Disney's Rapunzel???

[Loomis]

I have serious doubts about the upcoming Rapunzel, but then again I had serious doubts about Lilo and Stitch.

What worries me now though is... Isn't Disney's upcoming Three Little Pigs a "Shrek" like de-construction of fairy tales too? The Pigs are supposed to run from the wolf by escaping to other famous fairy tales. Then there's the live action/animation Enchanted, which again seems to have some of the fairy tale de-constuction elements in that too.

Why are the same company making 3 similar films at the same time? Why is that same company taking it's inspiration from a three year old movie in the first place? It just seems... wrong.

Still, time will tell if Rapunzel is a success for failure.

Enchanted sounds like an awesome movie, though. It does have fairy tale elements, but so far the main angle of the movie is to prove that real love is better than any fairy tale-the majority of the movie is supposedly taking place in New York.

All of that is quite popular at the moment. And well trodden.
Look at DC/Vertigo's comic 'Fables' which sees all the Fable characters escape from the homelands to New York because of the work of an evil 'Adversary'. In the 'Mundane' world (I wonder if that term was borrowed from Piers Anthony?), they have set up a secret structured society (much like vampire stories) called Fabletown. The Big Bad Wolf is reformed and is now the town cop called Bigby Wolf (in human form) etc.
Anyways, an excellent read for mature readers and people with brains - and worth checking out.
Anyhoo, the point is that the deconstruction of fairy tales is a well worn and popular sub-genre. For a company like Disney, who has made much of its money and legacy off the fairy tale genre, I think this approach is only natural. Although 2099 is right - you can over-do it a tad...

[Kram Nebuer]

I just brought this up again, wondering on the progress of this feature. Is it still being worked on or has it been cancelled?

[DreamerQ18]

hey i had a crazy idea! what if Disney mix the tales of Rapunzel and Rumpelstilskin together so its like the tale about Rapunzel meeting the prince of her dreams and she decides to leave the tower and go with the prince. Once they get to the castle where the prince lives, the prince's dad, the king, wants to see if Rapunzel is a worthy wife for his son. so this is where the tale about Rumpelstilskin begins where Rapunzel is sent to a room to turn hay into gold and Rumpelstilskin decides to help her in exchange for something valuable that the princess has.

what do you think about that story?

Wow that does sound like a really COOL idea hahahah for a minute I forgot the two stories were diffrent.

I too am sad that Disney is not going with the tradtional 2-d animation it just seems that for a mvoie like this it is very fitting. I mean if they are trying to compete with Shrek thrtre is really no need its been done the whooe Fairy tale in 3-d. Now Promoting thats where they can won thier aduiences over but hey thats just me.

[Owlzindabarn]

If you want a closer "deconstruction" of fairy tales, try NBC's "The 10th Kingdom," which was a 10-hour live-action mini-series that accomplished just that. And it's a 10-hour bore.

Disney doesn't have to "buy" the rights to Rapunzel, Rumplestilskin, or any of Grimm's fairy tales. They've been in the public domain for hundreds of years.

"The Princess and the Pea" can't make a good 90 minutes of entertainment? Apparently some of us having never heard of "Once Upon a Mattress!"

[Kram Nebuer]

If you want a closer "deconstruction" of fairy tales, try NBC's "The 10th Kingdom," which was a 10-hour live-action mini-series that accomplished just that. And it's a 10-hour bore.

I have this on DVD now and I actually like it. It's interesting to see the fairy tales generations later. The town of the Peeps (Little Bo Peep) was funny and the integrations of the characters is great. A bonus feature explains all the original 9 kingdoms and who lives in each. One of the kingdoms had Rapunzel ruling and currently Sleeping Beauty and her kingdom were still asleep and the land was cut off from the other 8 kingdoms.

[toonaspie]

There's been alot of non Disney versions of fairy tales (or mixing them up) that have been done brilliantly. it seems impossible for Disney to do them out (makes me wonder how the muppet version of the upcoming Wizard of Oz tv movie will match up to the 1939 original)

Here are some examples:

Rumplestilskin - an independent live action musical I remember from my childhood, think in terms of PBS, i would love to track this movie down again http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093891/

The Princess and the Pea - I've seen the stage versions of this but I am very curious of the Mark Swan animated version released a few years ago http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0146063/

Barbie as Rapunzel - I've seen all three Barbie movies on TV (curiousity again!) However I think this was the best Barbie movie. instead of focusing on the hair aspect you have a princess who despite being locked in a tower goes on a magical journey to find her true family with help of a magic paintbrush. The characters surprised me. I'm amazed how the Barbie movies were able to be not too kiddie like (almost disney but not quite, still) They must have good writers to pull it off
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313255/

[bluemoon86]

I don't now if anyone else has posted this but I was at imdb.com and the Plotline they have for Rapunze:l Unbraided Now reads "Rapunzel, a squirrel with a long bushy tail, falls in love with a prince who is a basset hound."

I had hoped that Disney was going back to its roots and make this like Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid. I was looking forward to Rapanzel now Im not so sure

[Prince Eric]

A prince who's a basset hound...hmm. It sounds...intriguing. At least he'll be more interesting than some of the deaden prince types of Disney past. I think this is going to be Disney's big answer to Shrek, I really do. I think Chicken Little will be a hit, but I think this will be EVEN BIGGER! I hope they return to good old-fashioned fairy tales. Overall, I think the plot sounds absolutely CRAZY, but maybe it'll be a start of a very nice trend.

[singerguy04]

ewwwwwww, i'm not sure if i like the squirrel and basset hound thing... i really really really liked the concept art for the princess! i think she'd fit in very nicely with the others, but alas disney has taken a good idea and made it into something that i didn't expect... oh well, maybe this film will turn out good anyways!

[PatrickvD]

Eisner's response to Jobs regarding human animation in The Incredibles was based on the fact that Rapunzel's design was supposedly coming along nicley. How is that possible if she's a squirrel? I don't think this plot is true at all

[ichabod]

I think this squirrel stuff is just fabricated nonsense. I mean look at all the concept art we have seen, and and the animated logos. They all feature humans!

[Jens]

Kristin Chenoweth (voice of Rapunzel) said in an interview:

I am Rapunzel, but Rapunzel is a squirrel," Chenoweth said in an interview. "I can't really tell you much more [about the story] than that, other than I'm a squirrel and I'm going to let down my tail.

Source: Killer Movies

AND in another interview:

I play Rapunzel, who is a squirrel who falls in love with a basset hound," Chenoweth says, before bursting into laughter at the concept. "I can't even really describe it to you without sounding like a crazy person. Maybe it's these antibiotics I've been on.

Source: Zap2it

So I think there is a bigger chance that there will be a squirrel rapunzel in the movie than a human rapunzel. Michael Eisner could have pointed at the designs of the humans in the movie in squirrel rapunzel's world I don't like it anyway, but that's just me. They're aiming for kids again who like "fuzzy animals" .

[ichabod]

[Matty-Mouse]

I hope disney are pulling a fast one with this release and are planning to really make an old fashioned fairy tale. People are going to get sick of the joke orientated animated movie sooner or later (The Incredibles and Shark Tale I think are proof of that) and will want something different. This is when Disney should go for the 2D fairy tale movie.

Its a shame that Disney seem to just want to copy the formula rather than lead the pack like they used to.

[Prince Adam]

Well, I'll say it again: my hopes are not quite dashed since Kristin Chenoweth is still a part of the film, and there's still a possibility of it being a musical.

[Disney-Fan]

Eisner's response to Jobs regarding human animation in The Incredibles was based on the fact that Rapunzel's design was supposedly coming along nicley. How is that possible if she's a squirrel? I don't think this plot is true at all

Yeah, I agree. Besides, I heard this whole squirrel thing was still back when it was a satire movie. Now I've read that the satire part of it (Unbraided) is being dropped and that they're aiming for a classic Disney tale.

[Jens]

Yeah, I agree. Besides, I heard this whole squirrel thing was still back when it was a satire movie. Now I've read that the satire part of it (Unbraided) is being dropped and that they're aiming for a classic Disney tale.

Those articles are posted are from December last year and January this year... So I think at the moment they are aiming for a squirrel script. But hey, the release dat isn't untill 2008 so a lot of things can change! Chicken Little's script changed from that summer camp story to a whole other script, remember?

[PatrickvD]

Those articles are posted are from December last year and January this year... So I think at the moment they are aiming for a squirrel script. But hey, the release dat isn't untill 2008 so a lot of things can change! Chicken Little's script changed from that summer camp story to a whole other script, remember?

yeah true... Chicken Little changed from a boy to a girl and back... because Eisner couldnt make up his mind. I think the biggest cost saving thing that needs to be done is kicking Eisner out... not only is his salary insane, he has wasted the last 10 years of Disney Feature Animation. The whole squirrel thing just makes me cringe. This better not be true. I pray to God these are the silent sidekicks of rapunzel and Prince...

[Andy]

Oh i have some photos of what Rapunzel Unbraided will be like:







But please note these are very rough images. But im looking forward to it. Also to check out the animated logo go here: http://www.aintitcool.com/downloads/Rap ... raided.mov

[Sunset Girl]

I'm not sure what to make of the squirrel thing, excpet that it might bring back Perri, LOL!

Anyway, I totally trust Glen Keane. I can't wait to find out more about the movie.