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 vain woman who doesn't want immortality so much as she's determined to keep her profile taut, the film misses the chance to get seriously mythical, and as a result the narrative lacks dramatic impact." Meanwhile, Donna Murphy's vocal performance as Gothel has garnered unanimous praise. Critics hailed the actress as a "standout" – in particular, Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" singled out Gothel as "a firecracker" amidst an otherwise "sedate" cast. Joe Morgenstern of "The Wall Street Journal "wrote that "Donna Murphy does evil deliciously as the voice of Mother Gothel", while "Now"s Norman Wilner felt that the actress successfully