We received a surprise gift of some movie tickets — woohoo! — so I immediately hopped in the car with my kids to go see Tangled. I had seen previews for it, and my younger children had been talking about it with their friends all week. But I must thank our local paper’s movie review guy for writing a fantastic, detailed review of it that made me add it to my must-see list.

I’m not a big fan of paying to see cartoon movies (except I loved “Toy Story 3” and “Despicable Me”), but this one came as a huge surprise. It was absolutely hilarious! It’s a retelling of the story of Rapunzel, who must “let down her hair” to the evil woman who has kidnapped her and kept her locked up for years in a tower. And then along comes her prince (who is actually a bandit trying to escape from his pursuers).

I really fell in love with the characters, and there were several times throughout the movie where I felt like the situation was so desperate they were doomed. But of course it’s a Disney film, so scene after scene leads viewers to the ultimate joyous ending. Of all the Disney princess films I’ve seen, I now think “Tangled” is one of my favorites.

We loved the horse, Max, who is part hound dog. We loved Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) and her prince Flynn Rider (voiced by Zachary Levi). We especially enjoyed the comic scenes with the dancing men and all the surprises that ensued from their desires to “live out their dreams.”

This is a film for all ages — there were even some toddlers in our theater who sat quite still for most of the film. And anyone who is young at heart will be touched by the tears of a father who longs for his “lost princess.” The lantern scenes are going to become classic Disney images that will be instantly recognized someday as being from “Tangled.”

I found this Japanese movie poster, and I think it’s interesting they are calling the movie, “Ra-pun-zeru” instead of “Tangled.”

That’s one comment our local movie reviewer made — he thought it had a bad title. Hmmm… I sort of like the title because her long hair does cause her to get tangled up in all sorts of messes — and it also makes it much easier to get boys to the theater. They wouldn’t want to see a “princess” movie (yuk!) but they’ll go see an adventure tale with a sword-bearing, swashbuckling hero who rescues his princess from the dangers of the evil world.