Tangled braids strands of traditional storytelling and a contemporary sensibility with stylish if predictable results.

　　 The script's sassy humor and the cast's vocal charm bring to jaunty life a flimsy Grimms' fairy tale. It tries for the appeal of Disney's animation heyday, but individual scenes borrow a bit too liberally from such movies as Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. It all feels very familiar.

　　 Mandy Moore plays the spunky-sweet, long-haired Rapunzel, who grows up confined to a tower thanks to the conniving Mother Gothel (a vocal scene-stealing Donna Murphy), who she believes is her overprotective mother.

　　 Truth is, she was born a princess to a queen whose mysterious illness was cured by a magic flower. That restorative magic was transferred to baby Rapunzel. Her glowing hair contains a huge perk: eternal youth.

　　 The little princess spends only a few days in the palace before Mother Gothel absconds with her human Fountain of Youth.

　　 We meet Rapunzel as an artsy teenager who, age-appropriately, yearns to break out of her confined existence. Of course, she breaks into song. Her signature number is nothing like that indelible opening scene in Beauty and the Beast, even though it tries to be.

　　 Luckily for Rapunzel, along comes this fairy tale's most wanted, the dashing Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levi), a bandit whom Rapunzel takes hostage.

　　 The two embark on an adventure and, as is Disney's tradition, anthropomorphized animals fill in the personality that the leads sometimes lack.

　　 The computer-generated animation is designed to look hand-drawn. With its vibrant color palette, there are some vividly beautiful images, most impressive of which is the release of hundreds of floating lanterns.

　　 Though the humor is uneven, the funniest segment takes place（英文影评） in a woodsy pub. It blends zany Monty Python-style humor with the seminal scene in Beauty and the Beast involving Gaston and Le Fou — not surprising since Beauty composer Alan Mencken co-wrote the original songs.

　　 As Disney princesses go, Rapunzel is more believable in her teenage histrionics, taking the audience along on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. After disobeying strict orders not to leave the tower, she flits between spasms of guilt and rapturous glee.

　　 Moments like this and the pub scene seem to offer a wink, bending the Disney formula in the same gently satirical direction that Shrek did.

　　 And yet the sensibility is muddled, as the sarcastic Mother Gothel plays the role of Rapunzel's loving mom sometimes convincingly.

　　 Though not exactly innovative, Tangled has a snappy pace and the Broadway-style appeal of classic Disney fare.