Tangled in Your Dreams

Judging form the preview of the Disney Movie Tangled, I wasn’t expecting much. Boy was I wrong. This movie was clever, funny, had an emotionally engaging story and delivered some very powerful messages through metaphor and song. The female lead was not waiting around to be rescued and Prince Charming did not have a respectable background. This is the Disney we’ve been missing since Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. If you haven’t seen it yet, you may not want to read any further.

For starters, Rapunzel’s tower serves as her prison. She is about to turn 18 and has never felt grass under her feet or experienced the outside world. Her “mother” knows best and tells her the world is dangerous and harmful. The tower represents whatever little world you may currently live in (i.e. your family, your job, your town). We all cut ourselves off from possibilities every day because we choose to stay in the comfort of what’s familiar.

Tired of feeling trapped, Rapunzel’s curiosity leads to seizing an opportunity to escape for three days without her mother knowing. She takes a risk and goes against everything she’s been brought up to believe in because she has a dream.

When she gets out the tower, she experiences a roller coaster of emotions from ecstasy and joy to regret and sorrow. She is truly torn between moving forward and going back. Despite these strong emotions, she decides to forge ahead.

As obstacles surface, she turns rough and ugly characters into friends by explaining her quest and asking “didn’t you ever have a dream?” The best song in the movie is “I’ve Got a Dream,” which features the hidden talents of the most charming minor characters in the film. By sharing her dream, she helps others get back in touch with theirs.

Finally, as she’s about to get what’s she’s wanted for so long, she admits to being terrified. She asks what if it’s not everything she’s dreamed it would be? That is, when you’ve been aspiring toward something for so long and you achieve it at last, what do you do next? The male lead answers by saying you just choose another dream.

There is no shortage of dreams in the world. You can probably think of 5-10 dreams off the top of your head that you’ve had since childhood. You simply keep dreaming up new dreams in a never-ending cycle of dream fulfillment.

To make your dreams come true, you’ve got to be willing to take action. You’ve got to believe in the dream and be more committed to it than to your current reality. Don’t let fear paralyze you from taking steps toward your dream. That’s just ego trying to hold onto the status quo. There is no such thing as a neutral place. Your beliefs are always either moving you forward or holding you back.

Don’t miss this movie. I cried several times and so did my 12 year old daughter. A grown man sitting two rows in front of us laughed louder than anyone else in the theater. The scenes with Maximus the horse and the chameleon are priceless. This movie is about dreams and having the courage to go after them. It’s a wonderful message for children and adults.…

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