Two movies in two days: Harry Potter with the fun grandson; Tangled with five of them to watch Disney. Tangled is the better movie, being full of wicked but not irredeemable characters. Harry Potter is just too dark, to focussed on teenaged angst and romance and the terrible take-over of the magic world by unmitigated fascists and racists.
Harry Potter is more real in that it delves deep into the terrible facts of history. Potter could be a resistance fighter in any nation seeking to overthrow a dictator of evil intent. The echo of the Nazis is too loud and too real. Maybe the kids come to see a kiss do not notice this. Maybe the intent is to warn them of the ravages that do occur when evil people are allowed to prevail. But it was just too dark, too real, to horrible, for an evening’s entertainment.
By contrast, Tangled deals with extreme evil in a way that is individual not national. One wicked old woman steals a child for dubious purposes, but at least society remains sane in the face of individual evil. We do not see a whole society sink to evil and grovelling abject terror as we endure in Harry Potter.
There is a bit of romance in Tangled but not so much as to slow the action, and just enough, as in opera, to support some good music
Although this is a bold Disney movie with the “hero” being a thief and self-centered egotist. With the hardy warriors being all but gay. With the princess being the chief CEO of a social enterprise. With near dramatic death and redemption by a tear. This is almost rough going. But the kids loved it and laughed and cried at the right moments. And that is all you want over the Thanksgiving weekend with eight rowdy grandkids to entertain.
Thank you very much for your most interesting article of the great performance of Rigoletto in LA Opera.
Yes, Gianluca Terranova is one of the very, very best tenor, a real juwel in the world of opera. He has a fantastic, beautiful, expressive and exciting tenor voice, such wonderful qualities that we can hardly found today.
He is our absolute favorite singer and we are travelling everywhere, to hear and see him on the stage! He has also a great and loveable stage appearences! With one word: He is really fantastic!