Pascal and Maximus | |
---|---|
Tangled characters | |
First appearance | Tangled (2010) |
Created by | Dan Fogelman[1] |
Voiced by | Pascal: Dee Bradley Baker (Tangled: Before Ever After, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure)
|
In-universe information | |
Species | |
Gender | Males |
Owner(s) | Rapunzel and Flynn Rider |
Pascal and Maximus are a pair of animals who first appear in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film Tangled (2010) as supporting characters, and subsequently star in its short Tangled Ever After (2012), television film Tangled: Before Ever After and television series Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. Created by screenwriter Dan Fogelman, both characters are usually left unvoiced, although in Tangled Ever After, Nathan Greno provides the voice of Maximus while Dee Bradley Baker voices both characters in the continuity presented in Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. A comedic chameleon and horse duo, Pascal and Maximus serve as sidekicks to main characters Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, respectively.
In Tangled, Pascal resides alongside Rapunzel in Mother Gothel's tower, while Maximus is a police horse originally trained to arrest Flynn Rider before he befriends him at Rapunzel's insistence. In Tangled Ever After, Pascal and Maximus appear as ring bearers at Rapunzel and Flynn's wedding. When they lose the couple's wedding rings, the duo frantically attempts to retrieve them. Greno and Howard created Pascal in order to provide the lonely, isolated Rapunzel with a friend to talk to. Feeling that a reptile would complement Rapunzel's quirky personality, the directors ultimately decided to make the character a chameleon as opposed to a traditional woodland creature. Meanwhile, Maximus was originally conceived as a very serious horse based on actor Tommy Lee Jones until the animators decided to make him a funnier and more likeable character. The unusual decision to make Pascal and Maximus incomprehensible to both the audience and human characters with Welker providing them with realistic sound effects was inspired by the performances of silent film actors Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
Both individually and as a comedic duo, Pascal and Maximus have garnered universal acclaim from film critics, who referred to the characters as scene stealers – British magazine SFX dubbed Maximus the film's breakout star while The Age hailed the character as the funniest horse in film history – in addition to praising the fact that both characters are refreshingly funny, expressive and charismatic without the use of dialogue. Additionally, several film critics preferred Pascal and Maximus to the film's couple.