I will agree the Tangled is very very good, though not quite on par with Little Mermaid/BatB/Alladin/Lion King streak that went on in the early nineties, but it's still better than some of the later second golden age movies (Pocahantas and Mulan for example). (Most forget that this "unbroken string" of movies was really those 4 listed above, with the next 5 or 6 trying to play variations on the same mold to limiting success. Really the departure of Jeffery Katzenberg and to a lesser extent the untimely loss of Howard Ashman left the true "2nd golden age" very short indeed.
I also am very disappointed the way "Princess and the Frog" seems to be summarily dismissed by many. This movie was excellent, with fantastic songs, humor, heart and characters, a great villian and had the daring to go much darker than Disney movies have gone in a long time, even the early '90s heyday - by killing off a "major" good character. Tangled was better in some respects, but PatF got the emotion down right and I would rank it above Tangled. So, as far as I am concerned, they are on a bit of a 2 for 2 roll. (I am sort of dismissing Winnie the Pooh, which while the reviews were good I haven't seen yet, and though it seems to have captured the charms of the original, is too slight to really push the list one way or the other.)
I would also argue that "Bolt" is quite entertaining, though clearly a notch below the other two. We watched it over the weekend for the 2nd time, and it's quite enjoyable, though much more comedic than having a particularly strong emotional center.
I think the difference here is starting with Bolt, Lassiter and his Pixar brain trust have gotten involved with Disney animation.
Look at the list:
last 3 pre-Lassiter:
Home on the Range, Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons
post-lassiter:
Bolt, PatF, Tangled, WtP
I personally think the "Wreck-it-Ralph" concept sounds more like something that Pixar would try to do. Very experimental and hard to pull off as a really emotionally satisfying film, but I am curious to see it.
Disney's leaders are not stupid,regardless of what many on this board think...they know that with both PatF and Tangled they had in both cases very strong movies, but with the former only modest success compared to the latter's BO - but with both providing strong merchadise sales. With the title change to "Frozen" obviously they are going for a more "boys" marketing stance in terms of selling the movie, but I am sure they will keep their eyes on the long-term princess prize!
