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 Scott's opinion, "The Disney pantheon is full of evil stepmothers, though none quite match Mother Gothel for sheer sadistic intensity." According to Jake Coyle of the "Southtown Star", Gothel is "one of Disney's best" villains, while Gary Thompson of the "Philadelphia Daily News "dubbed the character "one reason to love Disney". Michael Smith of the "Tulsa World "reviewed Gothel as "perfectly wicked as she kills Rapunzel's dreams". Kirk Baird of "The Blade "identified Gothel as the film's "strongest character". Colin Covert of the "Star Tribune "commented," ""In her own way, Gothel is scarier than Snow White's wicked stepmother" because the