Mother Knows Best (song) Mother Knows Best (song) "Mother Knows Best" is a song written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater for Walt Disney Pictures' 50th animated feature film "Tangled" (2010). Included on the film's official soundtrack, "Mother Knows Best" is a musical theatre-inspired pop and jazz ballad performed by American actress and singer Donna Murphy in her animated role as Mother Gothel, the film's villain. Incorporating a series of passive-aggressive insults into its lyrics, the song serves as Gothel's attempt to frighten Rapunzel into remaining in their secluded tower despite her constant requests to see the floating lanterns so that she
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