Review: Tangled Before Ever After

How does a popular film franchise translate to TV?

Spoilers Below

Now that Rapunzel has returned to Corona, it is time for her coronation. However, she isn’t used to being trapped inside the kingdom walls and longs to run free once again. Her father, King Frederic, insists that she have armed guards to protect her on her “day off.” Even Rapunzel’s lady-in-waiting, Cassandra, is trained to fight. It is all too much for our poor princess. Thankfully, Cassandra is willing to sneak Rapunzel out of the kingdom for a night of freedom.

While they are outside the walls, Cassandra takes Rapunzel to the spot the magical flower that gave Rapunzel her magic hair once grew. Instead of the flower, there are unbreakable rocks and a plaque. Rapunzel touches one of the rocks, which makes her blonde hair grow back. Immediately, the rocks begin to overtake the land. The girls barely manage to get back to safety but now they have to figure out how to hide Rapunzel’s now uncuttable hair.

For the coronation, the girls stuff Rapunzel’s long hair into a wig and balance it atop her head. During the ceremony, though, Lady Caine, a random bad guy, attacks with her goons. Rapunzel frees her hair and, along with Cassandra and Flynn, defeat the bad guys and saves the day. Unfortunately, this means that Frederic finds out that Rapunzel left the kingdom. Scared for her safety, he bans her from leaving the kingdom walls ever again. But Rapunzel knows that her mother, Queen Arianna, is on her side.

Before Ever After was a pleasant surprise. Frequently, sequels are terrible. They try to capture what was great about the first movie and just rehash it. That didn’t quite happen here. Rapunzel knows that she is supposed to be happy now that she is back with her family. She tries her best to be a good princess for her parents but she can’t help her unhappiness. She wants to be out in the world exploring, not stuck in a castle with guards that don’t even allow her to talk to the townspeople. Even her relationship with Flynn is strained. Her proposes to her but she can only feel strangled by the prospect of living this mundane life. I don’t know that any Disney princess has ever had these troubles before. Not only is it a nice change of pace, it is also true to the character. Rapunzel has seen the world and living the life her father wants would be nothing more than her previous life with Mother Gothel. If they can keep the series up to the same standard as the movie, it would be a groundbreaking for a Disney princess.