A Look at Disney Halloween Special: Mother Knows Best: A Tale of The Old Witch

Ah, the day of Halloween has arrived and that brings us to our final review of the season. We turn to the works of Serena Valentino once again.  In the past, we have looked at two of her books that delve into the lives of Disney Villains before and after the events of their respective movies.   Well, it was announced earlier this year, that the fifth book in her series would focus on Mother Gothel.   The villain of my favorite Disney movie, nay my favorite movie.  So, I was curious and wanted to look at it. I just had to find the right time and I felt that Halloween was the perfect day to review this.  If you have read my past reviews of her books, you'll know that they were mixed as I enjoyed her book about The Evil Queen but loathed her Ursula book as it really wasn't about Ursula. Where do I fall on her Gothel book?  I'm mixed, part of me wishes that I hated it more as it would make for a more entertaining review but at the same time, I wish that I liked it more.   I find myself stuck in the middle with this book as it's not bad but it could be so much better.  It's still not a great book and there are some problematic implications within this book.  We will get to that as I look at the book in more detail as I look at the plot of the book.  (Also, I apologize about not getting to the other reviews but I'll do those next year).   

Cover

We've talked about this before with Valentino's other books but these covers are just so drab and boring.  However, it is uniformed with the other books in her series.  But I still find it kinda dull.

The Plot

I'll give Valentino this much with this book as she is very extensive in covering a wide timeline of Gothel's life from when she is a young witch in training to becoming  the villain that we know the villain in the movie.  However, it takes a long time to get there as the book can really be divided into two halves.   Before Gothel kills her mother and after Gothel kills her mother.   As the book opens in a forest outside the kingdom that is never once named Corona and this forest is known as the Dead Woods and this forest is only accessible to witches.  When the story starts out,  Gothel as a young woman seems a very loving and caring woman that hopes to one day take her mother's position as Queen of the Dead. Which entails raising and killing people that are hiding the dead.  This is a ritual that is done by taking the blood of the previous Queen and Gothel wanted to share this with her sisters, Primrose and Hazel but Prim, the youngest of the three refused to do this.  This is when Gothel felt that she had no choice but to kill her mother as at one point, she was willing to drain the life from Gothel's sisters.   And they were getting sicker by the moment and they even begged their sister to let them die.   Oh, and this brings us to one of the most important things, the flower. Yes, you remember the flower from the movie.  Well, it turns out that it is the responsibility of the witches to protect the flower. And just guess, what the name of the flower is?   Any guesses, the flower is called the rapunzel flower.  I kid you not.   I was going to chalk this up to laziness but I did look this up and there is precedent here as the original fairy tale took it's name from a real flower known as Campanula rapunculus.  

  

So okay, that is a cool touch and the flower does come to play a large part in the story.  But instead of it being used to keep Rapunzel young,  Gothel uses it in the hopes to bring her sisters back to life.  And even before the Queen uses it, when she falls ill giving birth to Rapunzel, the guards come to find it in the Dead Woods and take it for the previous queen as Gothel is warned by her commanding dead ghost that had a love affair with her mother, Jacob that they need to go.  And that is when Gothel leaves the Dead Woods and moves into the kingdom with the bodies of her sisters and the flower.   Oh,  I've forgotten something as Valentino's characters, The Odd Sisters play a rather prominent role showing up looking for something to help them find their young sister but they lie to Gothel and say that they have come to help her sisters but that is far from the truth.     And this is an issue as the book is really interesting before they show up but then the book shifts focus to them for the latter half. It's not as bad as the Ursula book, where they were the main characters in a book that was supposed to be about Ursula but still, I feel they took up too much time.

Now, I'll mention that the book does have some interesting and eerie moments such as when Gothel's mother, Manea sends her army of ghosts to attack a family hiding a dead body and tells her second-in-command, Jacob to leave the wife alive but only because she wants her to remember what she saw that night or when Manea looks into Gothel's heart and sees nothing but blackness.  And you even get a rather tragic moment, when Manea kills Gothel's sisters and the words of Gothel's sister, Hazel is.

Let us die

I'll give the book this,  it takes time to set up, Gothel's sisters, Primrose and Hazel before they are killed off.  And while Hazel isn't developed that well in my opinion, Primrose is interesting as she is the youngest and the face of innocence living in the Dead Woods and wants no part of being a witch even though she knew all her life that is what she would be one day.  Her being so innocent actually made her death that much more impactful than I would've thought.   I'll even mention that there are some intense moments with Little Rapunzel such as when her nanny, Mrs. Tiddlebottom finds Gothel and The Odd Sisters using the young girl as a way to resurrect Gothel's sisters.  It is important to note that they had been dead for hundreds of years at this point.

Okay, while there is a lot to like in this book, I do have some issues.  Let me start with a minor one,  it seemed an odd decision in the book to have Gothel name Rapunzel as she named her after the flower but I don't think that goes against anything in the movie that much.  And it also works to show that Gothel doesn't view Rapunzel as not a human but an object akin to this line from Mother Knows Best.

Shh! Trust me, pet

So, that's fine and that works to show that Gothel is a terrible mother but before we get to an issue involving this number, I have to bring up some issues with the hero characters from the movie.   As I mentioned, Gothel has a maid that serves as a nanny to Rapunzel , which means that for a part of Rapunzel's life, she does not live in the tower.  No instead for the first eight years of Rapunzel's life is that she is raised by her nanny in a cottage while Gothel continually tries to figure out how to bring her sisters back to life.   It's an excessive change and it does kinda contradict the idea that the tower was the only home that Rapunzel knew for the first 18 years of her life.   Oh, and Rapunzel wasn't moved to the tower until she was 8 and from when she was 8 to 18, she was placed under a sleeping curse where she only believed that Gothel raised her.   Meaning that something such as this is a false memory for Rapunzel in this book.

 












Which again is a bit frustrating as there is one brief moment in the movie, when Rapunzel reaches out for Gothel as she dies showing that she still cared for her somewhat.

Or perhaps one of the most egregious changes is that Flynn doesn't just stumble upon the tower after stealing the crown.  It was fate in the book as The Odd Sisters compelled him to do these things, not because they loved Rapunzel from posing as her aunts but because they hated Gothel and wanted to see Gothel be miserable.   I'm sorry but no, that undercuts the growth that Flynn went through on the path to being Eugene again.  I could mention how The Odd Sisters gave Pascal as a gift to 8-year old Rapunzel instead of Pascal and Rapunzel meeting after a snake killed Pascal's mom and they become friends after Little Rapunzel realizes that they are both lonely as seen in the show but that is relatively minor.

I can chalk that up to the show and this book being different continuities but that brings me to something that I found infuriating.   Okay,  this book is titled after Gothel's villain number same as Ursula's book and much like that book, this one adapts the song into a chapter. However, whereas Poor Unfortunate Soul was played straight in the book for the Sea Witch, Mother Knows Best doesn't get the same respect as The Odd Sisters are watching through a mirror and laughing hysterically at how bad a mother, Gothel is.   Okay, while that number is flamboyant and over-the-top, it serves a purpose to be that over dramatic in the movie.   As it was meant to scare Rapunzel and use her fear of the unknown of what lies beyond the tower. 

And as that gif shows, it worked.  Let's also address something, while Gothel had her comedic moments, she was not a comedic villain.   She was cunning, manipulative and destroyed a young girl's life.   So by undercutting this song, you are demeaning the status of the villain that is meant to be the main character of this story.

I could give the book some leeway as the book does adapt the reprise into a chapter and plays it straight but this is still frustrating.  

So, this book isn't bad and it's far and above an improvement over the Ursula book but I do wish that it had ended before the events of the movie came into play as when Valentino brings the events of the movie  into the book, it becomes less interesting.   The story about Gothel growing up as a witch and trying to be a successor for her mother and bringing her sisters back to life is a fascinating read.  This book is uneven as the original stuff is pretty good but the stuff from the movie just doesn't really work.



  Characters


Gothel


Valentino does a good job with Gothel as showing her as the villain she was in the movie and as the young girl that loved her sisters before she went crazy from loneliness.  It really drove her insane but that does bring me to a bit of an issue with this story and the Ursula story that I reviewed earlier this summer.  This trend of showing stories from the eyes of villains was popularized by Wicked, more so the musical than the book.

But let's look at something here of importance that distinguishes The Wicked Witch and The Wicked Queen who was the focus from Valentino's first book to characters such as Gothel.   I'm not saying characters such as The Wicked Queen or The Wicked Witch didn't have personalities as they did but they weren't as well defined as villains that would follow them.   Her main trait in their respective movies was to be scary and they accomplished that rather well.   But by the time, you get villains such as Gothel,  villains have become more well-rounded characters.  We already went over what Gothel's main personality was in the movie.


 And well, perhaps you could argue that Valentino could have had more room to play with as Gothel is the newest character that she's written about and not a whole lot has been developed about her outside the movie.   Let's take a look see here, at something.  Her first book about The Wicked Queen came out 72 years after the fact,   her book about the Beast came out 23 years after the animated movie,  her book about Ursula came out 23 years after the movie whereas this had an eight year gap between movie and book.  What I'm getting at here is that those three characters had become Disney classics by the time, they're books had come out and while I love Tangled, I don't know if Gothel is there yet.   So, I think that this allowed Valentino more wiggle room to create mythos for Gothel as she's still relatively new. 


So, I'm mixed here as we have a villain that is rather well defined in her movie but really hasn't much building upon her character in outside material. The most I can think of in that regard is that it was shown that Gothel made Rapunzel scared of Christmas in a Christmas story.

So again, I'm mixed on this as a whole.   It's not a bad characterization of Gothel but I don't know how much it fits with the Gothel of the movie.



Supporting Characters


Primrose and Hazel


I actually really liked Gothel's sisters as they were really supportive of their sister and you could really feel the love that Gothel had for these two as she went out of her way to do everything in her power to bring them back to life.   As the three had a mantra that really summed their sisterhood.   And made it sting even more for Gothel after they died.

Sisters together forever

 Jacob


Once again,  I gotta give props to Valentino for developing an interesting character that was such an interesting part of Gothel's familial life.  Yeah,  you kinda have to look past the implications that Gothel's mother had a love with him and need I remind you, that he's a spirit.  Looking past that, you get the sense that he cares for Gothel and her sisters in fraternal sense and serves as the loving parent that they didn't have in their life.   Now, I may have misread  Gothel's feelings towards Jacob but there was a sense that she cared for him in a way that could be misconstrued as having a crush on him but I find that minor because he was such a good character and he was finally allowed to rest after the guards came to the Dead Woods, the first time,  there was a tinge of sadness but also release.



Lucinda, Ruby, & Martha



I hate these characters so much.  I knew that they would be in this book as Valentino uses them to bridge all of her stories together but they eat up so much page space , when these books are meant to focus on the villains that are on the cover of their respective books.  It's not as bad her Ursula book, where they end up becoming the main characters.  That's not the case here thankfully and it is a good while before they show up in the story and come and go infrequently but even when they show up,  they do sometimes take the focus away from Gothel.




Villain


Manea


This character was my biggest concern when this book was announced and Oh My Disney posted an excerpt of the first chapter online.  And well, I don't think my fears were unfounded as it was shown that Manea was a terrible mother to Gothel.   And I can see what Valentino was going for with this character as she wanted to show that Gothel was a terrible mother as she had a terrible mother.   I don't want to say that it was she used this way to justify Gothel's actions as I really hope that wasn't the case but the problematic aspect of this character comes from how she's used as this character seems to imply that if you had a terrible parent, you'll be a terrible parent. 


As a character herself, Manea was shown to be a being of complete evil and not caring for anyone save maybe Jacob but she always thought Gothel's sisters especially Primrose were weak.    She served her purpose well but I'm still mixed on what she was meant to represent.



My Final Thoughts



This is not a bad book and it's certainly better than the last outing that we looked at from Valentino over the summer but I find myself mixed as I felt there were some problematic such as Manea and the alterations made to the events from the movie were a bit annoying.  But when the book was telling an original story about Gothel before the events of the movie, this was a decent book that delved into her descent into villainy and becoming who she was in the movie.  Still, I think the book would've been a little better if it had ended before the events of the movie started. 



Happy Halloween!

Villains Profile: Yokai

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we close out this year's Villains Profile as we look at the villain of Big Hero 6.  And man, I wanted to like this villain.  Big Hero 6 isn't a bad movie but it's probably my least favorite of the new batch of Disney movies that have come out since Princess and the Frog.  It's not bad but it feels wanting.   Now, this movie is based on an obscure Marvel title that from what  I understand, not even a lot of Marvel fans were aware of.  

Oh, and that green looking monster on the cover is Baymax as he appeared in the comics.   There is a certain irony that IDW will be putting out comics based on the new TV show that is a continuation of the movie.  It's odd as it was supposed to be released in July but nothing has been seen of it. 

So, while we are looking at a movie that is an adaption, it is as The Dom would say In-Name Only but that's really no different than a lot of the Disney fairy tale movies.   I am going to do this a little differently than I did with my first entry as some source indicate that this character served as the basis for Yokai in this movie.  You can read his Villains Wiki entry for more on this character, Lord Deathstrike.

The design maybe but again as I've brought up, this is a loose adaption.  So yeah, he could have been the inspiration.  Anyways, let's move on to the actual contents.

Voice Actor

James Cromwell

James Cromwell does a good job at voicing Robert Callaghan.   As Yokai, his villainous identity is mostly a silent antagonist and we will touch on this in the Personality section because while that was a good idea,  I'm not sure if it worked.  Cromwell was really good in the role but I do wish that he had been given a bit more to do.

First Appearance

Now, like some of the other entries that we have done throughout this event,  I feel that we have two different First Appearances to look at.  Callaghan's first Appearance and Yokai's first Appearance.   Let me address something really quick,  I will be using Yokai throughout this blog, even though that name is never used in the movie. 

Robert Callaghan is first introduced, when Tadashi takes Hiro to SFIT and there, we see that Callaghan is a smart man that seems to be very kind and pleasant and is able to convince Hiro to at this point still a bot-fighter to join SFIT after Tadashi reveals that Callaghan had invented the tech that Hiro uses in his bot fighting.  There's really not much of a feeling for him here. 

When the movie shows Yokai for the first time after Hiro and Baymax see him in the warehouse using Hiro's microbots,  there is an idea that he is a menace but again, there isn't a whole lot to him here. 

  

Personality

I'm going to quote the Disney Wiki's trivia section from the Yokai page as it brings up something that is a seed of a good idea for this character.

Yokai represents Callaghan's dark side. Whenever the man shows a hint of morality throughout the film, the mask of Yokai is off; but when he allows his bitterness and hatred to take control, the mask returns and villainy ensues. This in its own way gives Callaghan an almost split personality.

This idea could work and I see what the movie was going for, but Callaghan quote-unquote dies so early in the movie that I feel like the movie never allows the audience to get to know Callaghan before Yokai is brought into the movie.

So, it's a seed of a good idea and there are hints at the end that Callaghan feels regret for his actions as Yokai when his daughter is saved at the end of the movie but I'm still not sure if it works. 


Grand Desire


He wants revenge on Krei for what happened to his daughter and there, I can't blame him.   This is one thing that is set up rather well as the movie makes it clear throughout that Callaghan does not like Krei and when you discover what happened to his daughter, you feel for him.

And considering Krei is a bit of sleazeball,  I don't exactly feel bad for Callaghan/Yokai threatening him.

Most Evil Deed



This is a bit hard to pin down and not because Yokai/Callaghan is a sympathetic villain, which he is in a way but more because he doesn't do a whole lot in the movie.  If I had to narrow it down, maybe letting Tadashi die.  Even though,  that really wasn't his fault but considering he had Hiro's microbots to protect him,  if he had truly cared about his student, he could have helped Tadashi. 

Which before this, when it's revealed that Callaghan is Yoaki, we get one of the darkest moments in the movie as Hiro sets Baymax to destroy his former professor.

Demise


Callaghan goes to take everything away from Krei at a big presentation and Big Hero 6 shows up to stop him but it seems that he has the upper hand until Hiro remembers his brother's advice to look at the problem from a new angle and our heroes are able to defeat Yokai this way as he runs out of microbots.  And Baymax crushes the mask and it ends with Callaghan being arrested but not before his daughter is saved and he gets to see her, one last time.

With his arrest,  you get a sense of regret towards his actions as he his actions have caused him to lose his chance at reuniting with his daughter after she is saved.   It's small but it does help somewhat to show the human side of Callaghan/Yokai.



Is Yokai a Good Villain?



He's fine.  There's nothing special about this character that makes him really stand out and Big Hero 6 has gone up against more threatening foes.   Disney Channel has been airing the first season of Big Hero 6: The Series and the main villain of the show, Obake has proven to be a more interesting threat to the team.

But putting aside, the TV show, Yokai is an okay character but I really think more could have been done with him.


Well, we are all done with Villains Profile but we have one review left for Halloween.  Join me on Halloween night as we look at a book about the villain of my favorite Disney movie.

  

Villains Profile: Royal Pain

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our look at Disney's non-MCU supervillains as we head to Sky High as we look at a villain that seems to take inspiration from the more absurd stories of comics that are more or less mocked nowadays.  Where things got a little bizarre such as Superman being able to shoot little versions of himself out of his fingers or as we will discuss with Royal Pain's Grand Desire, turning heroes into babies. This happened in a number of comics, i.e. Batbaby.

It's a dumb and silly concept that makes the threat level of these villains seem small compared to some of the big plots that we see from more modern day baddies.   However,  I think that this lies more in the execution and how the villain uses this and what they plan to do with it.   And this is something that we will touch upon a bit more when we get to Royal Pain's Grand Desire but I think for her character, it's actually the least important aspect of her character.



Actor

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Considering the year that this movie came out,   I believe that Winstead wasn't as  big a star as she is today. Sure, she had had some acting roles before this but her big break would come in the other comic book movie of her career, Scott Pilgrim. 

Something interesting to consider here as Winstead seems like she was cast to play the crush/popular girl that our main character,  Will Stronghold falls for and that is the case with this movie but as the movie goes on, it lets the audience observe that it is much more than a typical high school movie. I've mentioned in past that I am a fan of the podcast, Junkfood Cinema and in their episode on this movie, they mentioned that this movie is a mashup of '80s high school movies and superhero movies.   And this is something that I will try to go into greater length about as the article goes on but that does make quite a bit of sense.   And I do believe that when you first see Winstead playing the supposed love interest in this movie, the audience is meant to buy into the high school aspect.


Voice Actor



Yes, we actually have another actor to look at here and one that has worked with Disney quite a bit in the past.   



Patrick Warburton

When Royal Pain is in her armor,  she uses a voice modulator a la Ghostface from the Scream franchise and many other famous villains to make her voice sound more intimidating and the voice here is provided by an acting great especially in voice-over, Patrick Warburton.  I cannot recall if Warburton was credited as the voice of Royal Pain or not but it was a fun touch, even if you don't get to see Warburton onscreen.   Still cool to see Kronk get to voice the main villain in a Disney movie and he actually does a lot of the heavy lifting as we do see Royal Pain spy on the Stronghold family throughout and hear her voice.  This is something that I'll touch on a bit more as this article goes on,  the scenes with Royal Pain seem very Power Rangers esque. 



First Appearance



Much like with the Neville Sinclair entry from earlier this month, I feel that we have two different First Appearances to look at.  The First Appearance of Gwen Grayson and the First Appearance of Royal Pain.  Let's start with the latter.

We meet Gwen on the first day of school for the heroes to be and this goes back to what I brought up when talking about Winstead playing the villain.  She is shown as a quote-unquote nice girl that seems to have the best interest of the new students at heart as Student Body President and of course, with the lead Will having a crush on Gwen, one is led to believe that she is a character that the audience should care about.   But as the movie goes on,  the audience learns that isn't so much the case.

Royal Pain is first seen in a flashback as The Commander (Kurt Russell)  explains how he obtained his most prized souvenir,  The Pacifier.  It's quick and just shows this baddie being taken out, which is pretty cool to watch. 




Personality


Before I get too far into Royal Pain's personality, I want to focus in on the pseudonym that Royal Pain uses for herself as a student at Sky High.  It's a combo of two popular comics characters,  as she goes by Gwen Grayson.  Taking her name from Peter Parker's first love interest and the last name is from the hat of the first Robin.   Kinda funny, when I see those names, I now think of Spider-Gwen and Nightwing more.  (And yes I know Spider-Gwen is a different Gwen Stacy)

 




I just find it interesting that this character has taken the name of two characters I either think of as heroes or as being on the side of good guys.  I might be reading into this a bit much but I think that this false name could also be a way as giving the audience a false sense of security, that or it's just a fun comic book nod.


Now, looking at Royal Pain/Gwen's personality.  She is spiteful and manipulative.   Yes, she wears a facade of caring about Will but that is only so that she could gain access to The Commander's Secret Sanctum to gain access to her weapon so that she can use it in her evil scheme.   This ties into how Royal Pain was a misunderstood student, Sue Tenny that went to high school with Will's parents and was shunned because they didn't understand her powers. 

Which this is something else that seems fascinating to bring up,  Royal Pain as Sue Tenny was considered a nerd that no-one at the school really liked and it seemed that a bonus for her after The Pacifier being destroyed was that she got to re-experience high school and it turned out better for her, the second time around as she was now the popular girl that was also smart that people loved hanging around.

Now, in no way does that make me any more sympathetic towards what she does but at the same time,  it is an interesting observation to point out. 



Grand Desire


I'll let Royal Pain explain this one. 

I take you back, my dear Commander, to your senior year at Sky High, a time before anyone knew what a Technopath was. So, a brilliant, but misunderstood girl named Sue Tenny was written off as a science geek and stuck in sidekick class. She hatched a plan, so daring, so visionary, to start her own super villain academy and raise a generation of heroes from scratch as villains. But first, she had to destroy the very institution that dared to spurn her genius! And now, so many years later, that plan is complete. My only regret: This may be the finest super-villain speech ever given - and you don't even know what I'm saying!

It's a bit elaborate to be sure and as I brought up in the intro, the idea of heroes being turned into babies is a trope that was used quite a bit in older comics that were more child-friendly.   Yes,  in the intro I used Batbaby but that is not the only example. 

While Royal Pain's plan takes inspiration from some of these more absurd stories, there is some validity to her idea that re-raising heroes as villains could work except for two lines. 

No one could defeat Royal Pain. When the Pacifier exploded, I wasn't destroyed. I was merely turned into a baby. Stitches took me in and raised me as his daughter.

I went through puberty twice - for *this*?

Again, I'm most likely overthinking things with these lines but I have to wonder if Stitches had to re-teach Royal Pain who she was or if those memories came back to her as she re-grew up.   That idea isn't exactly made clear but to give Royal Pain's plan some benefit of the doubt, I'd just have to assume that if her plan had succeeded,  the pacified heroes would have forgotten their old lives and their brains would have been warped and they would have forgotten their past lives.  But in order for her plan to work,  Royal Pain needed to remember who she was as she re-grew up. 




When you don't think about Royal Pain's desire too hard, it seems like it can work but it is still a little goofy but that fits the tone of the movie. 


Lackeys



Stitches

I brought this up throughout Royal Pain's entry but there were elements of her character that felt very Power Rangers esque and I think that is best examined through the interactions that Royal Pain has with Stitches as he is rather manic and more over-the-top than some of the other characters in the movie.  Tonally, he's not out of place as this is a superhero comedy but even then, something about this character bugged me.



Popular Students

I'm using a picture of Penny, one of the popular students  as an example of the other students that align with Gwen/Royal Pain and that touches  upon something that the movie brings up,  the classism of high school as we see the heroes students are the popular kids that are willing to put down the hero support kids that are viewed as the losers.   And this is seen during the party at Will's house when Gwen's facade slips and becomes a mean girl towards Layla.   Placing the popular students in a villainous role also seems to play into a high school fantasy trope of the underdog students getting to take down those that are above them and think that they are better than them.


Most Evil Deed



One could go the obvious route and say that Royal Pain pacifying the heroes is her most evil deed but I think her manipulation of Will is much worse as she was willing to play with the emotions of a teenage boy, just to get what she wanted.   And knowing that technically, she is an adult (sort of), that makes her playing with Will's emotions ten times worse.  Will did have real feelings for her as Gwen but she could care less about him and just used him to get what she wanted.



Demise


After a strong battle between Will after he gets his second power of fight and Royal Pain,  she ends up losing and we see Royal Pain and her cohorts in the detention center that deactivates the powers of those in there but as we are informed in the comic book style intro, they are all placed in prison.

It's a crime that fits the tone of the movie.


Is Royal Pain a Good Villain?


She's a character that fits the tone of the movie as it is fun and silly but I think that Royal Pain works there because this is a movie that is a fun movie.  Yes,  it does say some things about high school but it's more interested in giving the audience a good time and the character of Royal Pain is a villain that fits this nature.  She's not a "serious" villain and you can see that just by looking at what her scheme is.   This is a villain that you can't really look at in the same light as the other baddies that we have looked at here on Villain Profile.   Join me when we close out this event by looking at...


Yokai

A Look at Disney Gets Tangled for Halloween: The Wrath of Ruthless Ruth

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney.  Earlier this year, I did one of my most emotionally draining retrospectives as I looked at the first season of Tangled: The Series.   I had originally planned to spin this off into its own blog because of that but the more I thought about this, I decided to keep A Look at Disney Gets Tangled as a segment here for A Look at Disney as this is a Disney series.   Having said that,  A Look at Disney Gets Tangled will have one rule and that'll make more sense when we get to the Halloween review I have planned for the 31st.   A Look at Disney Gets Tangled will only look at episodes and material that relates to Tangled: The Series or Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure as that show has been retitled in it's currently airing second season.   With that out of the way, we are looking at an episode from the show's first season that aired last October as we look at The Wrath of  Ruthless Ruth.  This is an episode that I did not look at, originally because during the first season retrospective, I was mainly focusing on episodes that I felt were key to the overarching story that season one was telling.  And this episode didn't tie into that story as it seemed to take place before the story really was hit into high gear.   With that outta the way, let's go ahead and look at this ghost of an episode.


The Plot





The plot is admittedly a bit simple and this episode is one of the first times that the audience really gets a sense of how Frederic (Rapunzel's father for those of you, that may not have read the original reviews)  can go a bit overboard in trying to protect his daughter.   As he orders the guards to discreetly follow his daughter after seeing all of the events that she had endured as Rapunzel had written about them in her journal. This is only the thirteenth episode of the entire series and well, Rapunzel has been put through worse than what happened in the first 12 episodes including the most horrifying episode of the entire series that was most definitely inspired by the Pleasure Island sequence from Pinnochio.  When Rapunzel and Cassandra are turned into birds and are slowly losing their humanity.

That's something I should touch upon with this episode, it's not scary, even though this show has shown that can do that as with the image I used above.   However, this episode does have quite the right atmosphere for this time of year as Corona is crowded in fog and thunder.

This is a great way to set the mood and make this episode perfect for October.  Rapunzel notices the guards, and she and Pascal decide to shake them off by heading to the Snugly Duckling and that is where the rest of the episode will take place.  Soon after, Rapunzel arrives at the pub, the Captain shows up to take Rapunzel back to the castle but no-one is going anywhere as all the roads are flooded.  So instead, Captain decides to build a fire by throwing a club on the wall of the pub into the fire or rather attempts to but the pub thugs stop him as they tell the story of the club's owner, Ruthless Ruth.  And to quote the Disney Wiki.

It once belonged to the original owner of the Snuggly Duckling, Ruthless Ruth, who was considered the meanest pub thug to have ever lived. The club she owned was called the "Listen Up" club, which she used to intimidate her customers. Legend has it that anyone who disturbs it will encore the wrath of the Ruthless Ruth's wraith

The captain doesn't believe any of this as he seems to scoff at the idea of ghosts, even with everything going on around the pub.  And this is shown when the ghost of Ruthless Ruth possesses Shorty (the most annoying character in this franchise)  and warns them that they will be trapped inside the pub unless they figure out what she wants.

The captain isn't having any of this and would rather take his chance in the storm as Rapunzel learns more about Ruth from the thugs about how she'd use her Listen Up Club to terrorize the kingdom and after each rampage would carve a marking into her club for a job well done.  Around this time, instruments in the pub start playing by themselves and other ghostly happenings start to take place.

  And we learn that the only way for our characters to be free is for everyone to Listen Up.   It is getting close to the next day as Rapunzel still hasn't figured out what Ruth but discovers that Ruth's club is held in a display by a tuning fork.  While on the stage,  Rapunzel discovers a secret music room, while Ruth keeps sending the thugs and the Captain through various portals while they attempt to escape.  Rapunzel learns the truth that Listen Up means that Ruth wants them to listen to her song and that the markings on the club are actually musical notes for Ruth's song.

But the Captain isn't having any of this and really shows himself to be an antagonistic force in the episode and breaks the club. Ruth is less than pleased by this and starts attacking the pub and takes control of the thugs to attack the Captain.  Until Rapunzel pleas with her to stop and that her song may be gone but her dream still lives on within her and that convinces Ruth to go ahead and sing and we get a rousing number but even then, it takes some nudging to get the Captain to sing along.   After going through this number, Ruth is freed as morning rises and she is able to move onto the afterlife.   And this is something interesting that I'm gonna quote from the DisneyWiki as it foreshadows something that would happen in a future episode of the series. 

Rapunzel prepares to confront her father on his actions. Before she can, however, she witnesses just how traumatized and broken her father truly is, and comes to understand that his actions are genuinely out of love. Because of this, Rapunzel makes the decision to hold off on any confrontation.

Rapunzel would finally confront her father about his actions in an episode close to the end of the season in The Alchemist Returns.  Which is important as this episode shows that while Frederic loves his daughter, he can go a bit too far in trying to protect her.  That's perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of this episode character-wise for me.   

In all, this is a decent episode that is fun for this time of year but not my favorite.

Characters

Main Characters

Rapunzel voiced by Mandy Moore 

This was a decent episode for Rapunzel as it really showed her being the helpful woman that she has always been and willing to listen.  And putting others' needs before her own to ensure that they get to live out their dreams and I appreciate how this episode ends with Ruth telling Rapunzel to take her own advice. 

Ruthless Ruth voiced by Danielle Brooks

Ruth is a likable character and sure, it's nothing new to have a ghost that isn't actually evil but the idea here is that she just wants people to listen to her as alluded to her by the name of her song.  She may not be evil but she does have a bit of a mean streak and was willing to do whatever it takes to get people to listen to her.   

Supporting Characters

Pub Thugs voiced by Jeff Ross,  Jeffery Tambor,  Steve Blum, Charles Hartford, & Paul F. Tompkins 

Admittedly, after setting up the story of Ruthless Ruth, the Pub Thugs didn't get a whole lot to do in this episode but they were still entertaining in the episode.

Captain of the Guards voiced by M.C. Gainey

Captain was the antagonistic force of this episode as he at first didn't believe that there actually was a ghost.  Which is something that you have to take a bit with a grain of salt considering the fantastical world that this show takes place in.  I'm willing to overlook that somewhat but it does get a little grating at times.  Still, it is nice to see work past that.

Music

Listen Up

A decent number that is just about having fun and a good time.  No emotional beats in this number but this episode doesn't really need that as it was going for that kind of number.  It's fun and does a decent job of explaining why Ruth stuck around for so long.  

My Final Thoughts

A fun episode all around, not my favorite episode of the series but still a good one and it shows that this series can  be fun and not just the emotiojnal roller coaster that it was throughout the first season.  And it i a god episode for this time of year.  Peace!