Disney usually changes fairy tales a bit when they turn them into films, but Tangled is changed more than other Disney princess films. Usually, the movies are cleaned up to get rid of the scary parts, but Disney did a complete overhaul of the original Grimm Brothers version of the tale.

In the original story, Rapunzel isn't a princess. She is born to a woman whose husband steals rampion from a neighboring garden to appease his wife's pregnancy cravings. When he is caught by the owner of the garden, an enchantress, she lets him go but demands that she be given the child to raise as her own. Many parts of the story are darker, but Mother Gothel's motivations are more heartbreaking in the fairy tale.