12 of pop culture’s best birthday moments

Tangled

The entire point of Tangled is Rapunzel’s birthday. Well, that’s not fair. The movie has a deeper message and there’s a lot more that happens. But the main plot of the movie does revolve around her birthday.

And what a birthday it is! Basically the king and queen release lanterns every year on the birthday of their missing daughter and it just so happens that that is also Rapunzel’s birthday. (Hint: they’re the same person.)

But the lantern festival is a beautiful thing for the princess and it gives us “I See the Light” which is, arguably, the best song in the movie. Overall, the story Tangled is what makes her birthday so special (and why it made the list).

She is just this free spirit who only wants one simple thing for her birthday. And it leads us on this wonderful adventure with Flynn and Rapunzel! And really, who doesn’t love Flynn Ryder? Or rather, Eugene?

So while the movie is really based on love and family and trust, it does have a huge central theme centered around her birthday. You might not think of Tangled as a birthday movie but I mean, technically, it is.

And any movie that gives us a Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi duet is a movie I definitely want to watch on my birthday.

-Rachel Leishman, co-expert