Western Animation / Tangled

♫"And at last I see the light
and it's like the fog has lifted..."♫

Rapunzel: I've been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what it might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?
Flynn Rider: It will be.
Rapunzel: And what if it is? What do I do then?
Flynn Rider: Well, that's the good part, I guess. You get to go find a new dream.

Disney's 50th animated feature film in its Animated Canon, released in November 2010.

Originally called Rapunzel (and released in Asia and parts of Europe with said name instead, while earning the subtitle "A Tangled Tale"), it is still based on the classic fairy tale and is also still a straight-up fairy tale film, despite what that new title might indicate. It introduces the first CG Disney Princess. She was supposed to be the last Disney Princess of the franchise, until Merida showed up.

Long ago, a single drop of sunlight fell to Earth from the heavens, and from that droplet sprang a magical flower with the power to heal all ills. A woman named Gothel used this power for centuries to keep herself eternally youthful and attempted to hide it for herself. A small, very prosperous kingdom cropped up nearby in the meantime. But one day, the kingdom's pregnant queen fell deathly ill. The kingdom sought out the legendary flower, and found it, thanks to a slip-up in Gothel's vigilance. Once given an infusion of the plant, the queen was fully healed. Her daughter was born with a full head of luxurious blonde locks with the same healing powers as the flower.

Wanting her flower back, Gothel steals into the castle and cuts a lock of the princess' hair... only for it to go brown, dead and useless. So she kidnaps the princess, hides her in a far-off tower, and raises her as her own. The king and queen mourn their lost daughter and begin a tradition of releasing flying lanterns into the night sky every year on their daughter's birthday, with the hope that one day she will return. The young Rapunzel never leaves the tower, but as her 18th birthday approaches, she grows increasingly eager to head outside, especially to see the "strange lights" that appear on her birthday each year. As it happens, a thief named Flynn Rider stumbles into their tower soon before her birthday. Holding his stolen loot hostage, she coerces him into taking her to the outside world, and their wild adventure to see the flying lanterns begins... with Mother Gothel hot on their trail, of course.

Formerly directed by legendary animator Glen Keane, who wanted a new look that required new CG technology, but it took too long to perfect, and the tone and plot details changed many times: the total production time of this movie is nine years. Disney initially wanted to cash in on the pop-culture-heavy Shrek humor from the Turn of the Millennium, only to change the concept of the film again when the story and technology failed their expectations, and turned it into a more straight-forward fairy tale drama. When management changed, John Lasseter altered its development a third time, and we now have a romantic comedy that balanced the two, with a modern attitude. In this time, Keane developed health issues and he had to leave the project for a while. He came back to executive produce and supervise the animation instead and was replaced by Nathan Greno and Bryon Howard (the latter one of the directors of Bolt). Tangled ended up a success, and its style of storytelling and animation paved the way for an even bigger success, Frozen.

A special titled Tangled Ever After continues the story through Rapunzel's and Flynn's wedding. It premiered attached to the 3-D version of Beauty and the Beast, and was put on Blu-Ray and DVD with the Cinderella Diamond Edition release.

A TV series based on the film entitled Tangled: The Series (retitled to Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure after Season 1) premiered March 2017. Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi reprised their roles as Rapunzel and Flynn, with the film's composer and lyricist, Alan Menken and Glenn Slater (respectively), also returning.

A live-action film adaptation is reported to be in development. The movie is also featured as a world in Kingdom Hearts III.

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"These are the tropes of how I died":

Tropes # to D

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Not only is Rapunzel's hair magical, but also her tears.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: The shard of glass that Flynn uses to cut off Rapunzel's hair. Real hair doesn't cut that easily, especially hair as thick as Rapunzel's.
• Accidental Suicide: Of a sort; when Eugene cuts Rapunzel's long hair, Gothel clings to the strands in desperation as they lose their magic and she rapidly ages until she dies. Keep in mind that it had been shown before (albeit briefly) that Gothel will age slightly if she touches Rapunzel's hair if it loses its power.
• Action Girl: Rapunzel. All the gear she needs to be made of this trope is her hair and a cast-iron frying pan.
• Act of True Love: The climax of the film sees Flynn cut Rapunzel's hair with a glass shard, destroying its magical power and condemning himself to die from his mortal stab wound, to prevent her from consigning herself to a life of slavery in exchange for his life.
• Actor Allusion:
  • The lines "Don't freak out!" and "It's complicated" both appear in the same scene. Both lines appear repeatedly in Chuck, which stars Zachary Levi. However neither are spoken by his character, but Chuck is a Phrase Catcher for the former.
  • In Brazil, local television host Luciano Huck was cast as Flynn, which could be considered an allusion to the fact that he portrayed Rapunzel's prince in a live-action family film released two years prior to Tangled's Brazilian release.
• Adaptation Title Change: Tangled was based on the fairy tale Rapunzel. Some international versions let Rapunzel's name be the title.
• Adaptational Expansion: Rapunzel spends more time outside her tower than inside it for the film's running time, etc.
• Adaptational Explanation: Downplayed. While, in the original fairy-tale, Rapunzel's hair did have a reason to be so long (so the witch could access the tower), the film provides a better, more logical explanation: Mother Gothel is holding Rapunzel hostage for the healing properties stored in her hair, and if her hair is cut, the healing properties are permanently lost. The hair eventually getting so long Gothel could be pulled into the tower from it was just a bonus.
• Adaptational Heroism: Rapunzel's parents in this version. They don't steal from the witch's garden or offer their daughter as payment. Instead they unknowingly take a seemingly wild flower that Gothel happened to be using.
• Adapted Out: Not that anybody expected Disney to keep Rapunzel's twin babies in the story.
• Addictive Magic: Mother Gothel "uses" the powers of Rapunzel's hair each day, and feels instantly refreshed. By her next use, she appears visibly 10-20 years older. Twice when she even suspects she'll no longer be able to access it, she goes into a complete panic. All are reminiscent of drug addiction and withdrawal.
• Adjective Animal Alehouse: The Snuggly Duckling.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head:
  • Mother Gothel pats Rapunzel "sweetly" on the head as a gesture of "affection" but also to remind her that she's dumb, helpless, naive, ditzy, etc. What's telling is how Rapunzel flinches whenever she does it. It is a sign that Rapunzel has grown up that she blocks the gesture and grabs Gothel's wrist once Rapunzel realizes who she is.
  • She has a second one that's actually a subversion. When they exchange their "I love you", "I love you more", "I love you most" lines, Gothel always ends it by kissing Rapunzel on the top of her head. That's right, the "I love you most" is actually addressing her hair.
• After-Action Healing Drama:
  • In the tower, at the end, after Mother Gothel is defeated, Rapunzel heals Flynn's stab wound with her tear.
  • On a smaller note, after the action sequence where Rapunzel and Flynn escape the Snuggly Duckling and his hand gets wounded, Rapunzel tenderly heals it, revealing her hair's magical powers to him to his initial shock.
• After-Action Patch-Up: After they escape from drowning, Rapunzel heals the wound on Flynn's hand.
• Again with Feeling:
  • When Eugene first arrives at Rapunzel's castle, which has served as the Gilded Cage her mother kept her in all of her life (all the while telling her tales of men with razor sharp teeth), she knocks him out and throws him into her closet. She says, "I have a person in my closet" once in disbelief. Realizing that she now has proof that she can fend for herself in the outside world, she repeats excitedly, "I have a person in my closet!".
  • When Rapunzel first goes outside the castle , she says, "I can't believe I did this!" three times, first excitedly, then nervously having realized that she disobeyed her mother, then excitedly again.
  • When Eugene and Rapunzel are in the dark, Rapunzel says, "I have magic hair that glows when I sing" in a neutral voice, then she realizes she can use it to light the way and repeats it excitedly.
• All Animals Are Dogs: Maximus the horse. For example, he tracks Flynn by his scent and thumps his tail like a Labrador when Rapunzel scratches him, for which horses simply lack the tail bones. Flynn doesn't believe it. The filmmakers even admit it.
• All There in the Script: It's never actually said in the movie that the kingdom is named Corona.
• Almost Kiss:
  • Rapunzel and Flynn nearly kiss each other on the rowboat, but Flynn noticing the Stabbington brothers interrupts this.
  • In the climax, Flynn reaches Rapunzel's face again nearly kissing her, but this turns out to be a decoy more so he can cut off Rapunzel's hair with a shard of glass.
• Alone with the Psycho: The worst part is the psycho is the woman posing as Rapunzel's mother who has lived with her all her life. When Rapunzel realizes who she really is and tries to leave the tower, Gothel ties her up and prepares to drag her away to an unknown location after stabbing Flynn, who mounts a dramatic rescue but is ambushed. Rapunzel would have gone with Gothel willingly if allowed to save Flynn, resigned to spending her life with her.
• Amplified Animal Aptitude: Maximus and Pascal. Not only can they understand human speech, but they can apparently be spoken to, shown by their facial expressions. Maximus also seems more skilled with a sword than any of the palace guards, despite lacking fingers. Maximus is basically the most badass character in the entire movie: if he had been around when Rapunzel was a baby he would have tracked down the missing princess before the sunrise.
• Amusing Injuries:
  • Some fairly enthusiastic frying-pan attacks. Let's be thankful these characters can't fracture each others' skulls.
  • Big Nose thug is hit and otherwise physically abused by Hook Hand, all played for laughs.
• And Then What?: Invoked in the lantern scene. Rapunzel says it's been her dream to see them close up; now that she's about to, what does she do after?
• Animal Reaction Shot: As Pascal averts Animal Talk, his silent reactions to what's happening are presented in this way.
• Animated Musical: This animated film includes eight songs. Of these, "Healing Incantation" and "I Have a Dream" are the only two that are diegetic (wherein the character acknowledges that they are singing).
• Ankle Drag: Played for Laughs. When Maximus finally catches up to Flynn, he begins to drag him away by his boot, a possible variant of this.
• Antiquated Linguistics: Flynn, when he first meets Rapunzel. "I know not who you are..."
• Applied Phlebotinum: In the movie, the rampion from the original Fairy Tale is now a magic plant, grown from a drop of liquid sunlight. After the Queen ingests it, its abilities get transferred to her unborn daughter, Rapunzel. Which is why Mother Gothel kidnaps her (singing a certain song activates the hair's magic and keeps her young) and why her hair is so long (if you cut it, it loses its powers).
• Arc Symbol: The kingdom's sun insignia. Finding it hidden in her artwork is what leads Rapunzel to realize she's really the long-lost princess.
• Artistic License – Biology:
  • Maximus is biologically a horse but totally acts like a dog—purposely finding others via scent, wagging his tail like a dog, etc. Not to mention that he swordfights better than any human. And that he understands all human speech.
  • Pascal is a Hollywood Chameleon—although he does change color based on his emotions, sometimes he instead changes colors according to the surface he's on, and even does his best to match objects with colorful patterns on them—and like Maximus, also communicates much better with humans (especially Rapunzel) than a real reptile would.
• Art Shift: A traditionally drawn and animated closing credits sequence, in what's become a recent tradition for Disney (and Pixar) computer animated films.
• Ascended Fridge Horror:
  • It may get lost in the suspense, but Flynn is horrified when one of the Stabbington Brothers explains that an "old lady" told them about Rapunzel's hair. Rapunzel also told him that her mother locked her in a tower to "keep her safe". It doesn't take long for him to put two and two together, that Gothel endangered Rapunzel on purpose and dragged her back to the tower for her healing hair. He starts screaming at the guards that he needs to save Rapunzel, realizing she's Alone with the Psycho.
  • Likewise, when Rapunzel confronts Gothel about who she really is, the lady says that Flynn is not out there waiting for her beyond the tower. The realization dawns on Rapunzel that Flynn never betrayed her, and she angrily asks what Gothel did to him. Gothel reassures her that he'll be hanged on charges of theft. Rapunzel is horrified on realizing what her "mother" did, and it's this Rage Breaking Point that drives her to fight back.
• Audible Sharpness: When Mother Gothel picks up her dagger, it makes the trademark "shing" sound.
• Avoid the Dreaded G Rating: The film is rated PG for "Brief Mild Violence" at the end. Interestingly enough, Tangled is the first Disney Princess film to ever have a PG rating, and also the 7th Disney animated feature to have that rating (the first 6 were The Black Cauldron, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, Home on the Range and Bolt).
• Award-Bait Song: "I See the Light", the romantic duet Flynn and Rapunzel sing beneath the lanterns.
• Awesome McCoolname: Flynn Rider. His real name is much less impressive, and he took the Flynn Rider name from his favorite swashbuckling hero.
• "Awkward Silence" Entrance: Flynn takes Rapunzel to the Snuggly Duckling, a tavern full of ruffians and thugs, and hammily announces his entrance to get all the thugs to stare at him and Rapunzel. Flynn is hoping all the attention will spook Rapunzel.
• Back from the Dead: Eugene, thanks to Rapunzel's tears.. This is a Shout-Out to the original tale, in which Rapunzel healed her beloved's eyesight in the same manner.
• Bad Guy Bar: Double Subverted with the Snuggly Duckling, as we're not initially told it has bad guys in it, especially with a name like that. Zig-zagged when it turns out that they're actually just scary looking weirdos but are all fairly nice people who get along great with Rapunzel once she gets to know them. In fact, Rider is comparatively more a bad guy than they are, which is why they give him any kind of trouble.
• Bag of Kidnapping: After learning that Rapunzel's hair can be used to heal people and therefore could be worth a lot of money, the Stabbington brothers try to capture her with this method, they would've succeeded if Mother Gothel hadn't knocked them out from behind.
• Bait-and-Switch: Flynn and Rapunzel enter what appears to be a Bad Guy Bar. Rapunzel attempts to leave the bar, and Flynn follows her, but the regulars at the bar immediately recognize Flynn and hold him hostage while one of them goes to find the guards. Rapunzel orders them to put Flynn down, asking, "Haven't any of you had a dream?" One particularly scary man stomps over to Rapunzel with his axe... to tell Rapunzel that he does have a dream. He then throws his axe into the wall, signaling a musical number where each regular professes his "dream".
• Bait-and-Switch Comment:
  • Near the start of the movie, Flynn notices himself on a Wanted poster. His reaction is:
    Flynn: Oh, no, this is bad... they just can't get my nose right!
  • Also done by Gothel to Rapunzel:
    Look in that mirror. I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady. Oh, look, you're there, too!
• Bar Brawl: Oh yeah. With a side order of song and a Shout-Out to Monty Python.
• Barefoot Captives: Rapunzel is kept barefoot as part of her imprisonment in Mother Gothel's tower. However, she continues to go barefoot well after she escapes; it's unclear whether this is because she doesn't own any shoes to wear, or if she just Prefers Going Barefoot.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Rapunzel runs off to adventure with 70 feet of hair and bare feet. She gets wet but dries off quickly, and at no point are her hair and feet ever seen to get dirty. The hair can be handwaved as being magical but there's no excuse for her feet.
• Be as Unhelpful as Possible:
  • Greno comes back to the Snuggly Duckling with the palace guards who want Flynn's head. The Hook-Handed Thug sends Rapunzel and Flynn on their way through a secret tunnel passageway while the guards are upstairs. When the guards come back down, we see the other pub thugs being as unhelpful as they can to distract the guards — for instance, Vladimir tries passing off Shorty as "Flynn".
  • Flynn gets in on it too, trying to be as unhelpful to Rapunzel as he can, so she'll give up on her quest and give him back the tiara.
• Because Destiny Says So: Rapunzel's first argument for Flynn.
• Beer Goggles: Shorty at the end of the "I've Got a Dream" number is clearly drunk, and he attempts to hit on Gothel while he is drunk with "Somebody get me a glass, cause I've just found me a tall drink of water!" Admittedly, a man would hardly need booze to find her attractive.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Pascal tripping Gothel out the window during the climax.
  • Hilariously inverted then played straight with the Snuggly Duckling Pub's thugs.
• Beyond the Impossible: The hair; two examples:
  • Storywise: The hair is established early on to lose its power if it's cut. It's even demonstrated in the prologue. Also, at the end, Flynn cuts off all of Rapunzel's hair to free her from Gothel. This would normally mean she can't heal his fatal injury but breaks the supernatural rule and is able to heal him with her tears.
  • Metawise: Rule #1 of 3D animation is to avoid hair. Tangled features 70 feet of it. First it's just looped up. Then used as rope and as a lasso. Then it gets wet. Then braided full of flowers. Then it lights up from root to tail with the power of the sun.
• Be Yourself: Never explicitly said, but definitely implied, particularly with Flynn/Eugene.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Being a Disney movie, this was pretty much a given.
• Big Damn Reunion: Between Rapunzel and her real parents at the end.
• Big Fancy Castle: Flynn is quite taken with it.
• Big "NO!": From Gothel; followed by several Little Nos when Rapunzel's hair is cut.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: Mother Gothel's opinion of Rapunzel's "mumbling".
• Blessed with Suck:
  • Rapunzel briefly alludes to the difficulties of having 70-foot long hair during her "I Want" Song.
    Rapunzel: And then I'll brush and brush, and brush and brush my hair!
  • Gothel has also made Rapunzel believe that she would be in constant danger outside the tower because selfish people want her healing power for themselves. Along with the actual truth in that statement and the resulting tower imprisonment as well.
• Bloodless Carnage:
  • There should've been at least a bit of blood on the knife after Gothel stabs Eugene. What makes this weird is that we are shown blood when Rapunzel peeks at the wound.^note Reality Is Unrealistic: Sincd Eugene is wearing a silk shirt, this is actually not uncommon. Silk is hard to pierce, and typically will give so Eugene was stabbed by the silk-wrapped knife, meaning he bled onto his shirt, but not the knife.
  • There's also when Eugene grabs a broken piece of glass to cut off Rapunzel's hair, and somehow manages to not cut himself on it.
  • Also, a justified one when Gothel falls out the window. In real life, that kind of death would be accompanied by lots of blood, smashed skulls, etc., but the accelerated aging has turned her to dust by the time she hits the ground.
• Bluebird of Happiness: Bluebirds flit about Rapunzel when she first reaches the ground.
• Book Ends: Queen Arianna looking lovingly at a baby Rapunzel before embracing her. It happens again in the end when they are reunited.
• Bound and Gagged:
  • When Rapunzel first meets Flynn, she knocks him unconscious and binds him to a chair with her hair for an impromptu interrogation. Later on he's tied to a boat and sent out towards the castle by the Stabbington Brothers.
  • Mother Gothel ties up and gags Rapunzel for wanting to save Flynn from execution and to lure Flynn into a trap later on.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Shorty (the oldest thug) is the only one who does this — by blowing kisses directly to the viewer, during the "I've Got a Dream" song when he hangs from the ceiling on a rope, and at the very last shot of the movie when he's floating up the sky on balloons.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Towards the end, Rapunzel believes that Flynn has taken the tiara and left her. She only finds out that it was a trick by Mother Gothel when Flynn comes to rescue her.
• Brick Joke:
  • When Flynn sees the wanted poster of himself he remarks "They never get my nose right." Later, when he brings Rapunzel into the tavern, there's another poster of him with an even larger nose.
    Flynn: Now they're just being mean.
  • Extended in Tangled Ever After, with the banners of him and Rapunzel for their wedding. His nose in them is, yet again, overly large and comical.
    Flynn: Oh, come on!
  • Also, the copious use of frying pans as weapons. They prove so effective that at the end of the film, they become the official weapon of the kingdom's military.
  • Another one is the man with ridiculously pointy teeth and lots of rats in the Snuggly Duckling, which is what Mother Gothel warned Rapunzel men would have.
• Brought Down to Normal: Rapunzel. Her hair is cut off, which kills the Big Bad and turns her into a brunette.
• Building Swing: Rapunzel, using her hair.
• Bullet Time: When Rapunzel swings away from Maximus at the dam, and he tries to catch her with his teeth. The score even gives a brass fanfare.
• Butt-Monkey: Flynn Rider's second most prominent trait. Helps that he seems to be Made of Iron when it comes to physical comedy. Not so resistant to stabbing, though.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Rapunzel refuses to remain with Mother Gothel after she realizes that she is the lost princess. Unfortunately, Gothel doesn't give her a say in the matter.
• Cape Swish: Mothel Gothel is very good at this; it's one of her attributes that implies she is a witch and appears most prominently after "Mother Knows Best (Reprise)".
• Captain Obvious: One of the thugs in the Snuggly Duckling, about Rapunzel:

  Thug: That's a loooot of hair...

• Cardboard Prison: Not the actual prison, but the soldier who is left to watch the Stabbington Brothers in the tavern. He is literally taken out and escaped from less than five seconds after the rest of the soldiers leave. Justified as the guards likely didn't have time to bring them back to actual prison if they wanted to keep on Flynn's trail.
• The Cavalry: The thugs from The Snuggly Duckling busting Flynn/Eugene out of prison.
• Cerebus Callback: As Flynn lies dying, he whispers to Rapunzel "you were my new dream", referencing both the lighthearted song "I've Got a Dream" from earlier in the film and their conversation while waiting for the lanterns (when Rapunzel asked what would happen to her after her dream of seeing the lanterns was fulfilled, Flynn answered, "Well, that's the good part, I guess. You get to go find a new dream.")
• Chalk Outline: In a blink-and-you-miss-it gag, there is a chalk outline on the floor of the Snuggly Duckling (the Bad Guy Bar) with an axe still embedded in the planks at the location of the head.
• Changeling Fantasy: The woman whom Rapunzel calls "Mother", who raised her — and who keeps her cooped up in a tower, makes demands of her, and insults her — isn't her real mother. Her real parents are a kindly king and queen who love her unconditionally and still celebrate her birthday every year as they wait for her to find them again.
• Changing Chorus: In "I've Got a Dream", the song's title is the only thing that's consistent about the chorus, and even then it occasionally changes to "He's got a dream", "She's got a dream", or "We've got a dream".
• Character Development:
  • Rapunzel loses her fear of the outside world and learns to stand up to her abusive adoptive mother.
  • Flynn stops caring only about himself and learns to love, as well as to just be himself.
  • Maximus, who is in the beginning all about protocol and rules and regulations, going so far as to track down the lawbreaker even after his rider, the head guard, has fallen off. Later, it turns out he's a real softie for cute young girls and their dreams, and even gives the aforementioned lawbreaker some leeway for the sake of their love, lending his super-horse strength and fighting skills to break Eugene out of prison and the gallows.
    (Previous owner) Head Guard: [stunned] Maximus?
• Chekhov's Gun: So many, many things. Among them:
  • The hilarious song "I've Got A Dream", performed by the Pub Thugs, illustrates all their most cherished dreams. Later, these dreams come in handy when they band together to rescue Flynn from execution, thanks in part to Maximus. Combined with Chekhov's Skill, especially in the case of the mime.
  • The broken mirror, as Flynn uses a shard of the glass to cut Rapunzel's hair.
  • Rapunzel's complete, non-negotiable unwillingness to break her promises greatly informs the film's climax, when she promises to Mother Gothel that if she lets Rapunzel heal Flynn/Eugene, Rapunzel will stay with her forever and offer no resistance. Needless to say, it makes the scene pretty tense.
  • Rapunzel's hair glows when its magic is invoked. This comes in handy when she and Flynn/Eugene need light to escape a watery death.
  • Rapunzel's painted walls and the hankie from the marketplace are what cause her realize that she is the missing princess.
  • Also subverted with Rapunzel's many skills demonstrated during the "When Will My Life Begin?" song: candle-making? Ventriloquism? She doesn't use any of them in the rest of the movie, and only her painted walls are of any importance. That's more to explain what she's been doing for all those years by herself in the tower. She has nothing to do except learn new skills/hobbies.
  • When Mother Gothel cuts Rapunzel's hair, she sings to her hair to regain her youth, only for the dying magic she holds in her hand to immediately reverse the spell, turning her old again. Then at the end of the movie, desperately clinging to ALL of Rapunzel's dying magic causes the reversal of ALL of Gothel's youth, turning her into dust.
• Chiaroscuro: Extensively used in the scene when Gothel refuses Rapunzel's request to go out, in which she cuts off all the natural light sources in the tower.
• Chirping Crickets: Flynn gets this sound when he comments to his lackeys "I can't believe after all we've been through together, you still don't trust me?"
• Circling Monologue:
  • One Bad Mother Gothel circles Rapunzel with fake affection at the start of her Villain Song, "Mother Knows Best." Later, in the reprise of this song, Gothel still feigns affection but is more openly mocking and derisive, and she even does a semi-circle that has a seductive twist.
  • Rapunzel walks in circles around Flynn when she interrogates him in the tower. It's Played for Laughs as she is a cute girl trying her darnedest to seem intimidating, and Flynn looks a bit creeped out but only by her endless hair.
• Cloak and Dagger: Mother Gothel wears a cloak in the scene where she steals baby Rapunzel and uses a dagger to cut off some of her hair; and during most of her outside scenes she also wears her cloak. This signifies her secretive nature and evilness. She later even uses the dagger to kill Flynn.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • Rapunzel wears a purple and lavender dress when she lives with Gothel. This is a hint to her true identity, as purple is the color of royalty.
  • Also, in the lantern scene, the warmth of pink and orange lanterns are a sign of love. This contrasts with Gothel's green lantern, which is creepy and cold. Helps with the Mood Whiplash.
  • At the end of the film, Rapunzel wears a pink dress during the kingdom celebration. Guess what color princesses love?
  • At the end of the film Flynn's outfit has changed from blue to black, making the whole thing look vaguely tuxedo-ish.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Rapunzel's violence toward Flynn when she first meets him, and also Flynn trying to renege on their deal by slimily manipulating Rapunzel during one of her crying episodes.
• Comically Missing the Point: Finding his own wanted poster — which reads "DEAD OR ALIVE" at the top in bright red lettering — Flynn's only comment is "They just can't get my nose right!".
• Comic-Book Adaptation: Alessandro Ferrari adapted the movie for Disney Comics and Scott Peterson started an ongoing series for IDW in 2018.
• Commonality Connection: Central to the "I Have a Dream" Crowd Song.
• Compressed Hair: The children in the kingdom braid Rapunzel's hair so that she doesn't have to carry it around or worry about people stepping on it.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Part of Flynn Rider's backstory. He started his life of crime because of wanting to change his fortunes after growing up poor.
• Conversation Hog: Gothel often won't let Rapunzel get a word in edgewise when they talk to each other. When Rapunzel's about to reveal that she's got Flynn locked up in her closet so she can prove that she can take care of herself in the outside world, Gothel interrupts her several times before she can even get to that.
  Rapunzel: Okay, I've been thinking a lot about what you've said earlier-
  Gothel: I hope you're not still talking about the stars.
  Rapunzel: Floating lights, and yes, I'm leading up to that. I-
  Gothel: Because I really thought we dropped the issue, sweetheart.
  Rapunzel: No, mother, I'm just saying, you think I'm not strong enough to handle myself out there. (starts to reach towards the chair blocking the closet door)
  Gothel: Oh, darling, I know you're not strong enough to handle yourself out there.
  Rapunzel: But if you'd just-
  Gothel: Rapunzel, we're done talking about this.
  Rapunzel: Trust me!
  Gothel: Rapunzel?
  Rapunzel: I know what I'm-
  Gothel: Rapunzel...
  Rapunzel: Oh, come on!
  Gothel: (snapping) Enough with the lights, Rapunzel! You are not leaving this tower, EVER!
• Cool Crown: A royal tiara acts as a bit of a MacGuffin, in that Flynn steals it, and Rapunzel takes it, meaning he has to help her to get it back.
• Costume Porn: Since the movie is CG, the clothes can be decorated and detailed as much as anyone wants to, and the filmmakers took advantage of this. The amount of detail that has gone into each character's costume in this movie is unbelievable. You can see fabric texture, weathering, tarnish on metals, seams (in strategic places) and the list goes on. And despite not technically being part of her costume, Rapunzel's hair falls into this category as well, especially after Flynn gets the little girls to braid it. Rapunzel isn't the only character who has apparently had a lot of effort put into her hair, as Gothel's hair is also incredibly detailed — every little curl is in place, the shading gets greyer in different places depending on how long she's gone without making herself look young again, and her hair even bounces when she moves in certain ways.
• Creative Closing Credits: Hand-drawn animated scenes of Rapunzel and Flynn's adventure serve as a backdrop for the credits, which were animated by Shiyoon Kim. Later, the standard credits list sways to the left and right, just like long hair would.
• Creator Cameo: At one point, Hook Hand orders another thug named Greno to get the guards. Tangled was directed by Nathan Greno.
• Crime-Concealing Hobby: Inverted. The pub thugs when the viewer first meets them, seem to be only defined by their being criminals; but once the song "I've Got A Dream" comes, we find out they all have hobbies (playing the piano; baking; mime; interior design; etc.) that they'd really love to turn into their jobs.
• Crowd Song: "I've Got a Dream". Played with in that Flynn spends most of it staring in disbelief, then has to be forced into participating at swordpoint.
• Cumbersome Claws: Hook Hand is a piano player with a hook for a hand who gets his sheet music caught on it.
• Cutlass Between the Teeth: Maximus (hey, it's not like he has thumbs) when fighting Flynn, whose weapon of choice at that moment is a frying pan.
  Flynn: This is the strangest thing I've ever done!
• Dance Line: During the Falling-in-Love Montage inside the kingdom, Rapunzel initiates one.
• Dance of Romance: Averted; Rapunzel and Flynn actively try for this, but when they finally get to each other the song's over. Played with during the lantern sequence, when the two lanterns they release together swirl around in a seeming dance.
• Dark Is Evil: Mother Gothel. Black hair and pale skin, along with a black cloak. On a more metaphorical level, she imprisons the light of the sun (first by placing the flower in a basket, then by kidnapping Rapunzel). On a more literal level, she closes the window and extinguishes all candles when manipulating Rapunzel during "Mother Knows Best." When she uses a lantern, is a sickly green light, designed to look unnatural compared to the friendly golden lanterns used by the kingdom.
• Dark Reprise:
  • The reprise of "Mother Knows Best". Both are villain songs, but the reprise is darker musically.
  • "Healing Incantation", "Return to Mother", and "The Tear Heals" all have somber elements from the "Prologue".
• Declaration of Personal Independence: Somewhat the case - Mother Gothel underestimates Rapunzel's maturity and capability to take on the world very much - or it seems that way, as she's just trying to put Rapunzel down so that she can have her magic youth-restoring hair to herself.
• Decoy Protagonist: The trailers made it seem like Flynn was the star, even though he is very much the deuteragonist. In-movie, Flynn is the leading narrator, but he quickly denounces himself from being the main character and goes on to say that yes, this is the story of Rapunzel.
• Delusions of Parental Love: Gothel is a textbook emotional abuser who keeps Rapunzel locked up in a tower for 18 years, all the while telling her that this is for the best because she's too immature and naïve to handle the outside world. Even though Rapunzel disagrees with Gothel's assessment of her supposed inability to take care of herself, she believes that her mother is genuinely concerned about her safety. And when Flynn convinces Rapunzel to sneak out of the tower, Rapunzel's joy at being able to finally see the outside world is constantly interspersed with her crying out of guilt for defying her mother and "breaking her heart".
• Determinator:
  • Once she recovers her memories of her royal parents and her abduction, Rapunzel finally decides that enough is enough and that she'll never help Gothel maintain her youth again.
  • Flynn. Once he realizes that Rapunzel has been taken by Gothel, not even the fact that he's being dragged to the gallows will stop him from trying to get away. Sure he needs the thugs to bust him out, but he sure as hell didn't sit there and take it.
  • Maximus is also an example. When hunting Flynn, he's not gonna stop for anything. Except for Rapunzel calling him a good boy.
    • And then he becomes this again by putting his grudge against Flynn aside and somehow getting the Snuggly Duckling thugs to help Flynn rescue Rapunzel.
• Deus ex Machina: The healing tears at the very end. While the movie is different in many ways from the original fairy tale, this detail comes straight from the source material. The fact that her healing powers were rather mysterious to begin with may also be a factor. However, nothing in the movie itself foreshadows it in any way, unless you believe the theory that the drop of sun from the intro IS the tear that saved Flynn.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Eugene. He gets better.
• Discretion Shot:
  • When Gothel goes through her Rapid Aging, the cloak conveniently keeps the viewer from seeing most of what happens when she pulls a Donovan. What we do get to see of her hand and jaw, as well as the dust which spills out of her cloak when it hits the ground, makes it very clear what happened. Her reflection is also briefly visible, but it's scattered across the shards of the mirror and only shown for a split second, making it hard to catch. May be another reason for the higher rating.
  • We never actually see Rapunzel hit Flynn with the frying pan.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: Likewise, we don’t actually "see" Mother Gothel stab Eugene, and there’s no blood on the knife when she pulls it away, but Eugene’s face tells us everything we need to know.
• Dismissing a Compliment:
  • Mother Gothel tells Shorty, "You big lunk" when he calls her a Statuesque Stunner.
  • Flynn's first comment when Rapunzel tells him she likes Eugene Fitzherbert is to dismiss it.
• Disneyfication: Like Sleeping Beauty, this was going to be a case of using an already Lighter and Softer version of a pre-existing story. The original Grimm's Rapunzel myth involved Eye Scream and Teen Pregnancy. Plus, just as in practically every adaption of this story, the "witch" is made much less sympathetic.
• Disney Villain Death: Played with. Gothel is tripped up, and falls out of the tower. She ages to dust during the fall, and dies before hitting the ground.
• The Diss Track: The song "Mother Knows Best" downplays this. It's mostly about how Gothel doesn't want Rapunzel to leave (because Gothel uses Rapunzels hair to turn young, though she's pretending it's because she's concerned for her safety), but there is an underlying theme of Gothel claiming/implying that Rapunzel would be putting herself in danger because she is naive. Gothel also claims in one verse that Rapunzel is sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy, gullible, grubby, ditzy, "vague", and gaining weight.
• Distressed Dude: It's always Flynn who has to be rescued by Rapunzel, not the other way round. Even when Rapunzel gets Bound and Gagged toward the end of the film, she's able to save Flynn from his mortal knife wound by working off her gag and begging Mother Gothel to let her heal him, which gives Flynn a chance to pull off his would-be Heroic Sacrifice.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • The lyrics of "Mother Knows Best (reprise)" make it sound like the stolen tiara is a metaphor for Rapunzel's virginity. "This is why he's here, don't let him deceive you! Give it to him, watch, you'll see! Trust me my dear, that's how fast he'll leave you, I won't say I told you so!" To the adaptation's credit, a tiara as a metaphor for virginity is actually a pretty mild metaphor compared to the original story, which is positively rife with sexual metaphors (and also quite literal Teen Pregnancy).
  • The way that Mother Gothel appears to feel after her daily use of Rapunzel's magic hair, how she appears visibly 10-20 years older just a day later, and her panic when she realizes she'll no longer be able to access it, are reminiscent of drug addiction and withdrawal.
• The Dog Bites Back: Pascal improvises a tripline that sends the villain out the high window.
• Domestic Abuse: Several of the more subtle emotional and psychological varieties are employed by Gothel to manipulate Rapunzel into staying with her in the tower. According to viewers familiar with the subject, it's portrayed very accurately.
• Don't Explain the Joke: Gothel's teasing may be mostly Stealth Insults, but she does have some validity in telling Rapunzel to "stop taking everything so seriously." After Rapunzel reminds Gothel that the next day will be her birthday, Gothel responds with "No no no, can't be. I distinctly remember, your birthday was last year." From her face and the tone of her voice, you can tell she's teasing again. Rapunzel's response is "That's the funny thing about birthdays, they're kind of an annual thing." Gothel just stares.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Rapunzel knocks Flynn unconscious twice in self-defense, since he is an intruder in her home at the time. However, she then ties him up and unnecessarily strikes him a third time while restrained. Later, after they have become friends and traveled together for some time, Flynn tries to argue with her to abandon their mission. She answers, "I will use this" holding up the pan that she had knocked him unconscious with three times, menacingly to his face. The whole thing is Played for Laughs in a way which would be much darker if a male character made a credible threat of bodily harm against a female character to win an argument.
• Downer Beginning: The film begins with Flynn telling the audience that the story eventually leads to his death. He then continues with a prologue about how a certain flower that granted a witch immortality was used to heal a pregnant queen's illness, and the flower's magic transferred to her baby, Rapunzel. The witch, Gothel, realizing she would need the baby to continue replenishing her youth, kidnapped Rapunzel, locked her away in a hidden tower, and manipulated her into believing the outside world was too dangerous for her to ever leave. The king and queen were left to mourn, and would send out lanterns each year on Rapunzel's birthday hoping she would see them and return some day, and luckily for them, she eventually did. Also, Flynn's death isn't permanent.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • The opening narration lets the audience know in no uncertain terms that Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel as a baby to keep using the magical flower's power and stay forever young. Rapunzel herself is clueless about Gothel's manipulation and emotional abuse, since it's all she's ever known; she loves her "mother" and believes her words about the cruel, selfish people who would use Rapunzel's hair for themselves. The Internal Reveal of Gothel's true nature comes as a big shock to her.
  • At seeing Rapunzel torn between returning to the tower and enjoying her freedom, Flynn tries to use this to his advantage, and nearly convinces her into returning to the tower to "save a mother daughter relationship". Unknown to him, he's terribly mistaken about the situation: on top of not knowing Rapunzel's lived in that tower her whole life, her "forbidden roadtrip" is the only freedom she's had, and her "overprotective mother" is her cruel abductor.
  • Once she gets to the kingdom, Rapunzel becomes the center of attention during the celebration in honour on the missing princesses' birthday. The audience already know she's the lost princess. There's even a short scene with Rapunzel staring at a mosaic of the royal family, particularly the baby princess, unaware she's looking at herself.
• Dreamworks Face: The teaser poster◊ shows a close up of Rapunzel & Flynn's faces which looks much like Dreamworks posters. The poster actually got a lot of people worried that the film was Disney's attempt to copy Dreamworks, though this was cleared up when it was actually released, and the final poster◊ used a much different style.
• Drowning Pit: Our heroes get trapped in a cave as it fills with water.
• Dying Declaration of Love: While the word "love" isn't actually used, Flynn uses his last words to make his feelings clear:
  Flynn: You were my new dream.

Tropes E to L

• Early-Bird Cameo: During the credits, Vigor the Visionary, the psychic monkey that will play a more prominent role in Tangled: The Series, appears.
• Embarrassing First Name: Flynn's real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. He named himself after a swashbuckling hero he was a fan of as a kid.
• Emerging from the Shadows: Rapunzel does this, frying pan in hand, the first time Flynn sees her after she ties him up with her hair in the tower.
• Enter Stage Window: The main entrance to Rapunzel's tower is through a window with the aid of her hair.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Rapunzel has a rather epic one as she notices the unforeseen sketches of the kingdom's sun symbol on her mural, making her realize she is the lost princess.
• Everyone Hates Mimes: Alluded to; Ulf, who wants to be a mime, gets some very disturbed looks from the people he's performing in front of at the end. It's all a distraction for one group of guards so they are standing perfectly still while Vladimir charges them from the side and plows them over.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: This is what ultimately defeats Gothel. She allows Rapunzel to heal a dying Flynn, after chaining him up and getting Rapunzel's word that she won't ever run away again. Gothel expects the threat of death will keep Flynn docile and goes Oh, Crap! when he cuts Rapunzel's hair before she can heal him. It's only fitting since Gothel feared death.
• Exact Words: Part of why Rapunzel's complete and utter devotion to keeping her promises didn't keep her from leaving the tower in the first place. The promise she agrees to at the end of "Mother Knows Best" is "Promise me you'll never ask to leave this tower again".
• Extremely Short Timespan: Excepting the prologue, the whole thing is over before the end of the third day.
• Eye Recall: Rapunzel's "Eureka!" Moment is shown with a dramatic zoom into, then out of, her eye ^note which, incidentally, bears a striking resemblance to her (real) mother's.
• Eyebrow Waggle: When Flynn introduces himself to Rapunzel, he waggles his eyebrows at her to make her fall for him. It doesn't work and only makes Rapunzel question his motives more.
• Eyelash Fluttering: Maximus the horse winks towards Flynn, after seeing children put numerous flowers in Rapunzel's hair, in a "check her out" manner.
• Facial Composite Failure:
  Flynn: They just can't get my nose right!
• Fairy Tale: This movie is loosely based on Rapunzel with the titular lass stuck in a tower...and the guy who goes up the tower is a thief on the run.
• Falling-in-Love Montage: Flynn and Rapunzel exploring the kingdom during the Flying Lanterns festival.
• False Friend: Mother Gothel nearly leads Rapunzel into thinking this of Flynn, but fails when Rapunzel remembers her true royal heritage and Mother Gothel kidnapping her, and learns that Flynn is about to be executed.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Rapunzel and her birth mother have the exact same eyes, both in design and color.
• Family-Unfriendly Death:
  • At the end, Gothel ends up crumbling into a pile of dust due to Rapunzel's hair being cut.
  • Flynn being stabbed to death should qualify. Granted, he got better, but that doesn't change the violent death scene.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence: Fatal stabbing; Rapid Aging Disney Villain Death.
• Fantastic Light Source:
  • "I have magic hair that glows when I sing." They then use its light to find a way out of a flooding cave.
  • It's never explicitly stated to be magic, but Mother Gothel's eerie green lantern.
• Fashion Dissonance: Mother Gothel looks decidedly more medieval (Word of God says about 400 years behind in fact) compared to the pseudo-Victorian looks most everyone else wears. This is a plot point.
• Feet-First Introduction: In the trailer Rapunzel is introduced this way.
• Finger Extinguisher: During "Mother Knows Best," Mother Gothel uses her hand to put out a full row of candles.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Mostly of the "other danger" type, but from the Snuggly Duckling to when they escape drowning brings them much closer together.
• First Time in the Sun: Rapunzel. Kind of sad when you realize that she's almost literally an embodiment of sunshine.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: A tiny unicorn figurine appears just before the ruffians show up and rescue Eugene.
• Fluffy the Terrible: The Snuggly Duckling sounds a very fitting name for a bar whose main patrons are a bunch of scary-looking rogues. Subverted since said rogues are actually nice guys.
• Flynning: The duel between Flynn (who's wielding a frying pan) and Maximus (who's wielding a sword in his mouth, being a horse and all).
• Foregone Conclusion: Flynn says in the opening narration, "This is the story of how I died." He does die, but Rapunzel's magic tear brings him back to life.
• The Foreign Subtitle: The title of the movie was retained as "Rapunzel" in Asia and certain parts of Europe while being changed to Tangled elsewhere. Disney slapped on the subtitle A Tangled Tale in countries where the movie was released under Rapunzel to make it easily differentiable from the original fairy tale and its other adaptations.
• Foreshadowing:
  • At the very start, when Flynn is introducing the story, you see Rapunzel's mobile from when she was a child. On the mobile? A White Horse, a Chameleon, a Small Yellow Duck and a Cupid. To clarify, Maximus, Pascal, The Snuggly Ducking inn, and Shorty (the old dude with wings).
    "Don't ever ask to leave this tower again..."
    "Don't forget it,
    You'll regret it.
    Mother knows best!"
  • During the "I've got a dream" song, Flynn is catapulted into the air by Vladimir (by far the biggest/heaviest of the thugs) stepping on a log, because they're toying with him. Vladimir again uses his weight to catapult Flynn during the prison escape scene,, but this time the thugs are doing it to help him, and they orchestrated it so Flynn lands on Maximus, who gets him to Rapunzel.
  • When Gothel tells Rapunzel she is never leaving the tower in the first act, she sits goes "Oh, great. Now I'm the bad guy." in her usual passive-aggressive way, trying to make herself the victim. When Rapunzel stands up to Gothel in the end and tries to leave, Gothel gets physical with "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy."
  • Flynn's very first line of dialogue (excluding the opening narration) counts as foreshadowing. He is standing on the roof of the Corona castle, and tells his partners how amazing the view is. He then decides that he wants a castle himself. By the end, he doesn't have just any old castle - he has the very one he was standing on the roof of.
  • Similar to the above, in "I've Got a Dream", Flynn says that his dreams "mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny, on an island that I own, surrounded by enormous piles of money". He later marries the princess of Corona, which has the sun as its symbol and has its capital on an island.
  • When Gothel is talking about how evil the outside world is, she says that "if it finds the slightest ray of sunshine, it destroys it". In the climax, Flynn cuts Rapunzel's hair, causing it to lose its sun-based powers. Doubles as irony as this was actually an act of heroism.
• Fountain of Youth: The magic flower which Mother Gothel was originally using. After that, Rapunzel's hair.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • During "I've Got A Dream", you'll find Pinocchio resting on top of a column.
  • During the Kingdom Dance sequence, the atlas Rapunzel and Flynn/Eugene look through spells Brazil with period-appropriate ſ. No, that's not an f. That's the long s [1] that was common before the widespread use of printing. The aforementioned similarity to f eventually led to its replacement by the s we know today.
• Frying Pan of Doom: Exaggerated Trope. While Rapunzel isn't the first Disney Princess to use a weapon, she's the first to use a cooking implement as one (specifically a cast-iron skillet); Always Female is averted when Flynn starts to use it as well, to fight off the guards. Then Maximus, the horse, uses it as well... and in the end it even becomes the entire Royal Guard's weapon-of-choice.
  Flynn: I have got to get me one of these!
• Funny Background Event: During "When Will My Life Begin", Rapunzel gauges the size of a spot on her wall ^note  The one she then goes to paint the Lantern scene on to show to Mother Gothel later by holding her thumb up first vertically, then horizontally. Pascal, sitting on her shoulder, is easy to overlook but he's mimicking her exact movements; he does the hand movements, shutting the right eye, and smile just like she does.
• Futile Hand Reach: Rapunzel reaches out to Gothel as the latter topples out a window, despite everything she's done to Rapunzel.
• Gaslighting: According to Stephanie A. Sarkis Ph.D. there are 11 signs of gaslighting . Gothel hits every one, some of them several times in one song
• Gambit Roulette: Gothel's manipulation of Rapunzel, though impressively cunning, relies on Eugene going to the Stabbington brothers to freely give the crown back to them, something Gothel had no way or reason to believe he would do.
• Gasp!: The girls upon seeing Rapunzel's hair.
• Gesundheit: Flynn's reaction when Rapunzel tells him her name. He spends the majority of the movie calling her "Goldie" and "Blondie".
  Flynn: All right, Blondie—
  Rapunzel: Rapunzel.
  Flynn: Gesundheit.
• "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Flynn starts out stealing treasures from the kingdom, but in the end brings back the kingdom's greatest treasure, which gets him a full pardon, in the form of the royal family dragging him into their group hug.
• Gilded Cage: In the beginning, Rapunzel's tower is a charming home in a pretty, secluded glade in the forest by a waterfall, and her beloved smother Gothel provides her with just enough in hobbies and housework to keep her content with her situation. Even though Rapunzel can physically leave the tower, Gothel also makes her afraid to do so and, when that stops working, just grounds her... forever.
  Gothel: You are not leaving this tower! EVER!
• Gilligan Cut: During the "I've Got A Dream" sequence:
  Flynn: No, no, no, sorry, boys. I don't sing.
  [everyone in the inn points their swords at Flynn]
  Flynn: [singing] I have dreams like you - no, really! Just much less touchy-feely...
• Girl in the Tower: Rapunzel was raised in one.
• The Glomp: Rapunzel does this to Flynn after he comes back to life.
• Glowing Flora: The Magical Golden Flower is a magical lily that can heal every injury, and its status is highlighted by the strong yellow glow it emits.
• Going to See the Elephant: Going to See the Lanterns.
• The Good King: By the way the common people celebrate, it is implied that Rapunzel's parents are good rulers. However, when they meet Rapunzel and Eugene for the first time, they are both not wearing their crowns. They are just being parents at the time.
• Good Weapon, Evil Weapon: Only protagonists use frying pans. Antagonists prefer knives.
• Grimmification: Changing being blinded to death by stabbing. Notable because they managed to Grimmify a Grimm story. Granted, the original story's blinding came about from Eye Scream, so a stabbing, while surprisingly violent for a Disney movie, is much less disturbing.
• Groin Attack: Subverted with Eugene. When he is catapulted out of the castle, he lands on his groin and he looks like he's in pain, only for the screen to reveal that he landed on the horse seat, and Eugene looking unharmed.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: With the exception of Maximus the horse, Corona's guards are incredibly incompetent. First they couldn't catch an old lady running and carrying a baby or find the nearby tower where she hid. Then they couldn't catch Flynn until he was literally tied up and handed to them, despite the fact that he was dancing around town in plain sight and they knew he was accompanied by a girl who really stands out in a crowd. They leave their wimpiest guy alone with two humongous brutes, and he turns out about as effective as you would expect. They're unable to prevent a massive rescue operation from the pub thugs, and to top it off it was laughably easy for Flynn to swipe the tiara in the first place.
• Guilt-Tripping: During "Mother Knows Best", Gothel occasionally tries to guilt Rapunzel into not wanting to leave the castle (with lyrics like "Stop! No more! You'll just upset me!" and, in the extended version, "I only bathed and changed and nursed you").
• Gut Punch:
  • The scene in the beginning where Gothel steals the princess. Her parents wake up to hear crying, and see Gothel's Nightmare Face before she vanishes. Afterward, Gothel has a Lack of Empathy expression about it while brushing out a toddler Rapunzel's hair. 
  • During the Festival of the Lanterns, the king and queen silently comfort each other as they hope this year the lanterns help find their daughter. They have no idea how close she is. 
  • The moment where Gothel stabs Flynn just as he's come to rescue Rapunzel from her. He collapses, as Rapunzel fights Gothel while chained up and begs for his life, saying she'll stay forever with Gothel if the lady lets her heal him. Flynn gives a Little "No" as Gothel agrees, and uses a distraction to cut Rapunzel's hair.
  • Shortly after Gothel's death, Rapunzel runs to Flynn and begs him to stay with her. She tries to sing and places his limp hand to her hair, but nothing is happening. Flynn uses his last words to say that she was his new dream. She admits that he became her new dream, and cries while singing. The tears land on his wounds, glow, and bring him back to life. When she realizes he's okay, Rapunzel tackles him while crying Tears of Joy, and Flynn brings her in for a tighter hug realizing he almost lost her.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Played with, in that while Rapunzel is good and innocent, she uses said hair as a badass weapon. Flynn even nicknames her "Goldie". However, at the end she's revealed to be a natural brunette, which is actually foreshadowed by the fact that her eyebrows and eyelashes are brown and both of her parents are brown-haired, but most obviously, the fact that her blonde hair lock turned brown when Gothel cut it.
• Handy Feet: Rapunzel is briefly shown cleaning the tower floor, with brushes strapped to her feet. She also hangs by her hair, gripping one end of it with her toes, while painting the wall.
• Happily Ever After: Rapunzel quotes this word-for-word about her and Eugene being married in the epilogue.
• Happy Dance: Rapunzel arrives at the city of Corona, has her hair braided, and dances on the day when her dreams come true.
• Hard Head: Flynn is knocked unconscious several times with no repercussions.
• Hard Truth Aesop: Love isn't enough to sustain a healthy relationship, whether romantic, parental, or platonic. There has to be some respect, compassion, and the willingness to put someone's needs over your own if the occasion demands it. The movie continually emphasizes this when contrasting Gothel's relationship with Rapunzel to the one she develops with Flynn Rider; Gothel will provide affectionate gestures, books, and paints but doesn't actually listen to what Rapunzel wants, to go outside and see the world. Gothel also mocks Rapunzel and keeps saying she's just teasing, cutting down her adopted daughter's self-esteem. What's worse is the viewer knows that any genuine affection Gothel has for Rapunzel is marred by her Secretly Selfish desires to stay young and beautiful. In contrast, Flynn's first reaction when he accidentally gets Rapunzel in a dangerous situation is to try and protect her. He also waits until she's ready to tell him her secret about the hair, and expresses concern about her wanting to return to the tower without pushing his desires on her. In the end, he sacrifices his life for her when it seems Gothel will imprison her forever.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: Maximus, after he realizes that Eugene truly cares about Rapunzel, and assembles the Pub Thugs to help him escape execution.
• Healing Hands: Rapunzel has healing hair. If someone is injured, she can wrap the wounded part of the body in her hair, sing a magic song, and the wounds heal instantly. Her tears heal, too.
• Heel–Face Turn: The crew of the Snuggly Duckling were ready to kill Flynn until Rapunzel turned them to her side with "I've Got a Dream".
• Held Gaze: Flynn and Rapunzel gaze into each other's eyes before their Almost Kiss on the boat.
• Hero Antagonist: Maximus until his Heel–Face Turn.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Done twice at the end. Flynn has been mortally wounded, and Rapunzel agrees to willingly spend the rest of her life alone with Mother Gothel if she is allowed to heal Flynn first. Before she can save him, Flynn cuts Rapunzel's hair, destroying its enchantment and freeing her from Gothel's enslavement, even though it seemed like his only hope of survival. Essentially, she tried to sacrifice her freedom for his life, and he sacrificed his life for her freedom.
• Hero Secret Service: Played for laughs, as Pascal seems to view himself as one of these for Rapunzel, often acting as her protector and defender... which gets a bit tricky, seeing as he's as a very small chameleon. Although he does manage to stare down Flynn and Maximus. And he's the one ultimately responsible for Gothel falling out of the tower at the end.
• Hidden Depths: The pub bad guys turn out to have deep aspirations running contrary to their gruff appearances, such as finding true love and becoming a concert pianist.
• Hikikomori: Rapunzel, as she has never gone out of the tower. Of course, it was not entirely voluntary. She even wraps up in her hair during "Mother Knows Best". If that wasn't an homage to Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, it's still reminiscent.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Rapunzel and Mother Gothel's relationship has shades of this.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Flynn's plan to scare Rapunzel back to the tower by taking her to the Snuggly Duckling backfires tremendously on him when the ruffians, recognizing him from his wanted poster, turn on him.
• Hollywood Chameleons: Pascal, especially with the flower vase. However, he does change color with mood, like real chameleons, just with a different code.
• Homage: Glen Keane said in interviews that the look of the movie was inspired by the French Rococo painting "The Swing◊". Lisa Keane did a painting featured in the "Art of" Book with Rapunzel in this famous image◊. Considering the original painting features a man looking up a woman's skirt, you have to wonder how that flew past during the pitch.
  • What physical event is used to symbolize Rapunzel deciding to leave the tower forever for the love of a man? A mirror cracked from side to side, just like in the Alfred, Lord Tennyson poem "The Lady of Shallott" ... about a woman trapped in a tower deciding to leave forever for the love of a man. Fortunately the stories don't end the same way.
• Hook Hand: The pub thug who dreams of being a concert pianist.
• Horsing Around: Being the Captain of the Guard's horse, Maximus does his best to capture Flynn. He has much better luck than his rider.
• Hostage MacGuffin: Rapunzel, to at least half the cast.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: One of Flynn's earlier designs (back when he was called "Bastian") was supposed to invoke this.
• Humans Are Bastards: This is what Mother Gothel raises Rapunzel to believe, claiming that they are (to paraphrase) "selfish, cruel, and destroy any sunshine they find." Fittingly, Mother Gothel herself is the best example. Her dialog is full of Exact Words and double meanings.
• Hypocritical Humor: During the first "Mother Knows Best" song, Mother Gothel advises Rapunzel to "skip the drama." This, coming from the extremely over-dramatic witch as she strolls down a flight of stairs lined in candles. Several more from that sequence are on the Fridge page.
• I Die Free: A variation in that Flynn would rather die than let Rapunzel willingly live as a slave just to save him.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: Flynn Rider, who even picked that very name because of it.
• I Just Want to Be Free: Rapunzel, stuck in a tower for 18 years due to Gothel's over protectiveness. Naturally she takes the first chance she gets to escape.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Inverted with Rapunzel; played straight with Big Nose Thug.
• Immortality Inducer: The sun flower and, later, Rapunzel's hair.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Using a cart as an improvised catapult, the Snuggly Duckling thugs are able to launch Flynn from ground level to the ramparts of a castle and onto the back of a horse.
• Improbable Weapon User:
  • Rapunzel and her cast-iron Frying Pan of Doom. Flynn uses it at one point (to great effect) and muses, "I have got to get me one of these!" In the end, Maximus trains an entire squad of frying-pan wielding guards.
  • Also Rapunzel's hair. While the trailer exaggerated it, Rapunzel's hair is as good as any whip or lasso.
  • A sword wouldn't normally count as an improbable weapon, but when the one wielding it is a horse...
• In the Back: Mother Gothel does this to Flynn/Eugene when she fatally stabs him in the back with her dagger, unseen, while he's trying to save Rapunzel. Guess he should have seen that one coming.
• Indy Hat Roll: Just before the falling rock closes the cave entrance, Flynn reaches back and saves the frying pan.
• Informed Ability: Mother Gothel is described as a witch, but we never see her use any magic of her own; the only magic in the whole movie comes from the drop of sunlight and the plant, hair, and tear it inhabits.
• The Ingenue: While Rapunzel shares some of these traits (being locked in a tower all her life), Mother Gothel constantly belittles Rapunzel that she's naive, vulnerable, and helpless without her.
• Ink-Suit Actor: .
  • Rapunzel is basically Mandy Moore as a blonde. Then in the end her golden locks are cut and turned short and brown, the resemblance is just as striking. Besides the hair, she also sports Moore's trademark wide smile.
  • Flynn Rider has Zachary Levi's trademark eyebrows and grin—almost no difference.
  • Mother Gothel has Donna Murphy's dark curly hair and dark red lips.
  • Vladimir (the ceramic unicorn collecting thug) was designed to look like Richard Kiel
• Instant Knots: Rapunzel can do this with her hair.
• Interesting Situation Duel: Flynn with a frying pan dueling a horse with a sword.
  Flynn: You should know that this is the strangest thing I have ever done!
• Internal Reveal: Rapunzel sees Corona's sun emblem — which she'd only seen for the first time after leaving the tower — hidden subliminally throughout her own artwork, which along with a healthy dose of No Infantile Amnesia leads her to to the conclusion that she's the lost princess. Of course, the audience has known since the introduction.
• Intimate Hair Brushing: The villain keeps invoking this trope. As Gothel needs to be touching Rapunzel's hair to activate its magic, she makes it a ritual of brushing her daughter's hair.
• Involuntary Smile of Incapacitation: When Flynn enters Rapunzel's tower, she knocks him out with her Frying Pan of Doom, and he briefly gets a dizzy grin on his face before he collapses to the ground.
• Ironic Echo:
  • In the trailer, Flynn calling for Rapunzel to let down her hair was humorous. The single time he uses it in the movie? Not so much.
  • Twice in the movie, Gothel imperiously tells Rapunzel not to mumble, forcing Rapunzel to repeat herself. The first time is because Rapunzel is nervously working up the courage to ask that Gothel take her out of the tower to see the lanterns. The second time is because Rapunzel is dazedly coming to the realization that she is the long-lost princess of the kingdom, Gothel kidnapped her and her entire life is based on a lie. Judging by her expression, Gothel is deeply regretting calling out Rapunzel on her mumbling the second time.
    Rapunzel: I am the lost princess. Aren't I? [Gothel freezes; darkly] Did I mumble, Mother...? Or should I even call you that?
• Irony:
  • Read "Award Snub" in the YMMV section. Which celebrity does Mother Gothel resemble?
  • In-story: Flynn is on the run after stealing the lost princess' crown. His escape leads him to where the lost princess herself has been hidden. Then, he and the crown are turned in by Mother Gothel, who is the one who kidnapped the princess.
  • On a side note, Mother Gothel refuses to let Rapunzel leave the tower because she claims the people would use her for her power, when in reality, she is the one using her.
• It's the Best Whatever, Ever!: During Rapunzel's Mood-Swinger montage, she says, "Best! Day! Ever!" as she swings around a tree.
• It Was a Gift: In the love montage.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In Flynn's last moments of life (as far as he knows), Rapunzel makes a promise to never resist Mother Gothel again so long as she is allowed to save his life. Rather than allow her to save him, Flynn decides to use the last of his strength to cut Rapunzel's hair with a shard of glass, causing it to lose its power and depriving Gothel of the reason Rapunzel was so important to her. In a way, this is a case of this trope going both ways.
• "I Want" Song:
  • "When Will My Life Begin?"
  • "I've Got A Dream".
  • The ending theme, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' "Something That I Want", is about as vague and self-aware as an "I Want" Song gets.
    She said, "I want something that I want
    "Something that I tell myself I need
    "Something that I want
    "I need everything I see"
• "Just Joking" Justification: "I'm teasing" is practically Mother Gothel's catchphrase and is yet another example of her manipulation of Rapunzel.
• Karmic Death: Between her keeping Rapunzel locked in the tower and stabbing Eugene, it's hard to argue that Gothel doesn't deserve what happens to her at the end.
• Kidnapped While Sleeping: Mother Gothel at first only wanted a single lock of Rapunzel's hair so she can stay young, but when the lock was cut, it turned brown and became powerless, so Gothel stole Rapunzel while she was still asleep and isolated her in a faraway tower, leading to the plot of the film.
• Kick the Dog: Gothel punts Pascal across the room, where he bounces off furniture and falls to the floor.
• Kids Punishing Parents: Rapunzel decides to leave Gothel to rot in her tower after finding out that she kidnapped her from her real parents when she was an infant in order to hoard her magic hair for herself. Gothel, however, is having no punishment of the sort.
• Knight In Shining Armour: Eugene gallantly races on the white Maximus to rescue Princess Rapunzel.
• Lampshade Hanging: This is normally demonstrated by Flynn.
  • While fighting with a frying pan against Maximus, a Cool Horse equipped with a sword.
    Flynn: You should know that this is the strangest thing I've ever done!
  • When the thugs in the Snugly Duckling burst out singing and want him to sing too, he says "No, sorry - I don't sing." Notable for being the first time in a Disney movie where a character actually wonders about (or even notices that) characters are singing.
• Land in the Saddle: Flynn is catapulted over a high wall as part of his prison breakout and lands in Maximus' saddle. Thanks to Rule of Cool, nobody gets hurt.
• Large Ham: Mother Gothel, most notably in the reprise of "Mother Knows Best".
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • It would have been much harder for Mother Gothel to have recruited the Stabbington Brothers if Flynn hadn't sold them down the river (figuratively speaking) at the beginning of the story.
  • Flynn also would have had a much easier time scaring Rapunzel into returning to the tower at the Snuggly Duckling if he hadn't robbed the castle earlier, resulting in wanted posters with his face being put up all around the area... including at the Snuggly Duckling.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: In the commercials during the Latin American TV premiere, the music video of the song "You are the Glow" was shown, who contained shots of sun rays coming from Flynn's body and a short-haired Rapunzel kissing Flynn.
• Laugh of Love: Rapunzel giggles briefly after Flynn goes to get some firewood, and she later admits to Gothel that she thinks he likes her. The two eventually get engaged, at the end of the film ^note and married in the short Tangled Ever After that followed.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: This line from Flynn.
  "I don't do Backstory."
• Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: Pascal covers his eyes when Rapunzel and Flynn Almost Kiss during the lantern ceremony. He does it again when they actually do kiss at the end of the film.
• Leonine Contract: Rapunzel had Flynn tied up and threatened him with force while making their bargain.
• Let's Duet: "I See The Light".
• Light Is Good:
  • Exaggerated. Rapunzel, a gentle, caring girl who is a Friend to All Living Things, loves daylight (as well as starlight) and has shining golden hair because her mother ingested a flower that had grown from a drop of liquid sunlight. In the scene where Gothel refuses to let her go, she keeps on lighting candles that Gothel quenches.
  • Inverted at the end, when Rapunzel's hair is cut and reverts to its natural brown color, while at the same time Gothel's hair turns grey then white due to rapid aging.
  • Symbol-wise, yellow/golden light is good, while green light is cold and threatening.
• Literal Metaphor:
  • When Mother Gothel is outside Rapunzel's tower, waiting for her to let down her hair, she impatiently shouts, "Rapunzel, I'm not getting any younger down here!" Gothel uses Rapunzel's Magic Hair to maintain her youth, and if she's away from Rapunzel for too long, she starts aging noticeably.
  • Rapunzel interrogates Flynn about what does he want with her hair. He says, "All I want to do with your hair is to get out of it!" as he is tied to a chair with said hair.
• Little "No": Gothel lets out some after Eugene cuts Rapunzel's hair with a mirror shard.
• The Load: Flynn regards Rapunzel as this at first, mainly because he just wants the crown back.
• Loose Floorboard Hiding Spot: Rapunzel hides Flynn's satchel and stolen crown under a loose board on her tower's stairs, which Mother Gothel later finds.
• Longing Look: When they're on the boat, Rapunzel gazes at the floating lanterns, and Flynn gazes at her.
• Love at First Punch: Rapunzel's first encounter with Flynn involves her hitting him with a frying pan. Twice. And then a third time during her interrogation.
• Love at First Sight: What happens between Big Nose and the lady he meets at the end. It's extra heartwarming and meaningful because of his previous confession of how he longed for love despite his non-attractive looks.
• Love Epiphany: Rapunzel and Flynn realize they love each other during the song "I See The Light". In a bit of a twist, they never say "I love you" but instead admit that they are each other's new dreams.
• Love Hurts: When Rapunzel is led to believe that Flynn betrayed her, the look on her face is heartbreaking.
• Love Redeems: Rapunzel's love for Flynn causes him to change his thieving ways and return to bearing his old name Eugene Fitzherbert.
• Love Theme: As Rapunzel and Flynn watch the floating lanterns they sing "I See the Light".
• Loyal Animal Companion: Pascal.

Tropes M to P

• MacGuffin: The crown, although only for part of the film.
• MacGuffin Blindness: Rapunzel spends the entirety of the story fascinated by the multitude of glowing lights that appear in the sky each year on the night of her birthday. She doesn't recognize that she's the reason those lights are in the sky until very late in the movie, due to Mother Gothel's manipulative upbringing.
• Made of Iron:
  • Flynn should at least be bruised from head to toe with many broken bones and concussions from all the abuse he goes through in this movie, but most of it doesn't leave a scratch on him. Though, he's still vulnerable to daggers and pointy rocks.
  • The abuse that Maximus' legs put up with would cripple a normal horse a dozen times over. But thanks to Toon Physics, they do fine.
  • Not to mention the fact that he (Maximus) falls off a cliff, lands on his back and springs to his feet completely uninjured.
  • Maximus and Flynn both demonstrate this perfectly when Flynn lands on Maximus after being catapulted and flying through the air during the prison escape scene. Considering the sheer force with which he lands in the saddle, that should have put Flynn in agony, and it should have broken Maximus' back.
• Magic Hair: Rapunzel's hair has magic healing powers and serves as a Fountain of Youth.
• Manipulative Bastard: Flynn at the beginning of the movie. Easy to overlook because of his charm and handsome looks, and in the end he turns out to have a Hidden Heart of Gold, but
  • Him backstabbing the Stabbington brothers (no pun intended), his partners at that point, by running away with the crown leaving them at a cliff they can't climb while they're being pursued by the guards.
  • He can achieve a lot by using his handsome looks, and he sure knows it - (lampshaded when he mentions how his smoulder always works).
  • He uses Reverse Psychology on Rapunzel, when he guilt-trips her about her adventure, disguised as encouragement for it.
  • When this doesn't work, he uses the knowledge he just got that she's afraid of thugs, to lead her to a place full of thugs.
• Manly Tears: It's always the King shown crying, never the Queen. However, for that reason, his tears just seem all the more heartbreaking.
• Market-Based Title: The film is called "Rapunzel", or at least contains the name Rapunzel, in some countries.
  • Averted when aired on both Disney Channel Asia and Star Movies as they still refer to the film under its original name.
• Marshmallow Hell: Mother Gothel does this a couple of times... or manipulates Rapunzel into running into it, which is basically the same. It's all part of her fake-mother routine.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
  • Flynn really doesn't think it's destiny.
  • Mother Gothel is never actually seen to use any magic of her own. While her costume suggests that she is a witch, and she worked out how to get the flower (and Rapunzel's hair) to restore her youth, she never states that she can use magic, and we don't see her use anything which couldn't be achieved by sleight of hand (albeit very cunning, but she's had a long time to practice...) She uses a mundane solution even when magic would clearly be easier, like sidling over to the wall and knocking it surreptitiously at the start of "Mother Knows Best" to start the "special effects". However, just two seconds after Eugene leaves Rapunzel to look for more firewood, Mother Gothel appears behind her and says, "Well, I thought he'd never leave". This is not a case of Behind the Black, because Eugene was looking at Rapunzel and he could not have missed Gothel, so the only explanation would be Offscreen Teleportation.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • Mother Gothel wearily proclaims that she looks like "the bad guy" after an argument with Rapunzel in the beginning of the film. The second time she says it, she decides to take the role much more literally.
  • "The Healing Incantation" starts as a symbol of Gothel's greed ("Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine.") When Rapunzel heals Flynn's hand, the emphasis is on "heal what has been hurt." After Flynn dies and Rapunzel tries to sing him back, it's sadder and echoes the entire movie — "change the fate's design" and "bring back what once was mine", referring to Rapunzel's belief in destiny and her love for Flynn.
  • When Flynn and Rapunzel are about to see the lights appear, Rapunzel is worried about what she'll do with her life after living her dream. He consoles her by telling her, "Well, that's the good part I guess. You get to go find a new dream." This turns up again later when Eugene has returned to the tower in an attempt to free Rapunzel. Dying, he says, "You were my new dream." Rapunzel responds, in a tear-filled voice, "And you were mine."
  • The first and last times Flynn sees Rapunzel's long hair emerge from her tower are nearly identical, with her golden hair forming a loop as it flies out of the window into the sunlit air as he clings to the wall of the tower. The second time, it's not Rapunzel throwing it down.
• Meaningful Name: The kingdom's name is Corona, which means "crown" and is usually used to refer to the halo around the sun.
• Meet Cute: During the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, the pub thug who dreams of meeting a girl does, thanks to a flying hook and a dislodged helmet.
• A Minor Kidroduction: The protagonist, Rapunzel is first seen as a baby and later, as a child.
• Misfit Mobilization Moment: When Maximus recruits the Pub Thugs to help Flynn escape execution.
• "Mission: Impossible" Cable Drop: How Flynn steals the crown.
• Mood Lighting: When Rapunzel is first introduced, the inside of the tower is bright and full of color. After she returns from seeing the lanterns, the inside of the tower is dull and darkly colored, showing she no longer sees the tower as a place to live after getting used to the outside world.
• Mood-Swinger: Provides the trope's page image. Upon escaping the tower, Rapunzel rapidly lurches backwards and forwards between delight over being free ("THIS IS SOOOO FUUUUUN!") and guilt over disobeying Mother Gothel ("I am a despicable human being.") Flynn lampshades this:
  Flynn: You know, I can't help but notice you seem a little at war with yourself here.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • The thugs at the Snuggly Duckling look ready to pulverize Flynn and Rapunzel, right up until she asks if they've ever had a dream.
    Hook-hand Thug: I... had a dream once.
  • After the gorgeous love duet that is "I See The Light" and Rapunzel and Flynn Almost Kiss, the atmosphere immediately darkens — Gothel is afoot and intent on getting her "daughter" back by any means possible.
  • In-story, there's Rapunzel running around yelling "I'm free!"/"Mother is going to kill me..."/"This is the best day of my life!"/"I'm the worst daughter ever!" Flynn points out, "You seem a little at war with yourself here."
  • To the townspeople, the Lantern Festival is a fun celebration full of music and dancing. Inside the castle, the King and Queen are very somber, nearly crying, trying to compose themselves to go out before the people and release the first lantern.
  • Several in succession around the "I've Got a Dream" song.
    • It starts with peaceful quietness when Flynn and Rapunzel approach the Snuggly Duckling. They're in lovely nature at this moment, and the Snuggly Duckling looks charming from the outside...
    • ... But as soon as they enter it, the mood turns into sheer terror as Rapunzel sees she's walked into one of her biggest fears, a bunch of thugs.
    • Then violence and chaos ensue as the thugs fight over who can turn in Flynn to cash the "Wanted" money.
    • Then a shift into adorableness / funniness (very abruptly when Hook Hand emotionally exclaims "I had a dream once..." when first seeming to be going to hurt Rapunzel) during the first four verses of "I've Got a Dream".
    • "I've Got a Dream" then turns from adorable and funny at the first four verses (Hook Hand, Big Nose, Flynn, and Rapunzel's lines), into a wacky pandemonium where everybody (except Flynn) in the pub lets themselves completely go and bursts into crazy antics, (this is a Denser and Wackier part compared to the rest of the song).
    • The ecstasy the song finished in, abruptly turns to angst and seriousness because royal guards burst in.
    • Cuteness again when first Hook Hand heartwarmingly helps Rapunzel and Flynn escape, followed by Rapunzel and Flynn first starting to bond and showing signs of interest in each other.
    • Until they realize the royal guards + Maximus + the Stabbington brothers are on to them, and it turns into fear and action.
• Moody Mount: Maximus won't let Flynn Rider ride him. Perhaps it has something to do with him being the Captain of the Guard's horse and Flynn being a wanted criminal.
• More Hero than Thou: Rapunzel and Flynn, at the climax. They both try to use force. He wins.
• More than Mind Control: After kidnapping Rapunzel as a baby, Mother Gothel fills her head with plausible scary stories of the outside world so that she will never leave her and stay in her tower forever so she can keep using her hair to retain her youth. After Rapunzel finally does leave the tower, she feels excessively guilty for disobeying Gothel's warning. At the end, even after calling out Gothel for using her all these years, Rapunzel still does Futile Hand Reach as Gothel falls out the tower window.
• Morning Routine: The song "When Will My Life Begin?" details Rapunzel's rather full morning.
• Most Writers Are Writers: The corollary to this is "Most animators are artists." In "When Will My Life Begin?", Rapunzel demonstrates a wide variety of talents, but the only one of them that becomes crucial to the plot is her art skill.
• Mum Looks Like a Sister: Gothel wants to invoke this trope by using Rapunzel's hair to make herself look young while posing as her mother. Rapunzel's real mom (who looks to be in her late twenties at the oldest) has no such access to round-the-clock de-aging hair, yet she barely ages a day following Rapunzel's birth, even 18 years later. A late arrival viewer could probably be forgiven for thinking this scene◊ is a reunion between long-lost sisters rather than mother and daughter. It could be justified in that at the time, people (especially women, and especially royalty, for political purposes) often got married rather young, so she may have had Rapunzel in her late teens. There's also the fact that she ingested the very thing that Gothel was using to stay young, and it likely helped her age more slowly, or at least show the effects less.
• Mundane Utility: Rapunzel's 70 feet of hair has magic that can heal grievous wounds and reverse aging. It also serves as a handy blanket to wrap around herself with when she's sleeping outdoors. It even serves as the world's longest flashlight when she and Flynn need to find a way out of the cave-in.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Gothel's love for Rapunzel's hair is a twisted and warped thing. It doesn't mean she can't kill Flynn for winning Rapunzel's actual love, leading to Rapunzel's realizing that she doesn't love her.
• Musical Spoiler: When Rapunzel is staring at the mosaic during the "Kingdom Dance" sequence, the music becomes more intense and slightly urgent, as she sees the baby has the same green eyes as her own, unaware she's staring at herself.
• Mutual Kill: After a fashion, although one of the killings doesn't stick, and the other is indirect and unintentional. Gothel fatally stabs Flynn, and then Flynn causes Gothel's death by cutting Rapunzel's hair which destroys the magic keeping Gothel alive (his intention was simply to save Rapunzel from being Gothel's slave); Rapunzel then manages to bring Flynn back to life.
• My Art, My Memory: After visiting the kingdom, Rapunzel realizes that she has subconsciously incorporated their distinctive sun motif into all of her paintings, because it was on the mobile above her crib. The connection causes her to remember that she is the missing princess.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg:
  Gothel: Rapunzel, do you know what I see in that mirror? I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady. [Beat] Oh look, you're here too.
• Mythology Gag: Rapunzel's tears restoring Eugene to life at the end follows the actual ending of the fairytale where Rapunzel's tears caused her prince of the original tale to "see the light" again by curing his blindness. There's also Flynn yelling out "Rapunzel! Rapunzel, let down your hair!" to let her hair down again, like in the original fairytale. The line in "Mother Knows Best" about Rapunzel's weight ("Plus, I believe / Gettin' kinda chubby...") also references the original tale, in which the witch discovers Rapunzel's secret visitor due to the fact that he's made her pregnant and she's putting on weight as a result.
• Narcissist: A lot of moments or details in the film show Gothel to be this ^note  In case the "hoarding a flower that could heal millions just to stay young and pretty" wasn't enough of a tip-off :
  • She regularly compliments herself while either directly or indirectly insulting Rapunzel (often disguising it as playful teasing).
  • Whenever she has Rapunzel sing for her, she's sitting in a large arm chair while Rapunzel sits on a tiny wooden stool.
  • The second Rapunzel starts defying her, Gothel immediately turns hostile (visibly ticked off when Rapunzel refuses to be controlled).
• The Need for Mead: The Snuggly Duckling.
• Never My Fault: Gothel views herself as a victim rather than a villain for most of the movie, until she decides to become the bad guy. And even then she phrases it like Rapunzel is forcing her into it.
• Never Say "Die": Played straight when it is only implied by Flynn touching his neck that he's being taken to the gallows and then nicely subverted when Mother Gothel says point blank that Flynn will hang while a clear shot of a noose is on-screen. Later, she says the secret will die with him, shortly before Rapunzel and Flynn both say they don't want the other to die. Amusingly, in Flynn's case, instead of using a metaphor for death, he's using death as a metaphor... which completes the hat trick by also making this trope inverted. The subversion really ramps up the tension.
• Never Trust a Trailer:
  • Half the scenes in this trailer aren't in the movie. Particularly the bit where Flynn fights Rapunzel's hair, and the part where she throws him out of the tower. Revealed during a Q&A of the screening, they had planned on making scenes specifically for the trailer.
  • And in this one, the bit where Flynn asks the guard whether he was guarding what Flynn was about to steal. In the movie, there was totally different dialogue for that scene.
  • In a few trailers, when Rapunzel shouts out Flynn's name while running in the grass, the scene in the movie is entirely different. In the movie, the scene displayed is when Rapunzel is singing her Triumphant Reprise.
  • The trailers in general tend to make the movie look like a poor imitation of the Shrek formula. This is one of the best examples of a film that looks a million times better than its trailer lets on, rather than the reverse.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Most obviously Maximus and the dam.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • In her panic to find Rapunzel on seeing a "palace horse," Gothel fails to cover up the pathway to the tower, as a confused Maximus observes when he startles Gothel. Later, Maximus remembers where the tower is due to that slip-up and delivers Eugene there so they can rescue Rapunzel from "the old lady."
  • By trusting Rapunzel to heal a wounded Eugene, Gothel gives Eugene the opportunity to save Rapunzel by cutting off her hair and destroying its magic. This causes Gothel to age rapidly and turn to dust.
• Nobody Touches the Hair: Rapunzel will only let her hair be touched by her "mother", although this may be a case of having being told that people would use her healing locks for their personal gain. She also does not want to talk about her hair much, to the point she neglects to mention its powers ("I have magic hair that glows when I sing") at a time when they may be needed.
• No Honour Among Thieves: The Stabbington brothers run afoul of this twice. First Flynn stabs them in the back and runs away with the tiara they all stole together, then Gothel does exactly the same thing, only with Rapunzel as the carrot on the stick.
• No Immortal Inertia: The immortality granted by Rapunzel's hair is immediately revoked if her hair is cut, causing anyone surviving in such a way to age rapidly if they touch the hair while it is losing its powers.
• No Infantile Amnesia: Near the end of the film Rapunzel has an epiphany and realizes that she's been subconsciously painting the symbol of her city-state — a sun — because of dormant memories from infancy. Somehow she is able to vividly recall lying in her crib, gazing up at the mobile depicting said symbol. Considering she was almost certainly less than a year old — possibly even a newborn — if you think about it too much it certainly strains suspension of disbelief that she could remember that^note Note that this is just extremely unlikely - not impossible. Some people have indeed retained faint memories from even younger ages. It's incredibly rare, though..
• Non-Human Sidekick: Rapunzel has a chameleon named Pascal as a sidekick, and their group is later joined by Maximus the horse.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Snuggly Duckling, a Bad Guy Bar. Subverted when it's revealed that all those bad guys have rather touchy-feely hobbies and aspirations.
• Noodle Incident: How did Rapunzel get Pascal? Lampshaded by:
  Flynn: Frankly I'm too scared to ask about the frog...
• No Ontological Inertia: This trope is demonstrated to the viewer when Mother Gothel cops a youth-charge off a lock of baby Rapunzel's hair. As soon as said lock is cut, witch gets old again. It's surprising that anything sharp was left in the tower. And again, later. Cut the hair, snuff the witch, it's just that easy.
• Not Allowed to Grow Old: Note that during the reunion in the end that the king has aged slightly but the queen has not, aside from a few face wrinkles, likely due to drinking a liquified version of the flower.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Flynn tries to woo his way out of being Rapunzel's guide, but unfortunately for him she has absolutely no experience with or understanding of seduction of any kind, and so has absolutely no idea what he's even doing. When she's not amused, he reluctantly agrees.
  Flynn: [in mid-smoulder] This is kind of an off-day for me, this doesn't normally happen.
• Not the Fall That Kills You…: It's the Rapid Aging. Gothel stopped screaming on the way down in her Disney Villain Death, and the dust that remains of her scatters on the ground.
• Oh, and X Dies: The opening narration starts off with Flynn stating, "This is the story of how I died." It's pretty easy to miss or forget, if you aren't paying attention. Additionally, the first-time viewer, after observing his personality, would think he was exaggerating for drama. But no, he is literally murdered by Mother Gothel.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Mother Gothel when she sees Maximus; she quickly deduces Rapunzel is gone, fearing the royal guard have found her at last.
  • Rapunzel has one when Gothel suddenly appears behind her on the former's first night out of the tower.
  • Rapunzel has another when she notices unforeseen sketches of the kingdom's sun emblem in her murals and realizes she's the missing princess.
  • When Mother Gothel returns Rapunzel to the tower after her adventure. As she checks up on her, Rapunzel walks out of her room in a daze and says, "I'm the lost princess." You know Gothel can't think anything but this! Her face — wide eyes and dropped jaw — certainly says it.
  • Rapunzel and Gothel both have one when Flynn cuts Rapunzel's hair, so she can't heal him and be obligated to stay with her adopted mother forever. Rapunzel is horrified at the implications, while Gothel, having been deprived the source of her eternal youth once and for all, suffers a Villainous Breakdown as she ages and dies in front of them.
• Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date:
  • Flynn takes Rapunzel on a boat to see the lanterns she has always wanted to see, and their talk in this moment turns it into a date; the date didn't start out this way, just ended up being so.
  • Parodied when the Big Nose and Shorty thugs play this out during the "I've Got a Dream" number with Shorty acting as the woman, complete with a Parasol of Prettiness to top it of.
    Big Nose: Can't you see me with a special little lady... Rowing in a rowboat down the stream?
• Ominous Fog: A sudden fog appears during the Dark Reprise of "Mother Knows Best" and disappears when Gothel leaves.
• One Head Taller: Flynn with Rapunzel, and really everyone with her. It's not drawn much attention to, but she's actually the shortest Disney Princess.
• One of the Boys: Rapunzel for the Snuggly Duckling thugs, mainly due to what kind of boys the thugs are.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Flynn Rider. However, as the Character Development goes on, he starts going by his real name, Eugene, more often. Also The Stabbington brothers, Hook-Hand Thug, Big Nose Thug...
• Only the Knowledgable May Pass: The guards are tweaked with a demand for a password in the escape.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Rapunzel is always demure around Gothel, treating her with respect and trying to brush off her "teasing". Any arguing happens without her raising her voice. Then she realizes that she is the Lost Princess, and asks Gothel if it's true. When Gothel doesn't respond and stares at her in shock, Rapunzel levels her with a Death Glare and asks, "Did I mumble, 'Mother? Or should I even call you that?"
  • Maximus is shown to be loyal to the crown and an Inspector Javert horse. The Captain of the Guard expresses that something must be wrong if Maximus is busting Flynn Rider out of prison and letting the thief ride on his back. Maximus figured out that Rapunzel was the Lost Princess, and Flynn is the only one who understands the situation well enough and knows the urgency to rescue her quickly (Maximus is, after all, a horse; he can't exactly explain things to the guards!).
• Opposites Attract: The jaded, worldly-wise thief and the spirited, innocent princess. Truly a perfect match.
• The Outside World: Rapunzel has lived her whole life in her tower and desperately wants to get out and see what's outside, an opportunity that comes when a thief gets into her tower looking for a place to hide some loot and she knocks him out with a frying pan and forces him to take her along.
• Panacea: Rapunzel's hair, and the flower that she got her magic from.
• Parasol of Prettiness: Parodied. When Big Nose thug sings about his desire to find true love with a pretty lady, he acts out being in a rowboat with Shorty thug standing in for the pretty lady, holding a parasol. Shorty is a scrawny old ugly guy instead of a pretty lady, holding a parasol.
• The Pardon: Implicit in the ending, for Flynn and all the thugs as a reward for finding and rescuing the Lost Princess.
• Parental Abandonment: Inverted, as Rapunzel is kidnapped from them as a baby. Otherwise averted in her case, as in a shocking twist for a Disney movie, the girl has two loving parents to return home to at the end. Flynn was an orphan, though.
• Parental Bonus: To adults familiar with the techniques of emotional abuse and blackmail, Gothel is even creepier than she would be otherwise.
• Parental Love Song: Subverted. Gothel wants Rapunzel to think it's about her love for Rapunzel. It is actually meant to ruin Rapunzel's self-esteem and keep her emotionally dependent on Gothel and afraid of the outside world.
• Parents Know Their Children: It's been 18 years and her formerly blonde hair is brown, but the King and Queen only need a few minutes to look at Rapunzel to know that she is their daughter. Maximus probably helped by vouching for Flynn, and Rapunzel revealing that it was her birthday the same day as the ceremony. The thugs and Stabbington brother could also testify about the hair.
• Le Parkour:
  • Flynn and the Stabbington brothers use this at times, perhaps most noticeably while climbing on the palace roof in their first scene.
  • Maximus does this while Flynn is riding him.
• Perp Sweating: Rapunzel drags Flynn into a ray of sunlight to interrogate him.
• Pet the Dog: Mother Gothel's doting over Rapunzel is somewhat difficult to place motive-wise, but there are a few hints that she may actually consider her more than just a walking Fountain of Youth.
• Photo Doodle Recognition: Inverted. Flynn is only recognized from his wanted poster after a character uses their hand to cover the ridiculous and inaccurate nose.
• Pietà Plagiarism: When Rapunzel is holding Flynn/Eugene after his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Invoked by Rapunzel to Eugene, while he is dying in her arms.
• Please Wake Up: Rapunzel says this to Eugene after Gothel kills him. She sings after he cuts her hair and begs him to stay with her. It only works when she cries, and one last bit of healing magic enters him.
• Plucky Girl: Hmmm, who could that be?
• Police Are Useless: It says a lot that the most competent, efficient and devoted member of the guards is the guard leader's horse. Who ends up getting the guard leader's job.
• Poster-Gallery Bedroom: Heck, the whole interior of the tower is done up in murals.
• Posthumous Narration: Flynn starts the movie by saying he dies at the end. Subverted when it turns out that he did die, but didn't stay dead.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: Gothel emotionally abuses and physically traps a young girl as a way to farm her innate magic for eternal youth.
• Power Glows: Flynn and Rapunzel exploit this trope when they use her Magic Hair to find a way out of a flooding cave.
• The Power of the Sun: See Light Is Good above. Besides the titular character's solar-derived healing powers, the kingdom is stuffed fit to burst with solar symbolism. Fitting, as the original story is overflowing with fragments of ancient Sun Goddess myths.
• Power of Trust: Despite Flynn's attempt to dissuade her, Rapunzel's trust in Flynn panned out.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Would you really want the Eye Scream element of the story in a Walt Disney animated film? For those unfamiliar with the fairytale, the love interest got his eyes gouged out with thorns.
• Prehensile Hair: Unlike the trailers, this film mostly averts this trope. Rapunzel's hair is certainly much stronger than most and she's quite deft in how she uses it, but it never moves on its own. There's one scene where she uses it as grappling hook and the hair does seem to cling to the rock or knot itself, but that may be just the way it was drawn. It might be prehensile in a more subtle way - it never snags on things, never tangles, and flows after Rapunzel without tying itself around things she walks around. (Only when in a crowded city does it get stepped on and run over, and when it's been tightly plaited and bound up the hair can't avoid being caught on things.) Both of these could be handwaved as the hair being magical.
• Primal Fear: Two in one shot — claustrophobia and drowning.
• Princesses Prefer Pink:
• Princess Protagonist: The heroine Rapunzel is the daughter of a king and queen, and the first CGI member of Disney Princess.
• The Promise: Whenever Rapunzel makes a promise, she intends to keep it, from promising to return Flynn the satchel that has the tiara he stole to promising Mother Gothel that she will go with her willingly only if Eugene can be healed first.
• Proper Lady: The Queen. She is more emotionally resilient, or at least better at looking the part. She's also the one who literally pulls Eugene into the group hug at the end, when he hesitates.
• Psychological Projection:
  • At the beginning of the movie, All-Loving Hero Rapunzel believes that she only needs to show Mother Gothel that she is capable of living outside the tower to get her permission to leave, why would a reasonable person want to keep Rapunzel in a tower forever?
  • The Sociopath Control Freak Mother Gothel has spent the last 18 years of her life in an elaborate charade to make Rapunzel The Pawn so Gothel can use her as her own Fountain of Youth. This was necessary because once Rapunzel realizes she has so much power over Mother Gothel, why would she want to selflessly help her own mother?
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • BEST! DAY! EVER!
  • Also: "Stop! Fighting! Me!" and "Just. Let me. Heal him."
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Rapunzel is in permanent puppy-dog eye mode.

Tropes Q to Z

• Quizzical Tilt: Maximus does one after Mother Gothel briefly meets him and then runs away.
• Rage Breaking Point: At first, Rapunzel is in a state of Tranquil Fury as she realizes she is the Lost Princess and confronts Gothel. She's partly in denial that her mother would have done such a thing and kept her locked up, but is reasoning through it. Then Gothel lets slip enough information for Rapunzel to figure out that she manipulated circumstances to make it look like Flynn betrayed Rapunzel, and tied up a loose end by delivering him to the guards. (It was the Stabbington Brothers, but that's just details.) Rapunzel, no longer in denial, stops Gothel from trying to fondle her and angrily says she'll never let the lady use her hair again. It's implied she's going straight to the castle to rescue Flynn.
• Rapid Aging: Gothel has only kept herself young by using the magic flower for several hundreds of years, and later by using Rapunzel's hair. It's clear that by the time Rapunzel is eighteen, Gothel will age dramatically within just a few days if she doesn't "top up". When Rapunzel's hair is cut at the end of the movie, the magic is undone. Gothel ages extremely fast, and is reduced to nothing but dust within a matter of minutes.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": When Flynn is dying, a panicked Rapunzel goes into this: "No no no no no, Eugene? Look at me, look at me, I'm right here, stay with me..."
• Real Trailer, Fake Movie: To promote the film, several commercials based on certain aspects of it were made, including one for a frying pan that focuses more on its conking capabilities than its cooking capabilities, a fake perfume called "Smoulder" by Flynn, news coverage of the opening as if it were a high-speed chase ("Speeds in excess of 24 mph"), and a fake real estate advert putting the tower up for sale.
• Real Men Wear Pink: All of the pub thugs at the Snuggly Duckling. Some of their dreams include: floral arrangements, interior design, miming, baking cupcakes, knitting, puppet shows, and collecting ceramic unicorns.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The Captain of the Guard shows shades of this when it comes time for Flynn's execution. He doesn't gloat or sneer at Rider when he takes him to the gallows. It's a somber, "Let's get this over with, Rider." And when Flynn asks him where they're going, his expression tells the story. Compare to Aladdin's Razoul, another captain of the guard with a thief that constantly thwarted him. Likewise, when Flynn is pardoned, the Captain for this movie accepts the new status quo and gives Maximus power to learn to weaponize frying pans.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Rapunzel gives one to Mother Gothel when she should have been hiding from her all along after realizing that she is the kingdom's missing princess.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Naive, energetic Rapunzel is the Red Oni to Flynn's somewhat grumpy and laid-back Blue Oni.
• Reduced to Dust: The villain is Really 700 Years Old, and seems about to suffer a Disney Villain Death. However, bereft of her source of vitality, she undergoes No Immortal Inertia to the point that impact with the ground results in a billowy dust cloud and Empty Piles of Clothing.
• Rejected Marriage Proposal: Played for Laughs in the ending. In a voiceover, Eugene states that after years of asking, he finally agreed to marry Rapunzel; after some prompting from Rapunzel however, he admits he was the one asking her. Presumably, Rapunzel didn't want to get hitched right away, as she'd only just discovered her true identity and been reunited with her real parents, which is a lot to take in; this is further elaborated on in the series.
• Releasing from the Promise: Flynn is quite ingenious in his attempts to get Rapunzel to do this. Somewhat later, Mother Gothel tells her to do it and find out what really held him. Later, once they are in love, she does.
• Remembered I Could Fly: Rapunzel remembers her magic glowing hair just in time to use it to save herself and Flynn from drowning.
• Required Secondary Powers: Rapunzel's magic hair must also be magically immune to split ends and other problems that would plague normal hair that hasn't been cut for 18 years. Mother Gothel has been using the hair's magic daily, which probably also has the power to heal the hair in ways that no Real Life shampoo can achieve.
• Rescue Romance: Flynn and Rapunzel are attracted to each other, but it's not until they work together to fight off the guards at the dam, and then Rapunzel helps them avoid drowning that they open up over the campfire.
• Revenge by Proxy: How Gothel treats Flynn in front of Rapunzel. She fatally stabs him, then mockingly tells Rapunzel "look what you've done", implying that she did so to punish Rapunzel for leaving and rebelling against her.
• Rewatch Bonus:
  • On the poster shown at the very beginning, Flynn's nose is actually correct.
  • Maximus stops in his tracks when Rapunzel protects Flynn from him and asks him to stop chasing the man for about 24 hours. When you pause the frame, he has an expression of shock, and immediately listens to her, while keeping a close eye on them for most of the festival. It may seem random at the time, but a rewatch makes a person realize Maximus identified the Lost Princess given the hair and the age. Being a horse, he couldn't exactly tell anyone about this, but it's why he busts Flynn out of prison to rescue her.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Gothel sees Maximus, she thinks the rider has taken Rapunzel away from the tower. It never happened, but Rapunzel is not there anyway.
• Rhyming Wizardry: The Healing Incantation used to activate the powers of the Sun Drop, later transferred to Rapunzel's hair, come in the form of an ABCB rhyming song. However, not all of the song needs to be sung to activate the abilities — Rapunzel is able to recite just the first two lines to make her hair glow when she and Flynn are stuck in the cave.
  Flower, gleam and glow
  Let your power shine
  Make the clock reverse
  Bring back what once was mine
• Road Trip Romance: Fits the trope to a T. Interestingly, this was also the plot of Disney's previous animated feature.
• Role Swap AU: A couple of partial ones.
  • In the original fairytale, it was the witch (Gothel's precursor) who cut off Rapunzel's hair, and the prince (Flynn's precursor) who then fell from the tower (although he survived, unlike Gothel.)
  • Rapunzel was not originally royalty, but her love interest (the prince Flynn was based on) was.
• Rule of Funny/Rule of Drama:
  • Rapunzel's hair gets in the way only when it's funny or dramatically convenient.
  • The reason why Hook-Hand can play two handed showtunes like a virtuoso despite having, well, a hook for a hand: it's all part of the hilariously sudden absurdity — he also plays so hard at one point that he tears most of the keys off the piano, but since it's a gag it doesn't actually affect the song or his playing.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • The sun, the stars, light in general, and unicorns are all important motifs in the story. And not in the way you think, at least for the unicorns.
  • When Gothel undoes Rapunzel's braid after she returns to the tower, it's a sign of her losing her freedom as she claims "It never happened." The braid allowed Rapunzel to move around more freely, as wearing it loose hindered her movement a little.
  • Rapunzel blocking Gothel's usual Affectionate Gesture to the Head by grabbing her wrist symbolizes she's not fooling her anymore and seen through to her true cold hearted and hoarding nature.
  • When Rapunzel breaks free of Gothel and declares she will never let her use her hair as a Fountain of Youth again, she knocks over the mirror, a symbol of Gothel's vanity and selfishness. And this even provides the means by which Flynn cuts the hair, thus causing Gothel's own death.
• Running Gag:
  • How bad Flynn thinks they draw his nose in the consecutive "Wanted" pictures of him.
  Flynn: [Upon seeing the first] They just can't get my nose right!
  Flynn: [Upon seeing another later] Now they're just being mean.
  • The use of frying pans as surprisingly effective combat weapons.
• Sapient Steed: Maximus is one smart horse, playing a Silent Bob role against both Flynn and Rapunzel.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Flynn and Rapunzel.
• Say My Name: Rapunzel shouts "Flynn!" (and later, "Eugene!") a lot. Flynn shouts "Rapunzel!" a couple times, too. The first thing Flynn does when he wakes up after being knocked out by the Stabbington brothers is shout "Rapunzel!", which shows how he's started to think about people besides himself.
• Scenery Porn:
  • Big time. Even the bland rocks manage to look beautiful with the amount of detail put into them.
  • If one looks closely at the lower levels of the tower, Rapunzel's paintings are actually relevant to the area that was painted—dresses on the closet, spools of thread in the sewing area, and apples in the kitchen. These get a few seconds of screentime at most. More than that it shows her aging, some of the pictures, such as the one on her dresser, are of a child Rapunzel.
• Screen Tap: During "When Will My Life Begin?", Rapunzel paints blue over the screen.
• Screen-to-Stage Adaptation: Premiered on the Disney Magic cruise ship in November 2015.
• "Setting Off" Song: The reprise of "When Will My Life Begin?"
• Sexophone: Accompanies Flynn Rider's smolder. Which increases the hilarity when it doesn't do squat.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: Happens to Mother Gothel at the end, as a result of Flynn finally cutting Rapunzel's hair.
• Short Teens, Tall Adults: Despite being 18, Rapunzel is shorter than most adults, including her real parents.
• Shout-Out: So many, they have their own page.
• Simple, yet Opulent: The queen's dress, Rapunzel's princess dress, and her Fairy Tale Wedding Dress in the follow-up short.
• Shipper on Deck: Maximus, of all characters, gives Flynn and Rapunzel a little push. In the case of Flynn, literally.
• Sigil Spam: Expect to see a lot of sun emblems in this movie. Special mention goes to Rapunzel's bedroom, where they're subliminally everywhere.
• Signature Item Clue: Toward the end, Flynn spots one of Vladimir's ceramic unicorns, letting him know help out of his current situation is at hand. The ruffians from the Snuggly Duckling are nearby, ready to become Big Damn Heroes.
• Silence Is Golden: Rapunzel's parents have no dialogue at all in the scenes they are in (except for narrative V.O.), and yet these scenes are some of the most dramatic and moving of the film.
• Silent Snarker:
  • Flynn: The look on his face as "I've Got A Dream" continues is hilarious. He rolls his eyes as if thinking, "You're bursting into song? Really?" and has an expression of "I'm clearly the only sane person in here".
  • Maximus: Being a non-speaking horse, his Deadpan Snarkerism is entirely expressed through his body language. When Rapunzel is trying to convince Maximus to please let her and Flynn go "Just for 24 hours and then you can chase each other to each other's content!", his non-verbal reaction is a total "Oh, as if... You're not fooling me!" (Rapunzel does win him over, though.) And later when Flynn, escaping prison, lands on Maximus and starts (at this very un-opportune moment) a speech to Maximus about "How much we actually really liked each other all along!", Maximus gives him a deadpan "Dude, cut the melodramatic crap!" look.
• A Simple Plan: Take the girl to see the lanterns, take her home, then get back the precious satchel. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
• Single Tear: The King before going out to release the first lantern. The Queen wipes it away.
• Slapstick: Though it's downplayed compared to Flynn, Rapunzel herself does not get off easy, not even during the montage where she's knocking him out and trying to stuff him into a closet; she accidentally hits herself with the frying pan, injures herself trying to get him inside, gets crushed under his weight when he falls out on top of her, etc. And that's without all the times she accidentally tangles herself up in her own hair and trips over.
• Smart Animal, Average Human: There's Flynn Rider, a human thief and his (unwilling) partner Maximus, who is an intelligent and extremely competent horse.
• The Smurfette Principle: The film is ostensibly aimed at girls, has a female lead character and ultimately passes The Bechdel Test, but otherwise it has a 1:3 female-to-male ratio — female lead, male Love Interest and co-lead, two male (animal) supporting characters. Then one woman in a supporting role (a villain).
• Sophisticated as Hell: Flynn gets like this when he first sees Rapunzel and says, "I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you, but may I just say... Hi."
• Speech-Impeded Love Interest: Inverted; Rapunzel has a small lisp, while Flynn doesn't.
• Spoiler Opening: Flynn Rider announces he will die as the first line in the movie. He gets better, though.
• Spontaneous Choreography: The Kingdom Dance number. Justified, in that country dances of the era were a lot more structured than much of modern dance; it's not unreasonable that everyone could suddenly break out in a joyful and vigorous dance number at a festival or faire and not miss a step.
• Squee: Rapunzel does a lot of this. Also, Flynn squees sarcastically before he and Rapunzel enter The Snuggly Duckling.
• Stealth Insult: Mother Gothel is a master at this.
  Gothel: Rapunzel, do you know what I see in that mirror? I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady. [Beat] Oh look, you're here too. [laughs] I'm just teasing, darling. Stop taking everything so seriously.
• Stealth Pun:
  • See Right for the Wrong Reasons above. Gothel sees Maximus and wonders where his owner is, and upon finding the tower empty, assumes that a rider took Rapunzel. From a certain point of view, she's not wrong.
• Stepping-Stone Sword: Flynn uses crossbow bolts to scale the tower the first time.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Played for laughs. When the thugs sing their Crowd Song, Flynn responds like a real person would, not like a Disney character would. He just sits^note Or rather, hangs there, wondering why everyone is singing so spontaneously.
  • Most Rapunzel telling don’t explain how the witch was able to get into a tower with no entrances other that a window before Rapunzel could grow hair long enough to climb. Here, it’s revealed the the tower has a regular entranceway with stairs leading to the top, which Gothel had bricked up, presumably to prevent Rapunzel from discovering a way out.
• Swiss-Army Tears: At the very end, though you may see it coming if you're familiar with the fairy tale.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Maximus. Though once Flynn develops his character and later gets pardoned, this ends.
• Take a Third Option: Mother Gothel is about to forcefully take Rapunzel away, but Rapunzel tells her either 1) if Eugene dies, she will fight to escape nonstop for the rest of her life, or 2) if she is allowed to heal Eugene first, she promises she'll go with Mother Gothel willingly and stay with her forever. Flynn invokes this trope by cutting Rapunzel's hair before she can heal him, saving Rapunzel from both struggle and servitude while denying Mother Gothel her source of eternal youth, at the cost of losing the chance to be healed from his mortal injury.
• Taking You with Me: Flynn's above-mentioned Take a Third Option was to do this to Mother Gothel after she stabbed him.
• Tap on the Head: Rapunzel knocks out Flynn for several hours by hitting him in the head with a frying pan. Multiple times. He somehow wakes up each time without so much as a concussion.
• Tastes Like Purple: Flynn's description of the Snuggly Duckling — "I don't know why, but overall it just smells like the color brown."
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Flynn and Maximus. Big time.
• The Voiceless: Rapunzel's parents and the eye patch-wearing Stabbington brother have no dialogue in the whole movie.
• They Have the Scent!: How Max tracks Flynn. He's a horse, by the way.
• This Explains So Much: Played for Drama. When Rapunzel realizes she is the lost Princess, she starts reasoning that this is why Gothel locked her away, to Gothel's face. Why else would a girl be locked in a tower, away from people, and told that her gift needs to be protected? Why the determination to get her back so quickly from the kingdom? Her fury knows no bounds when she realizes Gothel stole her entire life, along with her hair.
• Those Two Guys: After Rapunzel forces them to make peace, Flynn and Max's relationship has shades of this.
• Three-Month-Old Newborn: Rapunzel's parents are celebrating her birth and she can already hold up her own head, and has mid-long hair. Possibly explained (especially the remarkably long hair) by the magic in Rapunzel.
• Title Drop: In The Foreign Subtitle in countries where the movie was released under its original Rapunzel name.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Maximus. He chooses good, surprisingly rapidly. Also an example of Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!.
• Tomato in the Mirror: At the festival, Rapunzel overhears girls giving gifts to a mosaic of the Lost Princess; she is surprised when she sees it, the baby in particular, who strongly resembles her. Once she is back in her tower, Rapunzel studies the flag she got from the kingdom, realizes she's embedded that symbol subconsciously in her artwork over and over, and matches that with the lore of the Lost Princess she overheard and her recall of the mosaic, and her memories awaken. She realizes that she is the Lost Princess and that Gothel stole her away, in a matter of minutes.
• Took a Level in Badass: Rapunzel goes up a level at least once every ten minutes.
• The Tower: Rapunzel's abode.
• Trailers Always Lie: The first trailer advertised a silly, lighthearted road movie with lots of slapstick, scored to P!nk's song "Trouble." The actual movie is a straightforward, musical princess fairy tale which, while funny, is by no means a comedy. Disney would go on to blatantly exploit this with its following films to huge success.
• Trauma Conga Line: The end of Rapunzel's birthday and the next day are no picnic. Rapunzel is led to believe Flynn sold her out to the men chasing them for the crown, where Gothel "rescues" her from them. Then she realizes, after returning to the tower, that she is the Lost Princess that the kingdom is celebrating and when she tries to leave, Gothel chains her up and gags her so she can't warn Flynn when he climbs up her hair. Flynn gets stabbed in front of her, and Rapunzel bargains with her freedom to save him. Just as she's about to sing, Flynn cuts her hair, rendering it powerless. Gothel rapidly ages and dies in front of her, and then Flynn dies. It's a very good thing that Rapunzel's tears had magic.
• Traumatic Haircut: Not only does she get the hair she's been growing out her whole life chopped off, losing it means she can't save Flynn's life. Or so she thinks.
• Triumphant Reprise: "When Will My Life Begin? (Reprise 2)".
• Troperiffic: The promotional shorts on YouTube, such as the ad for Rapunzhair (with side effects), Infomercial for the Frying Pan, an Anvilicious educational film, "Smolder" by Flynn, and more.
• True Blue Femininity: Averted. Out of all the Disney Princesses, Rapunzel is the only one to never wear any blue in her movie.
• Tuckerization: The thug that's sent to fetch the guards is named Greno, after co-director Nathan Greno, and the guard assigned to watch over the Stabbington brothers is named Conli, after producer Roy Conli.
• Unmanly Secret: Flipped on its head in "I've Got a Dream", in which a bunch of thugs and ruffians in a bar outright admit in song that they like things like sewing, puppet shows and interior design.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: You'd think a girl with 70 feet of hair would get a bit more notice when she first strolls into town, and that the guards would have had an easier time finding Flynn if they told people to keep an eye out for his new accomplice.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Rapunzel has a pet chameleon. She grew up in a tower, locked away from society, and therefore is a bit of an awkward Plucky Girl.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Maximus, twice—it's seeing him (a palace horse) that makes Gothel rush back to the tower in fear Rapunzel has been discovered and returned to her real home (i.e., if she hadn't seen him, she would have kept going after the white shell paint and never would have been involved in the plot at all, let alone chased after Rapunzel and done everything she could to get rid of Flynn), and it's him kicking down a support beam to make a bridge that helps bring down the dam (and nearly drowns both Flynn and Rapunzel).
  • Flynn himself gets in on this a bit too—it's because he tore down a wanted poster of himself (thanks to complaining about his likeness) and stuffed it in his satchel that it's there at the tower for Gothel to find; she never would have known who had her "daughter", what he looked like, or that he was a criminal, if not for this (she still would have chased after them and probably caught up, the same as she did otherwise, but she wouldn't have been able to make her deal with the Stabbington brothers or played on Rapunzel's uncertain trust in Flynn without this knowledge).
• Verbed Title: Originally titled Rapunzel, it was specifically renamed to invoke this trope, hoping to appeal to a wider audience.
• Vertical Kidnapping: Courtesy of Hook Hand Thug.
• Villainous Advice Song: In "Mother Knows Best" Mother Gothel advises Rapunzel to not leave the tower because of all the dangers in the outside world. In reality it's so Rapunzel, with her hair's de-aging powers, will never leave Mother Gothel's grasp.
• Villainous Breakdown: After Rapunzel calls her out, Mother Gothel switches from a selfish My Beloved Smother to a hardcore, homicidal Disney villain.
  Gothel: You want me to be the bad guy? Fine — now I'm the bad guy...
  • And when Flynn cuts off Rapunzel's hair, thus depriving Gothel of her source of youth before her eyes, she completely loses it while trying to cover her rapidly aging face.
• Villainous Face Hold: While Mother Gothel is singing "Mother Knows Best", she grabs and squishes Rapunzel's face while gazing "lovingly" into her eyes, immediately after a line that mocks Rapunzel's weight and intelligence. Gothel does this to patronise Rapunzel as she wants her to think she (Rapunzel) won't survive if she leaves the tower.
• Villain Song:
  • "Mother Knows Best", possibly Disney's cutest. Its Dark Reprise is a straighter example.
  • Inverted with "I've Got A Dream", which is really sort of an anti-villain song.
• "Wanted!" Poster: Except they never get the nose right.
  Flynn: Okay, now they're just being mean.
• A Way Out of a Cave-In: Trapped in a rubble-filled cave with steadily rising water, the situation seems hopeless, but then Rapunzel remembers her Magic Hair! She sings to make it light up, and it illuminates a small gap in the rocks through which they are able to claw their way to safety. The small gap in the rocks is where water is leaking out, not in. The leak makes a small current that pulls her glowing hair towards the gap.
• Wham Line: In-Universe for Rapunzel, as we already knew who she was since the prologue.
  Rapunzel: I am the lost princess! Aren't I?
  • And who could forget the moment the entire plot changed. The thugs are closing in on Rapunzel, all she has is a frying pan...
    Hook Hand Thug: I had a dream... once...
• Wham Shot: The kingdom's sun emblem unknowingly sketched into parts of Rapunzel's mural, causing her to realize her true identity.
• Wanting Is Better Than Having: Discussed in the quote above, when Rapunzel admits she's terrified that finally seeing the lanterns up close won't be all she dreamed it would be.
• Weapon Twirling: Rapunzel is justifiably pleased with herself after dispatching an intruder.
  Rapunzel: Too weak to handle myself out there, huh, Mother? Well tell that to my frying pa—[clonks herself by accident]
• We Need a Distraction: Rapunzel requests a specific kind of paint as a birthday present, knowing that Mother Gothel's trip to get the shells to make it will buy her time to see the lanterns, which is what she really wanted all along.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Flynn explains at the end how all the Pub Thugs have their dreams come true, and how he marries Rapunzel, after many years of asking.
• White Stallion: Maximus.
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Mother Gothel to Rapunzel, though it's more along the lines of "Why did you make me stab your boyfriend?"
• The World Is Just Awesome: The flying lantern scene. It's even lampshaded in the song for that scene.
  "And at last I see the light, and it's like the fog has lifted
  And at last I see the light, and it's like the sky is new
  And it's warm and real and bright, and the world has somehow shifted."
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Mother Gothel is a grandmaster; her only goal is to get Rapunzel back in the tower. First, she was just going to kill Flynn and drag her back, and by the end the only three other people in on the secret are all going to be hanged for their crimes and no one in the kingdom would know she was even there.
  • Both Flynn and Rapunzel do some rapid improvs in pursuit of their ends, too.
• Yellow/Purple Contrast: The colors of gold and purple are a recurring Color Motif, being the colors of the kingdom of Corona; the gold associated with the sun, and the purple associated with the royal family. Rapunzel, is a graceful, spirited young lady whose long blonde hair has healing powers, and she wears shades of lavender and mauve to signify her kindness to people and her status as the long lost princess.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Flynn really starts to grow after Rapunzel tells him that she likes Eugene better. She also takes to calling him by that name as well, a gesture of respect that greatly fosters Flynn's later Character Development.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: The only appropriate response to seeing your not-quite girlfriend making friends with the hellbeast of a horse that's been chasing you all over the place.
• Your Favorite: According to Mother Gothel, Rapunzel's favorite is hazelnut soup (actually, she shows little enthusiasm for it either time it's mentioned, though that may just be that she has other things on her mind).
• Your Size May Vary: The length of Rapunzel's hair changes between shots. Drastically. This is entirely intentional.

Tangled The Musical

Tangled:The Musical takes place on various Disney cruise lines.

Tropes for the play include

• Adaptational Badass:
  • Instead of getting captured, the Stabbington Brothers escape the guards and track down Flynn Rider. They'll also do improv comedy in the nearby bar after the show.
  • The thugs in this version take out the royal guards immediately, rather than fighting them long enough for Flynn to escape on Maximus.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The cruise ship musical adds three more songs: "Flower of Gold", "Wanted Man", and "When She Returns".
  • We see one of the king's advisors telling him about the flower, and the king orders everyone to find it and save his wife.
  • Flynn in his song flirts with a bunch of ladies.
  • "When She Returns" is a larger expository song about the day they celebrate the princess's birthday.
  • Then we get "Finale", which incorporates "Flower of Gold", "When She Returns", and "When Will My Life Begin" as a Triumphant Reprise.
• Adapted Out: Pascal is not in this version, for obvious reasons.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Unlike in the movie, Gothel doesn't know that it was Rapunzel who forced Flynn to take her to the kingdom. She assumes, from the guards telling her that Flynn charms impressionable girls, that the thief must have seduced and kidnapped her "daughter".
  • Rapunzel, unlike in the film, doesn't physically stop Gothel from fonding her when she realizes the truth. She simply goes to walk outside the tower. Then Gothel blocks her way, and grabs her; Rapunzel freezes, because she can't harm her adoptive mother. It reeks of abusive situations where the victim isn't allowed to leave.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Rapunzel starts singing a reprise of "Now I See The Light" while comparing the Corona flag she received to the murals in her room. She talks about how the lanterns are released on her birthday, and that someone said she was the same age as the Lost Princess. The hair is the same, as is the color scheme...and she gives a Big "OMG!" as the pieces click together. When she confronts Gothel with this information, Gothel's Stunned Silence confirms that Rapunzel is the Lost Princess, and that Gothel kidnapped her. 
• Go Mad from the Isolation: It's implied that Rapunzel, without Pascal as a friend, has gone a little stir-crazy when she does ventriloquism with her doll.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Eugene and Gothel work to steal the show at various points, especially when they appear together.
• Love at First Sight: Flynn immediately turns on the charm when he sees that the person who tied him up is a beautiful girl.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: After she stabs Flynn, Gothel drops the dagger by his prone body. Instead of using a mirror shard, he reaches for it and cuts Rapunzel's hair.
• Pragmatic Adaptation:
  • Rather than adapt the complicated fight scene at the mine shafts, the secret passage has a booby trap. When the guards set it off, Rapunzel and Flynn nearly drown.
  • The scene where Flynn cuts Rapunzel's hair is done with flashing lights so as to hide the long wig from coming off too obviously. Gothel also staggers behind the tower opening since it'd be hard to show her aging onstage.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: In the finale, Rapunzel changes from her tower dress to a beautiful princess gown. It's a remarkable change.
• Triumphant Reprise: The thugs sing "I've Got A Dream" as they help Flynn escape to go rescue Rapunzel.

---

Flynn: Did Rapunzel and I ever get married? Well, I am pleased to tell you, that after years, and years of asking and asking and asking...I finally said yes.

Rapunzel: Eugene...

Flynn: Alright. I asked her.

Rapunzel: And we’re living happily ever after.

Flynn: Yes, we are.