Tangled Bonus Marathon - Tangled: The Junior Novelization
Introduction
So I started the Salt Marathon by watching the original movie, so it seems only right to kick off this spin-off marathon by reviewing an adaptation of that.
Now there are many book adaptations of the Tangled film, however they all either have some gimmick, like focusing on just one character’s point of view, or are simple picture book retellings. This one however seems to be the most complete and official re-telling of the whole story, it’s also a book that I happened to have on hand, so that’s what I’ve went with.
The Content
Disney pumps out these junior novelizations for most, if not all, of their main films. Having only read two in my whole life, this one and the Big Hero 6 novel, this rendition seems more accurate to the movie. Tangled: The Junior Novel really feels like a straight up screen to prose adaptation; as if the author got to watch the film first before writing the story, as oppose to just simply working off a script like most adaptation writers have to do.
On the one hand, Tangled is just an incredibly well written teleplay to begin with, so simply translating that to the page makes for a very good read. In fact, the book has to trim the fat, so to speak, and condense down some of the scenes due to necessity, making the story even tighter and more efficient.
However, it also lacks some of the little quirks and flourishes that I expect to find in novelizations. That’s not to say that the book doesn’t make use of it’s format, because it does. We get character insights galore and nice background elements from the movie are allowed to come more to the forefront. Yet, there’s nothing new here that you wouldn’t just get from watching the movie itself. The meat and potatoes are all there, but it could use a little seasoning, if you know what I mean.
That’s said, I really, really appreciate that the novel states that Gothel’s main motivation is, you know, not dying. It gives good insight into her thought processes without making her sympathetic, while still avoiding the trap of demonizing her. In fact all of the character work is good here and helps to elevate the more sparse material.
The Presentation
If I do have one real criticism of the book then it’s the illustrations. Which is to say, there isn’t any. Rather we get some selected screenshots from the film awkwardly shoved into the middle of the book without any sense of placement or context.
Tangled is is hardly unique in this regard. I have a handful of Star Wars novelizations that do the same thing, and it’s a practice that has always baffled me. Like, I understand that you want to sell the movie to people, but wouldn’t it make more sense to place the corresponding screenshots next to the page where they happen in the story like a real illustration?
There’s also this weird cut off where they won't show you any screen shots after a certain point in the film, as if they’re worried about spoilers... even though the book itself is a massive spoiler. So much so, that Disney has started delaying book adaptations of their bigger blockbusters until the movie is no longer in theaters. Which makes the sales gimmick of screenshots even more pointless.
Would I Recommend It
Eh, it depends on who you are, I guess. This is a book clearly meant for older grade schoolers. If you have a child in the 5th or 6th grade who is a Tangled fan then they would probably love this. And if you’re an adult, who, for whatever reason, wished to experience the movie again without watching it, well it’s not super challenging or anything, but you won't feel stupid for reading it either.
It’s easy to read without being condescendingly childish nor overly simple. The chapters are short and clip along at nice brisk pace. If you had the time, you could knock it out in a couple of hours. And if you are a kid at school or a kid at heart busy at work, you can easily pick it up and put it down in short bursts between chores.
For the hardcore collector though, you’ll probably want to give it a pass. Unless you have some sort of ultra niche reason for owning it, like I have, then you can pretty much skip it and just watch the movie itself.
What’s Next
So I just bought myself a used Kindle for work, and guess what I can get with my free month’s trial of Kindle Unlimited?
Yup, that’s right! I’m throwing in the official Tangled Manga into the review series!
In addition to this I’m hosting a streaming marathon along side the review series on my discord. This Thursday, March 31th, at 9PM EST, we’ll be ending Tangled month with a re-watch of the original film. So come join us if you can.
https://discord.gg/rB8ARU5kh2
Check out the Salt Gang community on Discord - hang out with 30 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.
