A long, long time ago, a drop of sunlight fell from the sky, and when
it touched the Earth, a glowing yellow flower blossomed. The flower was
found by a woman named Mother Gothel, who soon learned that when she
sang a certain song to the flower, it exuded a power that restored her
youth.
Centuries passed, and a kingdom grew and prospered
nearby. After sometime, the King and his Wife were expecting their
first child, but as her due date approached, the Queen fell deathly
ill. There was an old rumor that a glowing yellow flower created by a
drop of sunlight could cure any illness, and so the soldiers of the
kingdom searched far and wide, and finally found the flower that Gothel
had been hoarding for many years.
The flower was distilled into
an elixir which saved the Queen's life. She soon gave birth to a little
girl who, unlike her parents, had beautiful golden hair. Giving her the
name Rapunzel, the Royal family held a celebration, in which they sent
aloft a glowing paper lantern.
Mother Gothel, however, had seen
the soldiers take the flower and was determined not to lose it's
magical powers. She stole into the castle late one night and, upon
finding Rapunzel in her crib, recited the song. The girl's hair glowed
yellow just like the flower, but when Gothel attempted to clip some
hair in hopes to use it to restore her beauty, the clipped hair turned
brown. So Gothel kidnapped the young girl and fled with her deep into
the forrest.
Taking her to a secret tower, Mother Gothel raised
the girl to think that she was her mother, teaching her the song and
relying on her for youthful restoration. As the years went by, Rapunzel
was fascinated by a strange grouping of light that took place on the
same day as her birthday. Unknown to her, the releasing of lanterns is
a tradition of the King and Queen, in hopes their daughter will return
to them one day.
Over the years, Rapunzel grows into a creative
young woman, trying to amuse herself in her tower as Mother Gothel
comes and goes as she pleases. Rapunzel also befriends a little
chameleon named Pascal. Though she claims that she likes staying in her
tower, she longs to leave it and see the world, especially the floating
lights that occur on her birthday.
A few days before her
birthday, Mother Gothel visits her, and Rapunzel gets up the nerve to
ask Gothel to take her to see the floating lights. Gothel quells
Rapunzel's interest by scaring her into thinking that the world is too
dangerous for someone as naive as her, and that people will want to
capture her for her magic golden hair. Sadly, Rapunzel promises to not
ask to leave the tower again.
After Mother Gothel leaves,
Rapunzel is shocked when a young man makes his way into the tower.
After hitting him over the head with a frying pan and hiding him in her
closet, Rapunzel now feels that Mother Gothel was wrong, and that if
she was able to subdue a person and put him in a closet, maybe she can
take care of herself! However, when Mother Goethel returns and tries to
broach the subject again (trying to lead up to revealing the young man
in her closet), Mother Gothel loudly proclaims that Rapunzel will never
leave the tower.
Quickly, Rapunzel changes the subject, and
requests that Mother Gothel get her some seashells to make more white
paint with. Mother Goethel is not pleased to make a 3-day journey for
this, but does so in hopes that this will turn Rapunzel's mind away
from leaving.
After she is gone, Rapunzel releases the young
man, and tying him in a chair with her hair, finds that his name is
Flynn Rider. Flynn claims he was just looking for a place to hide,
having stolen a tiara from the neighboring kingdom. Rapunzel takes his
satchel and the tiara contained within, and makes a deal with Flynn: if
he will take her to see the floating lanterns and return her to her
tower, she will give him back his satchel and the tiara. Reluctantly,
Flynn agrees.
After making her way out of the tower, Rapunzel
struggles with her emotions: excited to see the world for the first
time, but also deeply guilty that she has defied her 'Mother.' Flynn
offers to return her, but Rapunzel claims she will be alright.
Hoping
to get her to change her mind, Flynn takes her to a place called The
Snuggly Duckling, which is overrun with a group of ruffians. However,
the ruffians recognize Flynn as a wanted man of the neighboring
kingdom, and send one of their associates to alert the Palace Guards.
However, Rapunzel pleads with the men to let Flynn go, and how she
needs him to fulfill a dream she's had all her life. This melts the
hearts of the ruffians, who each reveal dreams of their own.
However,
the Palace Guards soon enter, and Rapunzel and Flynn escape through a
secret passageway. This leads them to a quarry, where Flynn is soon
cornered by the Palace Guards, a Palace horse named Maximus, and two of
Flynn's cohorts who he attempted to flee from with the tiara.
As
Rapunzel and Flynn attempt to escape, Maximus dislodges a piece of wood
from a makeshift dam nearby, attempting to use it to walk over a cliff
area...only to have the dam break and flood the area. Rapunzel and
Flynn make it into a cave, but are soon trapped when rocks cover the
entrance, and water from the broken dam begins to fill up the empty
space. Feeling that they may soon die, the two then confess a secret to
the other: Flynn reveals that his real name is Eugene Fitzherbert, and
Rapunzel reveals that her hair glows when she sings. Realizing this can
work to their advantage, she quickly sings, and the illumination from
her hair allows Flynn to dislodge some of the rocks at the entrace, and
the two escape.
Meanwhile, Mother Gothel has returned from her
journey early, and having found Rapunzel gone from the tower, but the
satchel and tiara there along with a wanted poster of Flynn, sets out
to bring her 'daughter' back. Arming herself with a dagger and trailing
the two to the Snuggly Duckling, she soon learns that they have escaped
through a tunnel, and manages to find where the tunnel ends. When she
gets there, she instead finds Flynn's two cohorts. Hoping to use them
to her advantage, she gives them back the satchel and tiara that Flynn
had, but claims she knows of something worth much more, and can also
help them exact revenge on Flynn Rider.
As night settles, Flynn
and Rapunzel camp for the night, and Rapunzel uses her hair to heal a
wound on Flynn's hand from the escape. As they talk, Flynn reveals why
he does not go by his given name of Eugene. As an orphan, he was
entranced by stories of a thief named Flynn, and the daring to have
enough money to go anywhere he wanted intrigued him. Even so, Rapunzel
claims that she likes the name Eugene better.
After Flynn goes
off to get some more wood for their fire, Mother Gothel appears to
Rapunzel, and intends to take her back to the tower. However, Rapunzel
refuses to go. When she claims that she thinks Flynn likes her, Gothel
reveals the tiara and satchel, claiming that's all Flynn really cares
for. Gothel gives these to Rapunzel and tells her to give them to Flynn
to prove her right.
Fearing that Gothel is telling the truth,
Rapunzel hides the items when he returns, and they settle in for the
night, with Gothel and Flynn's former cohorts watching from a distance.
The
next day, the horse Maximus finally tracks down Flynn, intending to
turn him in. However, Rapunzel convinces Maximus that she needs Flynn
to show her the lanterns, and the horse gives in to her 24-hour
reprieve. The group then makes their way to the nearby kingdom, where
Rapunzel has her hair weaved into an extra-large braid to keep it from
getting trampled, and views an intricate tile portrait of the Royal
family, including a blonde baby girl.
As the day wears on,
Rapunzel and Flynn grow closer together until it's time for the lantern
ceremony. The two take a boat out onto the nearby waters, and are in
awe as the lanterns cast a romantic setting upon the water. Rapunzel
then reveals the satchel and tiara, but unlike what Goethel told her,
Flynn does not seem to care about these. As they watch the lanterns ,
they then confess their feelings for each other, but before they can
kiss, Flynn spots his cohorts on the nearby shore.
Bringing the
boat to shore, Flynn meets his cohorts, and apologizes for his actions,
giving them the satchel and the tiara. However, they now claim they
don't want it.
As she waits by the boat, Rapunzel is shocked
when the two cohorts approach her, and point out a boat sailing towards
the kingdom, with Flynn at the wheel. The two claim he took the crown
and left, leaving them to capture Rapunzel and her magical hair.
Rapunzel attempts to flee, but is saved when Mother Gothel appears,
knocking out the two men. Rapunzel then returns with her "mother",
promising never to disobey her again.
In reality, the two men
knocked out Flynn, and lashed him and the tiara to the wheel of the
ship. As it arrives at the kingdom's port, Flynn is arrested.
Back
in her tower, Mother Gothel sends Rapunzel to her room, claiming
they'll forget everything that happened. However, as she looks around
her room and at the sun emblem of the kingdom she obtained while she
was there, Rapunzel notices that within a number of her drawings, the
same symbol occurs, and she suddenly realizes that she is the missing
Princess for whom the lanterns are for!
Rapunzel goes to Mother
Gothel wanting to know the truth. Realizing that she has been lied to
all her life, Rapunzel attempts to leave but not before Gothel stops
her from going after Flynn, claiming that he has by now been captured
by the Palace Guards who most likely will execute him as soon as
possible.
In the kingdom, Flynn is led to the gallows, but stops
when he comes across his cohorts, wanting to know what they did to
Rapunzel. They claim they were acting under the order of Mother Gothel
to get Rapunzel back.
As Flynn is about to be led into the
courtyard gallows, The ruffians from the Snuggly Duckling along with
Maximus break Flynn out. Maximus then helps Flynn return to the tower.
When
Rapunzel's hair ascends to the ground, Flynn climbs up it, but is
shocked when he sees Rapunzel bound and gagged, and is soon stabbed by
Gothel with a dagger. Gothel then leaves Flynn to die, trying to drag
Rapunzel out another exit, promising to take her somewhere where no one
will find her.
As she struggles watching Flynn in pain, Rapunzel
promises she will go with Gothel without resistance, if she can use her
magic hair to save Flynn.
Gothel agrees, but chains Flynn to
keep him from getting away. Flynn begs Rapunzel not to do this, saying
that her promise will never allow her to be free. As she attempts to
recite the magic incantation, Flynn gets hold of a broken piece of the
nearby vanity mirror, cutting off Rapunzel's long hair, breaking its
enchantment.
This then causes Mother Gothel to age quickly,
driving her into a state of shock that causes her to fall out the
nearby window. Aging several centuries in a matter of seconds, her
cloak then hits the forest floor, and all that remains of the vain
woman is a a cloud of dust.
As Rapunzel watches, Flynn dies in
her arms. Her eyes filled with tears, she finishes reciting the
incantation, even though her hair has now turned to a more natural
brown color. However, as a tear falls on Flynn's face, the last magic
of the sunflower restores Flynn to health, and the two lovers unite in
a kiss.
Flynn and Rapunzel then return to the kingdom, where
Rapunzel is reunited with her parents. Flynn is welcomed into the
family, and after a celebration to mark the return of the Princess (in
which we see that the ruffians have also fulfilled their own dreams),
it is revealed that eventually, Flynn (aka Eugene) and Rapunzel were
married soon after.
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