once Moana and Maui began their epic battle, the heroin realized that the lava monster was just the goddess Te Fiti without her heart. It was a fun twist and one that is sure to be visually stunning in live-action. However, it does leave audiences wanting in the villain department. Disney is known for its deliciously despicable bad guys—like Tangled‘s Mother Gothel.
Rapunzel’s adopted mother in Tangled was elegant and beautiful on the surface but manipulative and evil beneath. This made her the type of villain that audiences loved to hate—and that’s Disney’s favorite kind. Since Tangled, the House of Mouse has taken a new route with redeemable villains or those who turn out never to have been evil in the first place (like Te Kā). Therefore, the fact that Mother Gothel was among the last traditional villains is precisely why she needs to be in a live-action remake.
3 Rapunzel’s Hair In A Tangled Remake Would Make An Exciting Challenge
The likely appeal of making Moana a live-action film is the vast ocean scenes. It will give Disney a chance to prove its stuff with award-worthy Life of Pi-like CGI— not to mention the giant goddesses that turn into greenery-covered islands. However, Tangled offers nearly as many challenging opportunities. The original animated movie was the first of Disney’s to switch to CGI instead of traditional 2D animation, which made Rapunzel’s hair all the more impressive. Upon its release, Tangled was Disney’s most innovative film yet, which should qualify it for a live-action remake.
The Rapunzel fairytale made the princess’s hair an absolute must for Disney’s animated film, and the studio truly nailed it. Still, CGI capabilities have come a long way since the movie was released in 2010. The princess’s golden locks could be made to look even better, and the challenges associated with connecting the magical hair with a real-life actress could certainly be award-worthy. Ultimately, it would be a lot of fun to see how Disney would go about this.
2 There Would Be No Divisive Talking Animals In A Tangled Remake
One of the biggest criticisms Disney has faced for its live-action remakes is the talking hyperrealistic animals. The mouth movements in movies like The Lion King and The Little Mermaid are unsettling and left many wishing the studio would leave films that require talking animals for the plot in the realm of animation. Thankfully, Moana‘s animal characters, such as Pua and Hei Hei, don’t speak, but all that changes when the hero of Motunui gets to the Realm of Monsters and meets the giant talking crab—a concept that could wind up disastrous in live-action.
On the other hand, Tangled is one of the few Disney movies that has no talking animals. Sure, Pascal the chameleon and Maximus the horse are expressive, but this would be easy enough to shift in a live-action remake in a way Moana‘s Tamatoa could not. If a Tangled live-action remake were a reality, audiences could rest assured that no disturbing hyperrealistic animals would be talking on their screens.
1 Tangled Is One Of Disney’s Last Throwback Fairytales
Disney traditionally based its princess movies on European fairytales that have long been common knowledge to American audiences. Many of these came from either Hans Christian Anderson or the Brothers Grimm. Of course, as the years passed, it became necessary for Disney to look at a wider variety of cultures for their stories, which is how movies like Moana were born. Ultimately, of the traditional European fairytales that Disney adapted into a film, Tangled is one of the last.
In the years since the animated version of Tangled was released in 2010, most of the other traditional fairytales received their live-action remakes. The exceptions to this are Princess and the Frog (which would run into the “talking animal” issues) and, of course, Tangled. Though Moana will likely be a joy to watch in live-action—especially with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as Maui—it seems only fair that Disney would have finished up with its old throwback fairytales first. Of course, the news that Moana will be cutting in line means this won’t be the case—unless Disney has some more surprises yet to be announced.
