Kingdom Hearts 3 Scenes Compared to Their Disney Movie Counterpart
Kingdom Hearts 3 is finally here, ladies and gentlemen. It’s been a long journey, but we’ve finally made it.
With the last mainline, or rather numbered, Kingdom Hearts game released over 13 years ago, time has favored the series. In past entries, the Disney worlds always looked great, but never perfect.
The technology of the time made it difficult for the worlds to look as good as the source material. Now, though, 13 years later, the technology has caught up and video games can look as good.
Let’s take a look at some of the most exciting worlds in Kingdom Hearts 3 and how they stack up to their counterparts.
Tangled
When Tangled was released to theaters back in 2010, it was one of the most stunning animated movies ever released. The greens were luscious, the purples were stunning and while the world looked realistic, it was still definitively Disney.
Rapunzel’s hair in Tangled consisted of 100,000 strands for crying out loud. This movie was top-notch when it was released and still is today (don’t even get me started on the floating lantern scene).
When it was revealed back in 2015 that the Kingdom of Corona would be a world in Kingdom Hearts 3, it was tough to determine how well the game might stack up against one of Disney’s best.
In past iterations, there would be no question but with Kingdom Hearts 3, the conversation might go a little differently.
Exhibit A
The scene pictured above is one of Tangled’s best scenes. Not only is it one of her first interactions with another human (that isn’t her “mother”), it’s also one of her first interactions with a man. Just like in the movie, Kingdom Hearts 3’s version of this scene goes to great lengths to show that just because Rapunzel has been locked away from the outside world, doesn’t mean she’s a helpless damsel in distress. She’s a badass and she knows it.
Visually, Kingdom Hearts 3 trades vibrancy for detail. The top cut is from Kingdom Hearts 3 and when compared to the Tangled cut below it, it certainly pops more on screen, which could easily lead you to believe it looks better.
In a way, it does. But, if you look closer, you’ll see that Tangled — which is arguably still Disney’s best-looking movie today — edges out Kingdom Hearts 3 in detail.
In the movie, Rapunzel’s eyes reflect light. A shadow is cast across her face. Her cheeks and their blush have deeper contrast.
On the surface, it doesn’t draw as much attention to itself as Kingdom Hearts 3’s iteration does, but a closer look reveals that the Disney magic is alive and well in Tangled.
Exhibit B
The scene above is the quintessential scene of Tangled and one of Disney’s best on-screen moments. It wasn’t a surprise that Kingdom Hearts 3 would replicate this.
Similar to Exhibit A, the Tangled version of this scene simply has more detail. Her hair looks more natural, the contrast of colors yields more expression and warmth to the scene and Flint looks significantly less cardboard than his Kingdom Hearts counterpart.
That’s not to say that Kingdom Hearts 3 did a bad job, though. At first glance, you’d be hard pressed to tell which was which, but like the above example, a closer look reveals that Tangled takes home the trophy here.
