Loosely based on the German fairy tale "Rapunzel" in the collection of folktales published by the Brothers Grimm, the film was directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, and produced by Roy Conli, from a screenplay written by Dan Fogelman.

Featuring the voices of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, and Donna Murphy,[7] Tangled tells the story of Rapunzel, a lost young princess with magical long blonde hair who yearns to leave her secluded tower.

The film employed a unique artistic style by blending together features of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and traditional animation while using non-photorealistic rendering to create the impression of a painting.

Composer Alan Menken, who had worked on prior Disney animated features, returned to score Tangled, and also wrote the film's songs with lyricist Glenn Slater.

Rapunzel is fascinated by the annual lights and, on the eve of her 18th birthday, asks to leave the tower and investigate them, but Gothel refuses, claiming the outside world is too dangerous.

Meanwhile, Flynn Rider steals Rapunzel's intended crown from the palace; he betrays the Stabbington brothers, his partners in crime, while being pursued by royal guard-horse Maximus.

When they stop at the Snuggly Duckling pub, menacing thugs try to capture the wanted Flynn, but Rapunzel charms them into revealing their softer sides.

[17] The story initially centered on two teenagers, Claire and Vince, who live in San Francisco and are transported into the fairy tale world, where they inhabit the bodies of Rapunzel and her prince Beau.

[24] The directors auditioned hundreds of young actresses to find Rapunzel's voice,[25] among them were Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell, but both were rejected for not sounding right.

[33] Since the film was going to be a musical, it was required that all auditionees had to read several scenes and perform a song of their choice, to ensure that the voice actors could both act and sing.

[36][37] Moore revealed that she had to attend several audition sessions[33][34] and described the experiences as "pretty fun" but didn't put much hope in getting the part because she believed there would be much competition for this role;[31] she just performed her best without any anxiety.

"[30] According to Greno, one of the most difficult problems during the development of the film's plot was how to get Rapunzel out of the tower without immediately ending the movie, in that she had thereby escaped Mother Gothel and did not have any other specific objectives to pursue.

They sang live with the orchestra for several times in order to help everyone "get a vibe" and a feel for the music and the singing, then were asked to go in isolation booths to record the actual tracks.

Many of the techniques and tools that were required to give the film the quality Keane demanded did not exist when the project was started, and Walt Disney Animation Studios had to create them on their own.

Kyle helped us get that Fragonard look of that girl on the swing… We are using subsurface scattering and global illumination and all of the latest techniques to pull off convincing human characters and rich environments.

[49] As a counterpart to the appealing and cute design of Rapunzel,[50] the directors wanted to make Flynn Rider "the most handsome, most attractive male lead Disney has ever had.

These problems were finally solved in March:[55] An improved version of a hair simulation program named Dynamic Wires, originally developed for Bolt, was eventually used.

To make hair float believably in water, and to surmount other similar challenges, discrete differential geometry was used to produce the desired effects, freeing the animators from executing these specific tasks directly, which would have taken days instead of minutes.

It's awful that this kind of radical gender discrimination exists for our smallest people—little kids who come into this world with huge imaginations and aspirations, big dreams that get squashed by a bunch of billionaire guys who run massive entertainment franchises.On November 24, 2010, the day of the film's release, directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard disputed reports that the title change was a marketing decision.

They went on to say that "you cannot call Toy Story "Buzz Lightyear," and they really needed a title that represented what the film is, and that it stars the duo of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.

[68] Menken said he attempted to blend medieval music with 1960s folk rock to create the new songs and the score and soundtrack were recorded at a span of two-and-a-half years.

[77] Tangled premiered in Paris on November 17, exclusively screening at the Grand Rex theater two weeks in advance of its French wide release.

Bonus features for the Blu-ray include deleted scenes, two alternate opening sequences, two extended songs, and an inside look at how the film was made.

[91] As of 2017, it was the sixth-highest-grossing film worldwide produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, behind Frozen, Zootopia, The Lion King, Big Hero 6, and Moana.

The website's critical consensus is: "While far from Disney's greatest film, Tangled is a visually stunning, thoroughly entertaining addition to the studio's classic animated canon.

"[118] Sandie Angulo Chen of Common Sense Media gave the film five out of five stars, writing, "Fantastic princess adventure is fun, with great messages.

Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated Tangled for two Golden Globe Awards, for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song for "I See the Light", but lost to Toy Story 3 and Burlesque, respectively.

A video game based on the film was released on November 23, 2010, for Nintendo DS, Wii, and PC platforms by Disney Interactive Studios.

[148] In December 2014, Tangled's producer, Roy Conli, revealed that the production team had been "heavily pushed" for a feature-length sequel to the film, but when the writers and directors got together to develop one, they realized, "she cut her hair.

[149] In January 2015, Conli again provided a similar explanation when pressed on this point, and also mentioned that directors Greno and Howard ultimately "weren't really interested" in continuing the story.