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 isn't all that villainous", while Tyler Hanley of the "Palo Alto Daily News "received Gothel as too "one-dimensional and generic". PopMatters' Bill Gibron wrote that, as a villain, Gothel "can't compete with traditional miscreants like Maleficent or Cruella de Vil". Alison Gang of "U-T San Diego "felt that Gothel was an "annoying" character at times, while "USA Today"s Claudia Puig wrote that "Gothel plays the role of Rapunzel's loving mom [only] sometimes convincingly". Although Michelle Orange of Movieline enjoyed Gothel's personality to an extent, the author criticized the character in a mixed review that "By reducing Mother Gothel to a