Whenever Mother Gothel expresses her "love" for Rapunzel, it is never directed at Rapunzel herself but always at her hair. She kisses Rapunzel on the head and touches her hair as she expresses her love. She also calls her "my little flower," a reference to the original sunflower. Flynn, by contrast, always brushes Rapunzel's hair when he shows her affection, so that he can see her face better.
In the opening scenes, you see baby Rapunzel in her crib looking at a baby mobile. To foreshadow a little, several items hanging from the mobile come into play later in the story: a chameleon (her pet Pascal), a rubber duck (the Snuggly Duckling, where Flynn takes her), a cupid (also from the Snuggly Duckling), a horse (Maximus) and a blue bird (from when she first leaves the tower).
The descending lantern that Rapunzel raises toward the sky was the one her parents, the king and queen, launched from the palace veranda. She was the only one whose lantern bore the royal sun symbol.
At 260 million US dollars, it is the most expensive Disney film in the animation studio's history.
Disney's previous animated film, The Princess and the Frog (2009), was popular with both critics and audiences but disappointed at the box office. Disney felt the film's princess theme was putting young boys off seeing it. To market the film to a wider audience, Disney changed its title from Rapunzel to Tangled and presented it as a comedy adventure. The film's first trailer focused far more on the male lead, Flynn Rider, than on Princess Rapunzel. Initially, Disney's marketing campaign was believed to be a desperate attempt to chase a particular demographic. However, directors Byron Howard and Nathan Greno claimed the title change was meant to emphasize that Flynn has as much of a role in the film as Rapunzel.
More than 45,000 lanterns were used during the "I See the Light" sequence.
This is the first animated Disney "princess" film to receive a PG rating from the MPAA. Until then, all previous Disney princess films had been rated G.
For the scene in which Rapunzel enters the market, the animators drew inspiration from the entrances to Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Rapunzel's excitement at the music and the crowds recalls the children in the parks.
Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel auditioned for the role of Rapunzel. Three years later, the two played Anna and Elsa together in Frozen (2013).
Zachary Levi auditioned for the role of Flynn Rider and won it with an English accent. This was later dropped, and Levi performed the role in his own American accent.
Rapunzel (with short brown curls) and Flynn can be seen as part of the crowd when the palace gates open for Princess Elsa's coronation in Frozen (2013).
Flynn's character design came out of a process Nathan Greno and Byron Howard called a "hot man meeting," in which they arranged a meeting in a room with all the studio's female employees and asked their opinions on what makes a man handsome, in order to build the character design around features such as Flynn's eye color, hair color and style, and body type. Video footage showed concept drawings and photos of various male celebrities on the walls of the room, including Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, David Beckham and Gene Kelly.
The Kingdom Dance scene features more than 3,000 people, the largest crowd scene among Disney films.
Pascal was in fact inspired by the producer's pet chameleon, named Pascal.
At the start of the film, the inside of Rapunzel's tower is bright and colorful. When she returns after seeing the lanterns, it is dull and dark, symbolizing that she no longer sees the tower as wonderful.
In the original Grimm fairy tale, Flynn Rider was an unnamed prince and Rapunzel was a peasant rather than a princess. While pregnant, her mother saw a kind of rampion growing in a witch's garden and began to crave it obsessively. Rapunzel's father successfully stole the rampion the first time, but was caught the second time and had to strike a bargain to give up his firstborn child. When the baby was born, the witch appeared and took her. She was named Rapunzel after the plant her mother had desperately craved. When Rapunzel was 12, the witch locked her in a tower and was her only visitor for years, until a prince came. During his secret visits, Rapunzel fell in love with him and became pregnant. The witch noticed when she saw that Rapunzel's dress had grown tight. She cut off Rapunzel's hair and exiled her to the desert, where she gave birth to twins. The prince reaches the tower and the witch pulls up Rapunzel's hair. She threw him into a thorny bed and blinded him. He wandered the desert and was eventually reunited with Rapunzel, whose tears restored his sight, and they lived happily ever after.
Rapunzel's parents have no spoken dialogue in the film.
Mandy Moore met her co-star Zachary Levi only once, when they came together to sing a duet in the film. Moore never met Donna Murphy, who voiced Mother Gothel.
Flynn Rider and Rapunzel can be seen at Elsa's coronation in Frozen, while Tiana and Naveen are in the crowd below the balcony.
Note that in the end the king has aged, but the queen most likely has not, because she drank the liquid version of the flower.
While Flynn and Rapunzel are looking at books, one of them is the opening of Sleeping Beauty (1959).
Pinocchio can be found in the Snuggly Duckling, just after Cupid swings to the right of the screen. On the upper right corner of the beams. Pumbaa from The Lion King (1994) (seen in the same shot) and Louis from The Princess and the Frog (2009) (one of the puppets used later in the song) can also be found.
This is Disney's first CGI fairy tale film adaptation.
If you look closely at Mother Gothel's dress, you will notice that it is in a very different style from Rapunzel's. Because it is in the Renaissance style. This means that Mother Gothel has been alive at least since the Renaissance. Considering that Tangled takes place in the late 1700s and the Renaissance began in the 1300s, it can be said that Mother Gothel has been around for more than 400 years. This is why Rapunzel's hair turns to dust when it is cut.
Studio trademark: Character(s) habitually barefoot: Rapunzel's character is constantly barefoot; this is a common point she shares with voice actress Mandy Moore, who likes to perform barefoot. Bare feet are also a symbol of innocence.
Glen Keane intended from the start for the film to look and feel like a traditional hand-drawn film, but in three dimensions. He hosted a seminar titled "The Best of Both Worlds," where he brought together fifty Disney animators (both CGI and traditional artists) to discuss the techniques used in each style and how to, in his words, "bring the warmth and intuitive feel of the hand-drawn to CGI."
Composer Alan Menken reported that he based the film's music on 1960s rock music.
According to Glen Keane, the film's visual style (a three-dimensional painting) was heavily inspired by French Rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard's Romantic painting "The Swing"; "A fairy tale world has to feel romantic and lush, very painterly." To get a clear idea of what was intended, the animators copied the painting in 3D in order to achieve a shot with depth and dimensions. This painting is also clearly referenced in Disney's live-action remakes of Cinderella (2015) and Frozen (2013).
When Mother Gothel is first seen in the tower with Rapunzel, there are several elements that reveal Mother Gothel's true intentions; among them are a spinning wheel (as in Sleeping Beauty (1959)), an apple pattern at the bottom of the staircase (like the Evil Queen's apple in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)), and her lantern emitting a green color (reminiscent of Maleficent's magic, also in Sleeping Beauty).
The film's teaser trailer showed the first meeting between Rapunzel and Flynn quite differently. After she hits him with the frying pan, Flynn appears, but Rapunzel stays out of sight, her hair punches him and ties him up, and playfully drags him around the room. When Flynn, tied to the chair, tries his smoldering look for her, she throws him out of the tower while he is still tied to her hair. There is also an unused scene in which Flynn waits at the bottom of the tower and Rapunzel throws the full weight of her hair onto him, much to the amusement of Maximus the horse.
"You Are My Forever" was a deleted song that was to be sung to Rapunzel at different times in the film. It was initially to be sung maternally by Mother Gothel. Flynn would later reprise the song romantically. "You Are My Forever" was eventually replaced by the songs "Mother Knows Best" and "I See the Light."
In the marketplace, when Rapunzel looks at her own mosaic, the camera cuts from her eyes to the tile eyes of the picture, and very briefly there is a clarinet music motif exactly the same as the motif in the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) where Cameron looks at the pointillist painting and the camera cuts between Cameron's eyes and the eyes of the boy in the painting. The moment is only a fraction of a second; immediately afterward, Rapunzel looks at the clarinetist walking behind her and smiles.
According to production manager Doeri Welch Greiner, the original script was a sequel to Enchanted (2007) and involved Rapunzel turning into a squirrel and being replaced in the real world by a girl. Glen Keane avoided the more fun and fantastical fairy tale that Disney is famous for: "I think that's what Disney needs to be doing right now. Nobody else can do it. We shouldn't be ashamed or make excuses for making a fairy tale."
Although Mother Gothel appears to be the eighth animated Disney villain to die after the Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)), Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective (1986)), McLeach (The Rescuers Down Under (1990)), Gaston (Beauty and the Beast (1991)), Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)), Queen Narissa (Enchanted (2007)) and Charles Muntz (Up (2009)) - she does not actually die that way. However, she is the only Disney villain to die from extreme and rapid aging caused by the sudden disappearance of the magic effect on Rapunzel's blonde hair. At that moment she was only falling from a 70-foot window; by the time her cloak hits the ground, she has already turned to dust. This is probably why it is the only time we see a Disney villain fall "to their death" and actually witness the impact; a solid body hitting the ground would not be considered family-friendly.
Flynn had at least three different versions of the character. In one, he was intended to be a rebellious prince who actually hung out with a group of bandits. He later became a sort of "bandit prince" and the leader of a band of thieves (the thieves themselves eventually became the Snuggly Duckling thugs). Shortly after, he was conceived as an English farmer named Bastian who was orphaned at a young age and forced into a life of theft to survive, despite hating it. He then went through a Jack Sparrow-like design before becoming the Flynn seen in the film.
David Schwimmer and Burt Reynolds took on roles during the pre-production stage that were later cut.
It is Walt Disney Animation Studios' 50th feature film and the first film of the 2010s.
In the tower, Mother Gothel's bedroom has a door, while Rapunzel's bedroom has no door, only curtains. This means Gothel always has a choice, while Rapunzel can never shut Gothel out.
For most of the film, Flynn calls Rapunzel "Blondie" or "Goldie," even after telling her his name. He does not address her by her real name until Mother Gothel and the Stabbington brothers separate them, and it is at that point that he falls in love with her.
Unlike everyone else in the film, Mother Gothel wears a dress from the Renaissance era, since the magic of the flower and Rapunzel's hair has preserved her youth for centuries.
In the song "When Will My Life Begin," Rapunzel says she will "take a climb" and climbs her hair. Her climbing style is a genuine silk-climbing technique.
The spinning wheel from Sleeping Beauty appears in Rapunzel's tower.
In the lantern scene, the streets are lit in the same way as Rapunzel's hair.
The protagonist's name was initially going to be Bastian.
Glen Keane thanks animator Kyle Strawitz for achieving the film's painterly style, saying: "Kyle helped us get that Fragonard look of that girl on the swing. He took the house from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and built it in CGI and painted it so it looked like a flat painting that suddenly started to move, and it had dimension and kept all the soft, round curves of the watercolor brush strokes. Kyle really helped me. I began to believe that what I wanted to see was possible, that you could move in Disney's painterly world."
The song that activates the magic flower's power is sung without interruption only twice throughout the entire film — once when Rapunzel heals Mother Gothel (though it was very quick) and once when Rapunzel heals Eugene's hand. The rest were separated by scenes or never completed at all.
The characters Maximus and Vladimir appear in Wreck-It Ralph (2012).
The estimated cost of the six-year production is 260 million dollars. If this is accurate, Tangled (2010) is the most expensive animated film of all time and the fifth most expensive film made up to that time.
In the Snuggly Duckling tavern, the thug "Greno," who leaves to fetch the guards, is named after and modeled on the film's co-director Nathan Greno, only much larger but with the same van Dyke-style goatee and the same arm tattoos.
The song "When Will My Life Begin (Reprise 1)" and a portion of the song "Mother Knows Best" were cut from the film. However, the complete versions can be found on the soundtrack album.
The idea of making a film about Rapunzel first occurred to Walt Disney in the 1940s.
When Mother Gothel searches for her door woven into the bricks leading into the tower, the plant covering the base of the tower resembles Campanula rapunculus, commonly known as rapunzel (or rampion) — the plant the Brothers Grimm used to name their main character in the original stories. However, rapunzel is not a climbing plant as shown in the film (it appears to grow like ivy at the base of the tower) — the animators seem to have taken some creative license with it. In the story, the plant's tendency to climb the wall can also be attributed to Mother Gothel's magic.
More than 45,000 lanterns were created for the "I See the Light" sequence.
Natalie Portman was considered for Rapunzel, and her audition recordings were used for the pencil test.
Mother Gothel spends most of the film rejuvenating herself with increasing frequency. This seems to indicate the magic's growing ineffectiveness.
The sword Maximus uses to fight Flynn at the dam is a Roman gladius. This would normally be an anachronism given the film's time setting. In this case, however, it is quite fitting, because Maximus is also a Roman name.
The dagger Mother Gothel takes with her when she goes to look for Rapunzel is the same dagger Frollo carries in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).
The colors of the main characters' clothing were designed to reflect their personalities. Rapunzel wears purple, a color generally associated with royalty. Flynn/Eugene wears blue and white, colors generally symbolizing goodness. Mother Gothel wears red, a color generally symbolizing evil.
Glen Keane's passion on this film was, technically speaking, to make the computer "bend its knee to the artist" and make the computer "pliable as the pencil," rather than letting the computer dictate the film's artistic style/look.
The algorithm governing how Rapunzel's hair moves appears to be based on a similar algorithm for cloth. This is noticeable, for example, at the end of the "When Will My Life Begin" montage, when she throws her hair out in a spiral.
Because most of the techniques and tools needed to give the film the quality Keane demanded did not exist when the project began, WDFA had to create them on its own.
After Toy Story 3 (2010) and Shrek Forever After (2010), it was the third highest-grossing animated film of 2010. However, it is the highest-grossing animated film of 2010 that is not a sequel.
Ironically, the film drew inspiration for its story from Barbie as Rapunzel (2002), a direct-to-video animated film starring Barbie as the lead princess. Mattel initially wanted to make a series of Barbie princess animated films in which Barbie would play a different princess from a classic fairy tale (Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, etc.) in each film, but these plans were abandoned out of fear of Disney's copyright. The reason the aforementioned film came to be was that at the time Disney had not yet made a Disney Princess film based on the story of Rapunzel.
Eugene is 23 and Rapunzel is 18.
The song that would eventually become "When Will My Life Begin" went through a wide variety of drafts. One of the first concepts was titled "Absolutely Right" and, according to lyricist Glenn Slater, "followed little Rapunzel through a series of birthdays; each one finds her equally happy, but she begins to ask questions and realizes nothing is right, leading up to her current 18th birthday."
Mother Gothel closely resembles Judge Claude Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Neither has magical powers, both hold a person captive for their own personal gain, both sing a song to the captive to keep them from escaping, and both try to kill the captive's love interest.
According to Glen Keane, non-photorealistic rendering was widely used so that the CGI surface, although it looks painted, would still contain depth and dimension. He also mentioned the use of subsurface scattering, global illumination and "all of the latest techniques" to create convincing human characters and rich environments in computer-generated imagery.
The lantern Mother Gothel holds during the "the plague" line in the song "Mother Knows Best" and when she initially sings to the flower is the same lantern the Stabbington brothers hold when Flynn sees them across the water.
When Rapunzel heals Flynn's hand, Flynn's voice says the line "Don't freak out," which is frequently said to Chuck, the lead character of the series Chuck (2007), played by Zachary Levi.
During the reprise of "Mother Knows Best" (where Gothel manipulates Rapunzel into believing she does not return Flynn's feelings), fog surrounds the characters. This is meant to reflect how Gothel clouds Rapunzel's mind with doubt.
Flynn's line "Well, I hope you're here to apologize" was improvised and delivered by Zachary Levi.
The credits move back and forth on screen like the flow of hair.
At 12:10, while Rapunzel expresses that she wants to see the floating lights on her birthday, Mother Gothel lifts an apple from the basket. Apples also represent the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge (although it is never stated that it is an apple). As Rapunzel continues to speak, Gothel puts the apple back out of sight, showing her intention to keep both knowledge and freedom away from Rapunzel.
Glen Keane first began working on the film in 1996. A few years later he left the project, mainly because he suffered a heart attack.
It earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for "I See The Light" but did not receive a nomination for Best Animated Feature. This was later regarded as a snub in that category, especially since it was nominated alongside the foreign film The Illusionist (2010), whose existence very few people were aware of, How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and Toy Story 3 (2010).
Kristin Chenoweth and Dan Fogler were the original choices to voice Rapunzel and Flynn.
All the actresses who auditioned for the voice of Rapunzel were required to perform a song.
At 47:06, when Maximus misses Rapunzel, you can hear orchestral music that brings in a choral voice clearly saying "whoosh" at 47:10.
At the end of the film, while Rapunzel sits on her bed in her bedroom, you can see animal pictures and the seven-pointed royal star in the negative space between the animals on the wall to her left, next to the dresser. This and the artwork on the ceiling that Rapunzel first focuses on are the only two actual paintings that reveal the star in that negative space. (All the others later revealed by the glowing stars were added by the animators for effect, but cannot be seen before that.)
The original song staged for the boat scene was a grand Broadway-style number titled "Blaze of Light," but directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard were afraid the song's scale would compete with the splendor of the scene's visuals. They preferred a softer love song instead, and the result was "I See the Light," which appears in the finished film.
Glen Keane and Dean Wellins were serving as the film's directors, but they resigned due to other commitments and were replaced by Byron Howard and Nathan Greno.
The main setting of Tangled (2010) is the fictional kingdom of Corona. Donna Murphy, the actress who voices Mother Gothel, was born in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York.
At the beginning of the film, during the crown heist, Flynn looks around and says he wants a castle of his own. At the end of the film, as Flynn recounts that he and Rapunzel are a couple, that they eventually married, and that Rapunzel is the reigning monarch as his wife, he does indeed have a castle (though it can easily be argued that it is not technically his own).
It is the last computer-animated Disney animated film shot in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio until Encanto (2021).
As a child, Mandy Moore often dreamed of being a princess, so voicing Rapunzel was literally a dream come true for the actress.
Zachary Levi's Disney debut.
During the film's pre-production in 2005, Clay Aiken was seen as having been approved for the role of Flynn Ryder.
The original trailer included the scene in which Flynn Rider enters the Tower and is knocked out by Rapunzel. However, the trailer showed a stronger Rapunzel and more fighting to take down Rider. Her hair seems to move with more choreographed action, almost as if it had a mind of its own. This interpretation of the scene and of Rapunzel's personality was ultimately not used.
Alan Menken and Glenn Slater wrote a song titled "Glorious Day" to be featured in the kingdom festival scene, but it was decided that the song stepped on the toes of "I See the Light," and so the scene was left without lyrics.
"Pascal" was also the name of a character in the 1980s Beauty and the Beast (1987) drama starring Ron Perlman, who voices the Stabbington Brothers in this film.
Reese Witherspoon was planned to voice Rapunzel.
This is the first of Disney's computer-animated films to have a female protagonist.
In many ways, this can be considered the last "classical" animated film Disney released. It was the last one based directly on a fairy tale/classic story (in this case 'Rapunzel'), the last one to have a clear-cut villain, and the last one to have a prominent love story.
Walt Disney Animation Studios' first fully CGI film with music by Alan Menken.
Walt Disney Animation Studios' fourth film, after Home on the Range (2004), The Wild (2006) and Meet the Robinsons (2007), not to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature since 2001.
Rachel Rogers provided the voice of Young Rapunzel during the initial scratch stage.
This is the first installment of Disney's CGI Animated Musical Universe series.
With a budget exceeding 300 million dollars, it is the 9th most expensive film ever made.
There are two Stabbington Brothers in the film, but only one of them speaks. The one with the goatee says every line, while the one with the eye patch never speaks.
Mother Gothel bears a striking resemblance to pop star Cher.
This is Disney's second computer-animated film, after Meet the Robinsons (2007), in which the main villain is female.
Writer Dan Fogelman also works on This Is Us (2016), in which Mandy Moore also stars.
Walt Disney Animation Studios' first film since Meet the Robinsons (2007) with music by a returning composer.
In 2012, Donna Murphy played the Wicked Witch in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Into the Woods. In that show, the Wicked Witch is Rapunzel's mother.
Ron Perlman voices a Stabbington Brother and Jeffery Tambor voices the big-nosed thug. Both of these actors had previously appeared in the Hellboy films.
Mandy Moore was actually in tears while recording Rapunzel's confession of love to Eugene and her performance of the healing song.
Donna Murphy, who voices Mother Gothel, is from Corona, Queens, New York, as stated on her IMDB profile. Corona is also the name of the kingdom in Tangled.
This is Mandy Moore's third voice role in a theatrical film, after Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Racing Stripes (2005), and her first fully animated film released in theaters.
Disney's fifth computer-animated film to be released during Thanksgiving week, after Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999) and Bolt (2008).
In a way, Mandy Moore started her career with long blonde hair, but later cut and dyed it.
The three books in Rapunzel's tower are Botany, Geology and Cooking.
Along with Zootopia (2016), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Toy Story 4 (2019) and Frozen II (2019), this is the only animated film from Disney's 2010s output not accompanied by a short film.
This was not the first film in which Mandy Moore and Donna Murphy appeared. Although the two never saw each other during the production of Tangled, they never saw each other in Center Stage either. Donna Murphy was a ballet instructor, and two of Mandy Moore's songs were included in that program: "Candy" and "I wanna be with you".
Donna Murphy's Mother Gothel covets a "Fountain of Youth" in "Tangled." Donna Murphy's character Anij in "Star Trek: Insurrection" lived on a planet that was a kind of "Fountain of Youth."
When Flynn uses the frying pan to strike his pursuers, he shouts, "I've got to get me one of these!" This is the same line Captain Hiller uses in Independence Day after escaping the alien mothership in a stolen alien fighter.
It is the last computer-animated Disney animated film to have a G rating in Australia until Encanto (2021).
The fifth full-length Disney animated film to be released during Thanksgiving week, after Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), Treasure Planet (2002) and Bolt (2008).
Zachary Levi voices a character in a full-length film for the first time. He later voiced Joseph in The Star (2017), Rocky the Chicken in the Chicken Run sequels (replacing Mel Gibson) and the title character of Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024) (both of which he played in live action and through voice work during those films' animated sequences).
Disney's eighth computer-animated film to be released in November, after Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), The Incredibles (2004), Chicken Little (2005) and Bolt (2008).
Rapunzel is the last Disney character to be raised by a Disney villain until the Descendants series.
A remake is reportedly planned for release, possibly in 2027, with Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider and Teagan Croft as Rapunzel.
The white stones in Rapunzel's crown are made of glass. Real diamonds, like many other clear precious stones, are not transparent.
Disney's first animated film to be released on November 24 since Toy Story 2 (1999).
Fantasia (1940), Robin Hood (1973), Oliver & Company (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992); Treasure Planet (2002), Brother Bear (2003), Chicken Little (2005), Bolt (2008).
The last animated film Alan Menken scored until Sausage Party (2016), six years later.
Matt Dillon was also considered to voice Flynn Rider.
Matthew Broderick was considered for the voice of Flynn Rider.
Although Tangled is the first computer-animated Disney film to be a musical, the record for the first CG musical film belongs to Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002).
Tom Cruise was also offered the role of Eugene.
Rob Lowe was also considered for the voice of Flynn Rider.
Amy Poehler was considered to play Rapunzel. She went on to star in another Disney animated film, Inside Out (2015).