This latest Disney flick marks an impressive milestone, as it’s the 50th animated feature from the house of mouse. But with many of the more recent animated outings falling far short of being classic Disney, can Tangled see a return to form just when it counts?

In a kingdom far, far away, the king is waiting on the birth of his child. His queen, sadly, is suffering from a problematic birth. His majesty has heard of a special flower that came about from a single drop of sunlight hitting the earth, which has magical healing powers. He sends his soldiers out looking for it, in an attempt to save his queen and child.

Unbeknownst to him, the flower is being protected by an elderly woman called Gothel (Donna Murphy), who has discovered that the flower also has the power to make her youthful. Not wanting to give it up for anything, she keeps the flower hidden. Unfortunately for her, the king’s soldiers still manage to find it and rush it back to their majesty.

The flower does indeed save the queen, and she gives birth to a daughter, who they name Rapunzel (Mandy Moore). But Rapunzel is no ordinary child; because the flower aided her birth, she has inherited its magic powers. Gothel is aware of this, so sneaks into the palace and takes the Princess Rapunzel away. She hides Rapunzel away in the tallest of towers, where she brings her up as her own. As Rapunzel’s hair manages to keep Gothel looking young, she doesn’t allow her ever to leave the tower.

With only her pet chameleon Pascal for company, Rapunzel is brought up in relative solitude. The highlight of the year for her is that on her birthday, she gets sees the sky lit up with lanterns. It’s her dream to one day see the lanterns take to the sky for herself. Just before her eighteenth birthday, Rapunzel comes up with a plan to get her ‘mother’ Gothel away from the tower for a couple of days.

Meanwhile, a free-running rogue by the name of Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) is on the run after stealing a tiara from the royal family. He manages to avoid the king’s men, as well as the rather astute horse Maximus, by giving them all the slip. It is here that he comes across Rapunzel, trapped in her tower. Flynn agrees to act as her guide, albeit rather begrudgingly, and Rapunzel takes her first steps into the outside world.

In a bid to get on with his own business, he tries to scare Rapunzel from continuing with their journey; but little does he know that Gothel is aware of Rapunzel’s deceit and is dead set on returning her to the tower – at any cost.

If you haven’t worked out by now, this story is based on the German fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm, as was Disney’s previous animated feature The Princess and the Frog. Thankfully, Tangled doesn’t suffer from any of the many faults of that particular effort.

Considering that this is a fairy tale, it doesn’t stick to many of the conventions often associated with a Disney-fied story of this kind. For starters, none of the animal characters talk, which is quite a rarity. And at one point a human character is seen to be bleeding from a wound; let’s face it, it’s not often that Disney artists to use the colour blood red.

Although it doesn’t adopt standard Disney traits, this is still unmistakably Disney. In fact, it both looks and feels like classic Disney. The animation may well have been put together on super duper computers, but it’s been given an oddly high-tech traditional make-over, giving it a glossy sheen of class.

The same can be said for the script, which never feels the need to leave the comfort of the realm it’s set in. By not having any knowing winks to modern technology – hey, this apple just landed on my head; thinking about it, methinks that’s a great name for a company – it has a purity that is really rather sweet for this day and age. There’s something rather comforting in the fact that the most used weapon in the film is a frying pan. And not a Teflon joke in sight either.

And thankfully Randy Newman wasn’t asked to destroy the musical score like he did with The Princess and the Frog. Instead Alan Menken provides some pleasant enough ditties that know not to outstay their welcome.

The vocal talent involved make all the right noises too; Levi (TV’s Chuck Bartowski) in particular does well in giving Flynn an air of confidence, with just the right amount of arrogant edging.

Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard – who both last made Bolt the blast it was - have paid honour to true Disney classics of years gone by, although it’s come at some price; Tangled is currently the second most expensive film ever made. But as most women already know, you just can’t put a price on great-looking hair. Why? Because it’s worth it.

There’s no need for dear old Walt to turn in his freezer as Tangled is the perfect Disney film to not only mark the company’s 50th animated feature, but joyously celebrate the fact. Unquestionably this is Disney back to its very best. Hair-rah.