Mother Knows Best (song) songs. While the majority of "Tangled"'s music was inspired by the work of Canadian musician Joni Mitchell, Menken envisioned Gothel's song as "classic" Broadway. Before writing "Mother Knows Best", Menken and Slater researched appropriate moments in the film during which its main characters could potentially perform, ultimately determining that "Mother Knows Best" "flows directly out of the conflict between" Mother Gothel and Rapunzel. Menken observed similarities between Gothel and Claude Frollo, another Disney villain for whom he had written songs while working as a composer on "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996). Menken described Gothel as "a scary piece of
Mother Gothel character "doesn't cast spells; she's fully capable of manipulating, guilt-tripping and emotionally undermining the girl". Several comparisons have been made between Gothel and the Evil Queen in Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), while several critics observed the character's likeness to singer Cher; Peter Howell of the "Toronto Star" joked that Gothel is "suspiciously Cher-like in her quest for eternal youth". However, critics were not unanimous in their praise, as some reviewers felt that the character was too passive and tame to be a convincing villain. Jeff Meyers of the "Detroit Metro Times "wrote that the film's "villain