There is a giant “Tangled” event on the Disney lot today that I unfortunately couldn’t attend. A screening of the film as a work-in-progress is going down right now with storyboards here and there. It would have been nice to get a hold on what they’re cooking up but I’m happy to wait for a finished product.
Meanwhile, there is a big program of presentations and interviews that I’m sure you’ll see covered at various online outlets in the next few weeks. The film has a lot to live up to after last year’s glorious return to traditional animation, “The Princess and the Frog.”
Today I came across a viral marketing stab for the film that parodies the double rainbow YouTube sensation (in case you’ve been under a rock, watch that here). Adam Quigly at /Film shreds the attempt and says it “reeks of a marketing campaign that’s trying way too hard to be funny, hip and topical.” I thought it was a bit more harmless than that, but judge for yourself after the jump.
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20 responses to “Disney’s double rainbow parody for ‘Tangled’”
I’m not a fan of Quigley’s writing at all. Especially given his article on Christopher Nolan’s apparent “sexism”.
I think I became more filled with rage against Adam Quigly than the folks at Disney from this.
A glorious return to traditional animation? Princess and the Frog was conceptually unsound and thoroughly lackluster. It’s The Black Cauldron dressed up in ethnic garb with a prepackaged Randy Newman score.
As for the marketing, I’m with Quigley. He couldn’t be more right about Disney’s clueless marketing scheme. The only thing worse would be renaming a classic tale like Rapunzel something as grating as it is generic.
Well, that was annoying.. And weird.
Love ‘Double Rainbow’ though… I think I’ll just go watch that a few more hundred times instead.
Maybe they should borrow from ‘Bed Intruder Song’ next time. ;)
Wow. I mean, that was kinda pointless, but also totally harmless. Why waste any energy tearing it apart? All it really deserves it a “meh,” a shrug, and if someone wants to decipher the relationship between marketing and the internet, there’s that too. “Watch the video, and join in on the ridicule, after the break.” Lines like that, however, are just immature and poor writing.
Fitz, I agree not a fan of his writing, or many of his opinions on their podcast…
I just heard about this double-rainbow video, funny as hell…
Bed Intruder Song is great too.
I like Adam sometimes, but this is stupid. It was just a fun little video that wasn’t trying to do anything really. Like Sarah said, I’m indifferent to this.
What happened to Guy’s review of The Town?
Unfortunately WB failed to notify Guy of an embargo on reviews until 3:00 this afternoon (which is itself bizarrely three hours after the public screening and well after the press screening). It will be up again soon. Apologies.
Apologies beforehand as this is unrelated.
A Tron’s Soundtrack has hit and a downloadable track is here.
I think that the parody combined with the trailer shows that the film will be about “what’s cool and funny NOW?”
Too bad.
Fitz, Quigley’s article on Nolan is referencing another article titled “Does Christopher Nolan have a woman problem?”, it is that article that makes the sexism claim. While Quigley concedes that Nolan’s female characters may be on the weak side, his own conclusion is that Nolan’s films (and films in general) are more male orientated because they are usually written from a male perspective.
@Jim T, to repeat what I commented on a previous InContention article: ”
Hasn’t every film trailer released lately been a case of dishonest advertising? I’ve stopped trusting trailers, since for the past two or three years, the last trailer to accurately depict the film it was advertising was “Scott Pilgrim.” And what did the studio get for their honesty? A big box-office bomb.”
Tangled is definitely a case of the trailer being absolutely NOTHING like the finished product. Everybody who has worked on the film has explained clearly that the marketing department is selling the film for something it’s not. It’s a traditional fairy tale told in the classic Disney manner, not a Shrek-ish comedy. I hate having to write that a million times, but that’s what you get when Disney’s marketing department screws over a potentially great film. They have no idea how much damage they are doing.
Strikes me as Disney trying to stay current, which I think they should be above. Not that this looks like spectacular disney magic it still kind of cheapens the material.
Estefan, I hope you’re right.
It did well by critics and audiences, Larry, which was the point I was making.
Well, that video was a lot of things, but worthy of an entire rant? No. It’s harmless, silly, probably pointless, and makes me almost more interested in the first-person POV version of Tangled, a la Cloverfield or Blair Witch, but it’s not that bad.
And this is one audience member who’s a) seen Black Cauldron and Princess & The Frog and b) loved the latter, while hating the former.
The Slashfilm article was appropriately condescending, of course; he must be right, because as proof of those who like it, he copied and pasted a poorly written comment from YouTube! Score!
Larry, I’d love to hear how Princess and The Frog is anything at all like the Black Cauldron.
Yes, princess and the Frog was glorious.
Wow, Quigly needs to either get a hobby or get laid. It’s just some silly parody fun of a hilarious Youtube sensation, why did it offend him so? Maybe he is secretly the guy in the original Double Rainbow video and doesn’t like being made fun of.