"I See the Light" as sung by Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi

I've been trying my best to avoid Disney movie songs this month, even though it would be easier. However, I'm feeling a little sentimental and romantic today, so I watched "Tangled" with my son this morning. I think it's a beautiful movie and the changes they made to the story of Rapunzel enhanced it and made it better, in my opinion. The scene where they sing "I See the Light" is pretty amazing. When all the lanterns are released into the sky is one of those feats of 3D animation that leaves you in awe - another good example is when Miguel first enters the Land of the Dead in "Coco." So much work goes into just one single frame, but when a kid sees it, all they see is the beauty of it all. The lights, the reflection on the water, the exact color of the sky at twilight. To quote Professor Slughorn, it is "beautiful magic, wondrous to behold."

Rapunzel is one of those classic stories I remember my dad reading to us when I was little. Laying on the bed, listening to his voice while looking at the illustrations in our copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales. It's a little different from the story in "Tangled." Rapunzel's parents are not royalty, but a simple farmer and his wife. And the wife had a killer craving for cabbages while she was pregnant, so much so that her loving husband stole cabbages from a witch's garden. When the witch catches him, he begs for mercy and they make a deal that he can take as much cabbage as he wants. But, in return, the witch will take the baby when it is born and raise it as her own. Because the girl is so beautiful when she reaches her teen years, the witch locks her up in a tower with no stairs and no door, instead using Rapunzel's long golden hair as a ladder.

One day, a prince hears Rapunzel singing and falls in love. She draws him up with her hair and they form a plan - the prince will bring strips of fabric with each visit so that Rapunzel can weave a real ladder. Eventually, the witch finds out and cuts Rapunzel's hair. In some versions of the story, she finds out because Rapunzel is visibly pregnant; in others, Rapunzel lets slip that the prince has been visiting her. However the witch finds out, she casts Rapunzel out into the wilderness and the next time the prince visits, the witch lures him in with Rapunzel's severed hair and blinds him. The prince wanders the world, blind, until he hears Rapunzel's voice again. He falls into her arms and her tears restore his sight. Afterwards, they live together in the cabin Rapunzel has built, with the twins that she bore him after she was cast out of the tower.

All those days chasing down a daydream

All those years living in a blur

All that time never truly seeing

Things, the way they were

Now she's here shining in the starlight

Now she's here suddenly I know

If she's here it's crystal clear

I'm where I'm meant to go

The lyrics for this song are sweet. It's a duet where Rapunzel and Eugene are singing about how limited their worldview was until they met each other. Rapunzel, though she had books and paints and everything she could want, was isolated and trapped. Eugene, who has all the freedom he could've ever wanted, was chasing riches because he felt he lacked something. But together, they feel like they complete each other. Her unending kindness and hopefulness warms his heart, and his sureness and level-headed outlook makes her feel safe and secure. And it makes them want to be better for each other. I told you I was feeling sentimental.

Let's go back to the lantern thing. I love the lanterns - I totally understand why Rapunzel wanted to see them. For my hypothetical wedding, instead of rice or bubbles, I wanted to do lanterns. Because I wanted to have an evening wedding. I thought it was romantic, to get married under the stars. I try not to think of that hypothetical wedding, because I know it's never going to happen. But the lantern thing, I think that would be a really beautiful, special thing to do for a wedding. For Chinese New Year, there's a Lantern Festival on the last night and in some East Asian countries, they do big send-offs of floating lanterns to celebrate. That's something I would really like to see some day. For today's video, I'm featuring the scene from the movie.

"I See the Light" Scene