Tangled Before Ever After Interviews

Tangled Before Ever After Interviews

*Disclosure: I received an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles for the coverage of these events. All opinions are 100% my own.

Rapunzel has been one of my favorite Disney stories for as long as I can remember. But the folks at Disney Channel are bringing her story to life once again and continuing her story. While in LA this last week I had a chance to sit down and chat with Chris Sonnenburg and Ben Balistreri where we learned about the continuation of Rapunzel’s story. At the end of the story they meet, fall in love and then there is the perfect story which is where Tangled: Ever After, where they get married happens according to Chris Sonnenburg. It seemed like the perfect way to continue the story and it would also be a continuation of what would be happening to younger kids that started watching back in 2010. But it had to be exciting as well as magical. Tangled Before Ever after is a fairy-tale but one that is relate-able to everyone because of the real life emotions coming to life on the big screen. It is relate-able because it tells the emotional side of things as well allowing parents and children to have a better view of what the other one is experiencing in a fairytale aspect which makes for the heart of the show.

Because Rapunzel means long blonde hair, they made her hair back to blonde, but in Tangled Before Ever After they made her hair uncuttable as a way to make the character more unique but yet also serves the purpose of why does it exist that way.

The Journal

The journal plays an important role in the story and the quote at the beginning is this, “Plus est en Vous” which translates to There is more in You. The inspiration behind the journal is from Chris’ daughter. She went on a trip and kept all of her journey in a journal complete with drawings that told her story which then translated to the movie because she painted her own road so to speak.

At the end of the movie all of her magic is gone but she squeezes out one last drop of magic out of her. And Glenn Keane said the reason behind that  is that we all have more in us that we can push through it and he was telling me like when you feel like you’re at the end of your ropes, if you can’t give any more, push through and there’s always more inside of you. There’s more inside of Eugene, Pascal, and even Corona than everybody just sees on the surface.

Music and Design

Because Ben and Chris started at Disney over 20 years ago they brought the old-school traditional 2-D Disney background with them and are telling an amazing story from Rapunzel’s point of view. Which allows them to bring the storybook to life if you will which results in immersing the viewers into a story told by Rapuzel through design style. There will be a soundtrack for sure and Alan Menken as well as Howard Ashman had their hand in the music as well. The music is going to be very special and intertwined with the storyline to enhance to story but not take away from it. In fact they told us that the collection of music makes the most sense at the end of the season where you see the whole thing come together.

Pascal & Lady Cane

Pascal and Lady Cane both play very important roles in the show and we even got to meet Pascal. While Lady Cane was unable to make an appearance that day, we were assured that she will have a a great personality that is a little bit edgy but tells an understory of what she went through a a child. The tattoo makes her seem a little more edgy but all good Disney shows have a villain. But with 26 episodes per season there is a lot of story to cover and the other characters, the kingdom and Rapunzel’s life all fit together.

Easter Eggs

Disney is known for it’s Easter Eggs in their shows and this one has one that is personal to Chris. Queen Arianna is a fun one because his daughter’s name is Arianna and his family crest that is on one of the flags in the kingdom because it Sonnenburg means Sunny Castle. But there’s certainly other fun Disney one’s that we have to watch for including a very specific reference to the feature and book that is in the first episode. Be sure to watch it with me and look for it on debuting March 24th at 6:30 cst.

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