why can't Disney make movies THIS GOOD anymore?

For those of you who don't know, I have a bit of an interesting history with the movie Tangled. Way back when my channel was first taken off, I made a video about my first and last Tinder date. This was back when storytime animation was all the rage, you know? In that video, I went on a date with a girl who turned out to be a terrifying eldritch nightmare, and she was, like, obsessed with Tangled. Like, you have no idea. Check out that old video if you get a chance. Now, due to this experience, I've gone very far out of my way to think about Tangled as little as possible. But, you know, since I've gotten into doing 3D animated movies a bit more over the years, I figured it was about time to grow up and get over it. Now, Tangled came out in 2010, which is 15 years ago. 15 years ago. 15 years ago. 15 years ago. 15 years ago. Just to put that in perspective, 2025 to 2010 is the same distance as 2000 was from 1985. What is happening? But whatever, anyway, just gonna push that off the side for a while. Tangled was the beginning of Disney fully shedding any and all trace of those gross, dumb, stupid, baby 2D animated movies, and fully moving to 3D and only 3D, gosh darn it, which is going so well, by the way. Oh, never mind, these movies made a trillion dollars. Maybe we're the problem, actually. But all the same, summer truck's on, and for no reason in particular, I figured it was about time to finally check out Tangled. After 15 ye- Huh. 15 years. So, come along, everybody, let's check this movie out. This is the story of how I died. I went to Starbucks and picked up my glorified milkshake, and the cute barista said, Enjoy your drink. And I said, Yes, you too. And then I proceeded to walk into the ocean forever. So the backstory of this movie is that a long time ago, the queen was Prego. And she got sick, so the king sent everyone to go find this magical golden flower thing that is rumored to be able to heal anyone's anything. However, someone already found the flower hundreds of years ago. You see, instead of sharing the sun's gift, this woman, Mother Gothel, hoarded its healing power and used it to keep herself young for hundreds of years. What once was mine... Alright, you get the gist. She sings to it, she turns young. Creepy, right? Nah, man, I get it. You know, Ben, I wish I could do that. I mean, my entire YouTube channel is basically just me being like, I still think about Tsunami. Creepy crawlers, double pair, silver monkeys. Remember back when games actually came with a manual? Playing Jump Start, Fifth Grade, and Oregon Trail. Because everything is cool when you're ten. Crappy licensed games, that's where I belong. Nothing now is as good as it was then. At least that's what I tell myself. Because I'm old and falling off the shelf. Everything's dumb except whatever I liked when I was ten. Anyway, so eventually the palace guards do find the golden flower and take it back to the castle to heal the queen. The magic of the golden flower healed the queen. A healthy baby girl. A princess was born. With beautiful golden hair. I'm sorry, but this has got to raise some questions. Hey, honey, how come our kid kinda looks like your yoga instructor? Now, the old lady from before isn't too thrilled about her magic flower being defiled like this. That sounded way less weird on paper. Whatever. And she kidnaps Rapunzel and keeps her locked up in her cool, mysterious tower. Because, turns out, the magic-ness-hood-ship of the flower was transferred into Rapunzel's hair? What once was my hair? Gothel had found her new magic flower. But this time, she was determined to keep it hidden. Why can't I go outside? The outside world is a dangerous place, filled with horrible, selfish people. No, seriously though, Rapunzel, you don't know how good you have it. Do you have any idea what I would do to be able to just throw everything away and live in some old tower in a mystical forest? No, seriously, Rapunzel, you go out there, all that's waiting for you is sitting in meetings for 45 minutes so all you can say is, Nope, nothing from my end. Every day until the sun explodes. Anyway, so that's pretty much Rapunzel's life for the next however many years, until we reach the current day. Hmm. Well, I guess Pascal's not hiding out here. Gotcha! That's 22 for me. How about 23 out of 45? Uh-oh, she's one of those weird homeschooled kids now. So Rapunzel's mom, Gothel, right? For being someone who's never had any kids of her own and lived in a forest for like hundreds of years, she sure has that negging, backhanded mom thing down so perfectly. Welcome home, mother. Ugh, Rapunzel, how you manage to do that every single day without fail. It looks absolutely exhausting, darling. Oh, it's nothing. Then I don't know why it takes so long. Oh, darling, I'm just teasing. Mm-hmm. I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady. Oh, look, you're here too. OMG, wow, you're like so funny, mom. You know, that's some big talk for someone whose eyes take up half their face. People like this are so annoying, right? Because like, you know that if you ever lobbed back half of the stuff they throw at you, they would get so upset. But whatever. Anyway, so Rapunzel's 18th birthday is coming up tomorrow, and she has a little something to ask Gothel. Oh, well, I was hoping you would take me to see the floating lights. Oh, you mean the stars. That's the thing. I charted stars, and they're always constant. Oh, jeez, okay. You really are one of those homeschool kids. They appear every year on my birthday, mother. I need to see them, mother, and not just from my window, in person. You want to go outside? Why, Rapunzel. She then proceeds to sing a song about how moms know everything, and you should just do whatever they say. Oh, Alex, trust me. Girls want a guy who's sensitive and caring and makes them feel special. No, mom, I'm in high school. Girls want to do their hair and makeup for three hours so they can be ignored at a football game by some dude with the IQ of a gym sock. Anyway, so Rapunzel's like, harumph, harumph, but decides to stay in the tower like her mom says. Now, while this is all happening, back in the castle, some dude named Flynn Rider has stolen the royal crown. And now he's on the run from the castle guards via one of their own horses. No. Stop it. Stop it. And then, somehow, by the power of happenstance, he finds this random old tower in the forest and, like, climbs up, and guess what happens. So, after shoving him in the closet very gracefully... You know, can I just say, okay, watch this movie back now. It really does feel like a 3D version of, like, a 2D 90s Disney movie, but, like, in a good way, right? It feels so good to watch, especially compared to more modern stuff where everyone's constantly fidgeting and moving all the time. You know, Moana 2 or Wish or even, like, Encanto. But you can see how Tangled is animated with intent and purpose. Like, they're not afraid to let characters stand still for more than half a second. Like, this movie was good when it came out, but, like, retroactively, it's made so much better by just how lackluster Disney movies are today. If only we could've known how good we had it, but whatever. Anyway, in this guy's things, Rapunzel finds a crown? You know, complete tangent here, but, like, going back to my Tinder story I mentioned earlier, I didn't realize until much later that... Like, I wonder if maybe she thought I kinda sorta looked like Flynn? Which makes it all so much worse. Like, imagine if I only dated girls who looked like Shego from Kim Possible. Actually, wait, never mind, that sounds pretty awesome. Anyway, back to these two chuckle-yucks. So, every year on her birthday, Rapunzel's been watching the sky light up with these crazy lights. And Flynn tells her that those are lanterns the people of the kingdom put out every year to remember the blonde-haired, green-eyed princess who was kidnapped 18 years ago. Rapunzel's like, huh, that's weird. Anyway, and she makes a deal with him that if he takes her to see the lanterns up close, she'll give him back that crown he stole. Let me just get this straight. I take you to see the lanterns, bring you back home, and you'll give me back my satchel? I promise. And when I promise something, I never, ever break that promise. Unless it turns out that it takes more effort than I initially thought. In which case, I'll become frustrated and somehow I'll turn it around on you for putting expectations on me to do something that I said I would do. Alright, listen, I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder. What is this face? This is like how I've seen guys at the gym trying to flirt where it's like, Hey, you want some advice from someone who doesn't actually know what they're doing? But you know, watching this now with the two and a half brain cells I have left in 2025, I mean, Flynn is pretty much just, you know, Deadpool or Tony Stark or whatever. But this was back in 2010 before the whole, like, wink-wink postmodern ironic Disney Marvel stuff was a thing. But it's interesting to see how Disney was doing ironic parodies of itself like 15 years ago. Nowadays, this is very overplayed, but at the time, this was probably a pretty bold choice. This is kind of an off day for me. This doesn't normally happen. Fine, I'll take you to see the lanterns. Really? And so thus begins their journey together. Rapunzel tells Gothel that she wants some special paint for her birthday. And to go get these paints, Gothel's going to be gone for a couple of days, which should be just enough time for Flynn to take Rapunzel to see the lanterns and then bring her back home. And so she leaves the tower for the first time ever. I just want to give a quick shout out to whoever it was at Disney who thought it was really important that Rapunzel be barefoot for the entire movie. Okay, so like, yeah, sure, her hair is magical and it changes length constantly depending on the scene. And also there's like 14 other things that don't really make any sense in this movie. But it'd be really weird if she had shoes, guys, okay? Trust me, this is really important. But yeah, now they're on this little adventure together to go to the castle. But Rapunzel was having some conflicting feelings about all this. I am a horrible daughter. I'm going back. I am a despicable human being. Yeah, you know, this is pretty much how my girlfriend Kelsey is when she eats too much cheese. Oh no, I've once again eaten more cheese than I intended. I must stop and yet there was more cheese waiting for me. Life is a prison. Now after Rapunzel calms down a bit after experiencing the outside. Wow, a subway and Arby's and an H&R block in the same strip mall? This was totally worth a 40-minute drive. Anyway, Rapunzel starts to worry a little bit about this whole outside world thing, you know? Have they come for me? Yeah, Flynn, what about the ruffians? The ne'er-do-wells? What if we run into one of those guys who wears a snapback unironically? So Flynn takes her to a local tavern because, like, he's trying to freak her out so that she'll want to go home and then just give him the crown and he can be on his way. And in this tavern is just the scariest, dirtiest group of ne'er-do-wells anyone's ever seen. Garçon! Your finest table, please. You smell that? Take a deep breath through the nose. This is kind of what I imagine every girl's Tinder DMs look like. I'm just looking for something casual. But of course, turns out they're all actually really nice and just misunderstood, you know? Like, they might look like they eat puppies for fun, but deep down they're just a bunch of little goober guys. I'm malicious, mean, and scary. My sneer could curdle dairy. And violence-wise, my hands are not the cleanest. But despite my evil look and my temper and my hook, I've always yearned to be a concert pianist. A what? Also, shout-out to this guy. Who's this little man? What is he doing here? Anyway, so the castle guards are still looking for Flynn, and they find him in this tavern. But the scary dudes help him escape because they all have, like, big crushes on 17-year-old Rapunzel. But so, long story short, Rapunzel and Flynn escape into these tunnels, which end up getting flooded, and it looks like there's no way out. I'm so sorry, Flynn. Eugene. What? My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. I have magic hair that glows when I sing. Oh, that absurd. Okay, so since we're dying, like, let's do a little team-building icebreaker. So, my real name is Eugene. Okay, wow, thanks for sharing. I have magical hair that lights up and makes you live forever. Okay, well, now I feel stupid. But so, Rapunzel sings that song that makes her hair light up, and they use it to escape the tunnel, and now they're best friends. So, Eugene Fitzherbert, huh? Uh, yeah, well, you can't tell anyone about this, okay? It could ruin my whole reputation. Just want to remind you all that Rapunzel is still 17, and Flynn is 26. Anyway, so after this, Flynn is off doing who knows what, and turns out Gothel has been following them this whole time, and she magically appears and tries to take Rapunzel back to the tower. Mother. We're going home, Rapunzel. Now. You don't understand. I've been on this incredible journey, and I've seen and learned so much. I even met someone. Yes, the wanted thief. I'm so proud. Now, Gothel knows that if she tries to force Rapunzel to come back, she's just gonna be like, Nuh-uh, it's not just a phase, Mom. But she has a plan to use little old Flynn over here. So, she sings a song about how, like, if Rapunzel is so sure that Flynn, like, you know, like-likes her, then give him the crown back and see if he sticks around, you know? The eternal struggle that every girl goes through. Do they truly love me for me, or is it just because I know a lot about dinosaurs? And when they finally reach the castle, Flynn takes her out on a boat to see the lanterns, you know, and she's like, wow. And then they sing a song where Rapunzel's like, I think I've fallen in love with you, the only other human I've ever met besides my mom. And then Flynn's like, yeah, weird, my dude. I have something for you, too. I should have given it to you before, but I was just scared. And the thing is, I'm not scared anymore. You know what I mean? I'm starting to. Hey, you know, good thing it's 2010 and not 2025, you know what I'm saying? Anyway, what's your Snapchat? Now, the end of the movie comes when Gothel works with Flynn's old thieving partners, and they demand the crown back because Flynn was supposed to, like, split the money with them or whatever. And they make it seem like Flynn took the crown and left Rapunzel, just like Gothel said he would. So at first, Rapunzel was like, Flynn. But then she's like, all men do is lie. And then she goes back to the tower with Gothel. Except, actually, they knocked Flynn out and tied him to the boat so he would get captured by the castle guards. And so then he escapes with the help of that whoresome earlier and the scary dudes from the tavern. And he goes all the way back to the tower to save Rapunzel. Rapunzel, I thought I'd never see you again. Huh? Wait, hold on. I'm sad. So this dude was climbing her hair while she was chained to the wall? Don't worry, Rapunzel. I'll save you. Rapunzel, I thought I'd never see you again. Huh? Oh, no. And so with no other choice, Rapunzel makes a deal with Gothel that if she can heal Flynn with her hair, then she'll stay in the tower forever. Just as long as Flynn Rider is okay. That's all that matters. But then, crazy plot twist. Rapunzel? Wait. That's right, everybody. Turns out everything about Rapunzel was magic. Her hair, her tears, she can do anything. Yeah, so turns out Flynn is fine now. Oh, yeah, also kind of important. Cutting Rapunzel's hair completely erases all the magic that Gothel was using to stay alive this whole time. No! No! So, whoops. But the day is saved. And during all this, Rapunzel realizes that she is actually the lost princess that everyone's been talking about and the whole Lantern Festival thing was actually for her the whole time. And so, finally, she gets to go home. But, like, for reals. And that's pretty much the end of the movie. Now, obviously, this movie's very silly, okay? Like, intentionally so, but also just generally. But like I said earlier, watching this movie back now after seeing the more modern Disney stuff, like, you can tell they were going in a direction and then someone somewhere just took all the wrong lessons. Because, like, a lot of what makes Tangled so fun and engaging to watch is just completely absent now. This movie feels like it was made by people, you know? But this stuff feels more, it's like, focus-tested, executive committee kind of thing. Disney movies today feel very cynical. Like, in a weird way, it's like the success of these movies, which are great and have lots of personal human touch, they've led to modern movies being so stale and soulless because, like, as many people have said over the years, Disney has completely lost what made it great in the first place. And that is never more apparent than when you go back and watch their old stuff. You know, in doing these videos over the years, one thing I've really noticed is that the further back you go with movies, almost always, the better it gets. Up until a point, I'm sure. But it's like, going back and watching 2000s or, like, late 90s rom-coms, they're, like, so good. And they're so much better than modern stuff. Or with Disney especially, it's very obvious. Like, the further back you go, the better their stuff gets. And, like, Tangled is not even part of my childhood. I was in my 20s when it came out. So I don't have this, like, elementary school age, like, nostalgia for it. But just, like, watching it back now after 15 years, I was like, yeah, this movie is so much better than I remember it being. It's, like, way better than all the modern stuff they're putting out. Like, somehow, over the last, you know, 10, 15 years, like, Disney really just, like, lost whatever it had back then. Because now they're just, like, shoveling out this slop, like, constantly. Now, I wanted to touch on something that is not related to this video. But a couple weeks ago, I did a video about The Weeknd's new movie. And in that video, I had an ad. I had a sponsorship that was a little bit more mature. And some people really took issue with that. And they're like, I can't believe you would put this on a kid's channel or whatever. And, like, first of all, I'm sorry. This is not a kid's channel. My dude, I've done every Fifty Shades of Grey video. I've done 365 Days, 1, 2, and 3. I did every After Movie. I did Red, White, Royal Blue. Like, I've done so many things. I've done Jennifer's Body. Like, you know, this is not a channel for kids, okay? I mean, I try to make it family-friendly in a general sense. People who think that my videos are becoming more, like, edgy, more adult. Like, my dude, go back and watch my older videos, okay? Like, it's always been this way. Like, the jokes are not any more, like, edgy or whatever now than they were back seven years ago. It's literally the same thing, guys. And, like, sure, I do videos about, like, kid stuff sometimes. Barbie movies, Tangled, whatever. But, like, the Weekend movie is an R-rated movie. So it's, like, obviously the tone of that video is going to, like, skew a little older. You know what I'm saying?