Though Tangled debuted 9 years ago, this Rapunzel retelling remains one of Disney’s most beloved tales. Featuring a lost princess, charming thief, two hilarious sidekicks, and 70 ft. of golden hair, this film has a lot going for it. As much as we adore this animation, however, we couldn’t help but notice that not every detail of the film makes sense. While the movie doesn’t have any gaping plot holes, there are a few smaller details that could have been better explained. Yes, we’re going to be nitpicky — but that’s part of the fun, right?
With that said, it’s time to journey to one of Disney’s most enchanted kingdoms and head on an adventure; Here are 10 things about Tangled that don’t make sense.
Mother Gothel Should Have Tried Harder
Mother Gothel had lots of flaws in her plan to stay forever young by using Rapunzel’s hair. You’d think she’d have thought it through. Why did she choose to settle in a tower so close to the kingdom? Why didn’t she lie to Rapunzel about her real name? Why didn’t she pretend that Rapunzel had a different birthday? What made it okay for her to leave the tower but Rapunzel to not?
It’s also worth noting that Gothel’s plan to stay young would have been impossible, being that Rapunzel appears to age like a normal person. What would she do after Rapunzel grew old herself?
No One Recognizes Flynn Rider In The Kingdom
When Flynn and Rapunzel enter the kingdom, people should instantly recognize the thief. After all, his face is plastered on posters everywhere even though they all get his nose wrong. The movie seems to imply that only the castle guards recognize Flynn. This is demonstrated when he and Rapunzel hide behind a wall with some cupcakes as guards walk by.
But really, no one else recognizes him? No one?
Rapunzel’s Braid Is Illogical
Yes, there are tons of questions revolving around Rapunzel’s hair like “How did she keep it clean her entire journey?” and “What kind of insane physics allowed her to slide down a giant tower using her hair as rope?”
We’ll let “magic” be the answer to the first question and “It’s an animation” be the answer to the second. But what cannot be excused is the fact that Rapunzel’s 70 ft. of hair was wrapped into a single 5 ft. braid with flowers soon after she entered the kingdom. What?
Eugene Is Still A Wanted Criminal
Eugene is clearly the most wanted criminal in all the kingdom. He stole the heavily guarded princess’ crown, and before that, he committed enough crimes to earn himself wanted posters all over the forest and kingdom. I mean for real, the guy was about to be hanged for his crimes until the thugs and Maximus stepped in to save him. That’s why it’s so crazy that no one seems to care about these things as soon as he returns Rapunzel to her parents.
Sure, he fell in love with the king and queen’s daughter and had a change of heart; But they don’t know that. It doesn’t excuse his past crimes, and being that he marries Rapunzel — a princess — he will someday become king. That’s logical, how?
Rapunzel Carried Around The Satchel Without Flynn Noticing
Midway through Rapunzel’s adventure, Mother Gothel brings her Flynn’s satchel containing the crown he stole. Rapunzel is then required to keep it secret, which she does until she is on the boat with Flynn to watch the floating lanterns.
The problem is that there is no reasonable way she would have kept the satchel a secret. The pair is together at all times, her dress is too tight to hide the satchel underneath, and before you think about it, nope, hiding it in her hair would not have been possible either, especially not in that earlier-discussed braid. When Rapunzel finally brings out the satchel again, it seems to come from nowhere.
Rapunzel Should Have Adjustment Problems
Though Rapunzel is well-read, there is no way she should be able to adjust to all her new circumstances so quickly. In the film, her social skills are strong even though she’s naive about the world. She’s funny, sweet, and charming in a way that would only have developed had she interacted with more than one human being in her life.
The princess also has no immune system and probably should have gotten sick. Also, remember the scene in which she and Flynn get trapped underwater before removing a few rocks and swimming to the surface? She shouldn’t know how to swim.
Why Were The Guards Terrible?
Rapunzel’s parents really need to hire some new protectors because they were failures throughout the entire movie.
Let’s start with the fact that Mother Gothel managed to sneak into the castle undetected, steal baby Rapunzel, and get away with it. The guards later let Flynn get away with stealing the crown. Even later, they manage to fail at keeping Flynn from escaping his execution, and there were hundreds of guards there. At the very least, the men should have arrested the thugs who helped Flynn escape, but they just watched in awe when they shot Flynn into the air and onto Maximus. Could they at the very least have searched the forest hard enough to find Rapunzel’s nearby tower once in eighteen years?
Rapunzel Should Have Figured Things Out Earlier
Sure, Rapunzel was manipulated. That being said, did she never notice that her mother looked nothing like her? Did she never question where her magic powers came from? Was it really that hard to recognize the image of the lost princess in the kingdom that happened to also have magical golden hair? What were the chances?
While Rapunzel comes to her senses, she was smart enough to have figured everything out a little earlier. I mean, really, what were the chances she shared a birthday with the lost princess?
The Story Behind The Flower Has Flaws
There’s a lot to unpack here, but let’s start with the fact that Mother Gothel knew where to find the flower, what words to sing to it, and how it would make her young again. We’re over here wondering how.
Clearly, the people at the castle also knew of its healing properties, which is why they fed it to the sick queen. And somehow Flynn also knew all of this, which is why he is able to narrate Gothel’s backstory to the audience toward the beginning of the film. Additionally, the flower kept Gothel young for centuries. It’s hard to believe, however, that no one found the flower for that many years if they all somehow knew of its power.
The Final Death/Healing Scene Lacks Sound Logic
The entire final confrontation between Flynn, Mother Gothel, and Rapunzel makes little sense. For starters, Gothel appears to stab Flynn in the back, yet somehow he ends up with a wound in his side. Next, she locks him up so that he doesn’t follow her and Rapunzel once he’s healed. But if there’s no way for him to get out, he’s going to die even if he’s healed, right?
On that note, why didn’t Flynn wait until Rapunzel had healed him to cut her hair? And finally — the grand finale — if Gothel turned to dust after Rapunzel’s magical hair was gone, by that logic, shouldn’t the earlier-healed cut on Flynn’s hand open up? Shouldn’t the once healed queen fall sick again? Though we don’t fully understand it, we accept it.
