A princess story I can get behind

I am not a fan of Disney princesses. I can deal with the
tiaras and the pink, but I'm disturbed by the sexualized visions of thinness,
the suggestion that to be ugly is to be evil and the promotion of extreme
body modification in order to get the guy.

But my five-year-old daughter lives in the real world.
Escaping the princess culture isn't even an option. So when I heard that
Disney's latest princess flick, Tangled,
has a female lead who is strong, adventurous and in possession of a
personality, I allowed myself to hope for a non-cringe-worthy princess.

I took my daughter to see Tangled on opening day, and I wasn't disappointed. The story
focuses on Rapunzel's journey to break free from the woman (Gothel) who
kidnapped her as a baby and has held her captive in a tower. But it isn't just
a simple tale of rescue and escape; it is the story of Rapunzel discovering her
passions. Her captivity convinced her that she was weak, good for nothing but
domestic chores, and in need of protection from the evil world. Yet as she
enters that world she discovers that it is a beautiful place where dreams can
be fulfilled. The true evil was captivity, which kept her from being whole.