Mother Knows Best (song) own gains. Falco continued, "The audience knows what Gothel wants with Rapunzel, but the fact that we are unable to protect the naïve princess results in further hatred for the witch." Falco also concluded that Gothel's "sinister reprise at the end of "Tangled" allows for these horrifying undertones to emerge, which makes 'Mother Knows Best' one of the most sinister villain songs in the Disney library." Similarly, Elissa Smith of Paper Droids wrote that while the audience is fully aware of Gothel's evil intentions, Rapunzel is denied "the outsider's point of view." Glen Chapman of Den of Geek wrote that
Mother Gothel most potent schemers in the Disney canon", "Time"s Richard Corliss felt that Murphy's performance was worthy of a Tony Award for Best Actress, concluding, "no one can summon the malice in humor, and the fun in pain, like this prima Donna". In his review of the film's soundtrack, James Christopher Monger of AllMusic wrote that both "Moore and Murphy take on the lion's share of the work here, and both deliver the goods". IGN ranked Mother Gothel fourth on their list of "the 12 Disney Villainesses". In a list of the thirty-three greatest Disney villains conducted by E!, Mother Gothel