Over the past few years, Disney has made a habit of out of making live-action adaptations of its animated blockbusters. The House of Mouse is showing no signs of slowing down, with the live-action Tangled movie currently in production. There's a ton of hype about the upcoming Disney movie, and a video from the set has me feeling about one character in particular: Maximus the horse.
The original Tangled (which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription) there are a number of animal sidekicks. This includes both Pascal and Maximus, and there have been concerns about how they'd be adapted. Luckily a video from the set recently arrived on Twitter, which shows both a real horse and a puppet version of Max being used. So it looks like the horse will still be a full-on character, and the new Tangled isn't going to ignore his plot line from the animated version.
This news is thrilling for me, and I assume other Disney fans will share my enthusiasm. Because after the live-action Mulan ditched Mushu and Cri-Kee, I was worried that Tangled's animals might also end up being dropped from the new movie. But that's not the case, and Maximus will presumably be around to chase Flynn around throughout its runtime.
Suddenly I'm even more hyped about the live-action Tangled movie than I was before. After all, the animal characters were a major part of the original's charm. Add in the casting of Milo Manheim and Teagan Croft, and Michael Gracey's forthcoming Disney flick has a lot going for it. Tangled is arguably better than Frozen, so the pressure is on for the new version to deliver.
For those who don't' remember, Maximus was a lovable antagonist of sorts in Tangled. While he wasn't a full-on villain like Mother Gothel, he belongs to Corona's Captain of the Guards. When he realizes that Flynn rider is a thief, he spends much of the movie pursuing Zachary Levi's character, and all sorts of hilarious hijinks ensue. I'm relieved tht not only will the scene-stealing horse be in the movie, but he'll be brought to life through a mixture of puppetry and an actual animal. Hopefully this means we'll get to see some of the character's signature facial expressions.
The original Tangled is streaming on Disney+ and the live-action version version is currently in production. It's currently unclear when the movie will hit theaters, but it's not expected on the 2026 movie release list.
