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Credit: DisneyDisney has spent years trying to convince audiences that its animated classics can work just as well in live action.
Sometimes, that gamble has paid off. Other times, fans have wondered why Disney bothered touching a movie that already worked.
That history gives Tangled (2028) a difficult job. It isn’t enough to recreate Rapunzel’s tower, give her extremely long blonde hair, and send Flynn Rider into the kingdom of Corona. Disney needs to capture the personality that made Tangled (2010) so easy to love.
Surprisingly, the early signs suggest Disney may finally understand that.
A new look at Teagan Croft as Rapunzel shows something more important than another polished promotional image: Croft looks like she’s having fun.
And for Tangled (2028), that could make all the difference.
A Small Glimpse Says Quite a Bit
Fandango recently shared a video offering another look at Croft in costume as Rapunzel. The actress dances around a parking lot while wearing a floor-length purple dress and Rapunzel’s unmistakably long blonde hair. Croft completes the behind-the-scenes look with white Crocs.
Obviously, nobody should expect the Crocs to survive into the finished movie.
Still, Croft appears comfortable, playful, and a little goofy while dressed as Rapunzel.
That’s important because those qualities sit at the heart of the character.
Rapunzel isn’t simply a traditional princess waiting to escape a tower. The animated version bounces between excitement, awkwardness, curiosity, fear, determination, and complete silliness.
The video doesn’t prove the movie will succeed, but it suggests Disney didn’t cast someone who merely looks the part.
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Disney Has Already Shown More Than a Costume
This isn’t the first glimpse audiences have had of the production.
Filming has been underway in Spain, and set photos and videos have already captured Croft as Rapunzel and Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider. Those unofficial looks revealed costumes, Rapunzel’s enormous braid, and some of the environments Disney is creating.
Disney then offered a more polished preview at D23 in August. Footage showed Rapunzel’s famous blonde hair before revealing Croft, while Kathryn Hahn appeared as Mother Gothel. Hahn has also praised Croft and Manheim’s chemistry.
Put those pieces together with Croft’s playful video, and Tangled (2028) is beginning to feel less like another remake being pushed through Disney’s production machine.
It looks like the people making it understand what they’re handling.
Director Michael Gracey remains attached, with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson writing the screenplay. Croft leads alongside Manheim and Hahn. Disney has scheduled the movie for March 31, 2028.
The Hardest Part Can’t Be Recreated With CGI
Disney can build a tower. It can make glowing hair. It can recreate Corona and fill the screen with lanterns.
What it can’t afford to lose is the heart of Tangled (2010).
That’s where Croft’s casting continues to look increasingly promising. Fans have seen her in official footage, candid behind-the-scenes moments, and photos captured during filming. Rather than presenting a radically redesigned Rapunzel, Disney appears to be embracing what people already love about her.
Even Croft dancing around in costume matters because Rapunzel should feel energetic and slightly chaotic. She should deliver an emotional scene and then become wonderfully ridiculous.
Disney doesn’t need to reinvent that. It needs to respect it.
So far, the production appears to be taking that responsibility seriously rather than simply recreating recognizable imagery.
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Fans Aren’t Asking Disney to Abandon Everything Familiar
There’s also a larger conversation surrounding Disney’s remake strategy.
Many fans want new stories. They want original characters, different worlds, and movies that can become the next Tangled (2010) rather than another attempt to recreate something audiences already know.
But remakes, sequels, and live-action adaptations aren’t disappearing.
If Disney insists on making them, the minimum expectation is simple: make them good.
A remake should preserve what audiences loved while giving actors room to make the roles feel human rather than copying animated performances scene for scene.
That’s why these early glimpses of Tangled (2028) feel encouraging.
Croft looks like Rapunzel, but more importantly, she is beginning to feel like Rapunzel. Manheim’s Flynn Rider has remained visually close to his animated counterpart, while Hahn brings a theatrical presence to Mother Gothel.
None of that guarantees a great movie. Tangled (2028) still has plenty to prove.
But Disney appears to be starting in the right place.
Disney May Have Finally Found the Right Formula
The live-action remake curse won’t disappear because of one purple dress, an enormous blonde wig, or a goofy parking-lot dance.
Yet those details are what make Tangled (2028) feel different right now.
Everything we’ve seen points to a production that aims to preserve the animated movie’s humor, energy, romance, and recognizable characters while translating them into live action.
Fans can still question whether Tangled (2010) ever needed a remake.
But if Disney is going to remake it anyway, this is what fans should see: a cast that looks right, a lead who seems to understand her character, and a production that is interested in doing justice to the movie people already love.
For once, Disney’s latest live-action remake isn’t giving fans another reason to worry.
It’s giving them a reason to be curious.
