Recreating fairy tales in its own inimitable style is what Disney does best. Steve Pratt finds out what is making the latest offering such a success.

THE name of Disney and fairy tales go together in the world of animated movies. As Tangled codirector Nathan Greno observes, “When you say Snow White or Sleeping Beauty or Aladdin even, you always think of the Disney version.

“When we were approaching this movie and taking the classic Rapunzel, we realised if you do a great job these films live on forever and become the definitive version of that story.

“Disney seems to do it in a way that’s so sincere and so emotional in the way they tell the stories. There have been films lately, like Shrek for instance – and I’m not putting the film down – but it pokes fun at these classic stories, has a kind of snark attitude about it. Our studio doesn’t do that, we embrace what’s great about these classic stories.”

Co-director Byron Howard says: “People think contemporary or modern means cynical, but when you watch Tangled, it’s not cynical at all.

It’s a very heartfelt, genuine tale.”

For actress and recording artist Mandy Moore voicing Rapunzel turned her into Disney royalty. What little girl doesn’t dream of being a Disney princess? she asks.

“Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin and so many films before that are such seminal parts of my childhood – and now I sit here and I’m part of their lineage. It’s so cool.”

If pushed, she’ll named Little Mermaid as her favourite Disney animation, partly because it’s her first recollection of going to a movie theatre to see a movie and then owning it on VHS “and wearing out the VHS watching it over and over again”. She even had Little Mermaid bedsheets.

Who knows, she could even end up playing Rapunzel on stage if, like other Disney animations, Tangled is turned into a big stage musical. “I’ve always loved the idea of being on Broadway, it’s sort of the ultimate dream for me. But that hair – it’s a lot to lug around,” she says.

Voicing a cartoon character was a new experience for her. “I didn’t realise the challenge of singing in character,”

she says. “When you go into the studio and record music you’ve had a hand in writing, there’s not a lot of thought behind it. But in a studio, singing this music in Tangled and trying to be in a certain head space, that was challenging because I couldn’t approach it in the way I would automatically.

I was slightly disappointed initially, because I thought all the actors would be working together and thought that would be fun.

“You guys,” she says looking at Greno and Howard, “were so fantastic and thorough in explaining to me.

It was nice to know I had them on my side. They were in everybody’s sessions so they knew what they wanted and what was needed. You just feel slightly crazy talking to yourself for a couple of hours.”

Unlike Rapunzel, she shows no great desire to sacrifice family to explore the outside world. “I’m a born homebody. I owe so much to my family.

We support each other and my parents sacrified so much for me to realise this dream I had at a young age.

They’ve given me perspective – I’m lucky to have job and not take for granted.”

Greno and Byron both dipped into old Disney movies for inspiration.

“We love classic Disney films, the care they put into those films. Films like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. We wanted some of that nostalgia as well because people have high expectations of Disney,” says Byron.

“There was a whole generation of animators who didn’t have those roots with Disney. We wanted them to embrace that and not feel they were separate. There was a lot of teaching and reminding people of what had been taught by that generation of artists.”

* Tangled (PG) opens in cinemas tomorrow (Friday).