In the movie Tangled, it's not made obvious whether Rapunzel's reunion with her parents takes place in the morning or afternoon. Analysis of the light and shadows of various morning and afternoon scenes shows that the reunion takes place at dawn, and may imply that Eugene and Rapunzel spend the night in the tower.



Here we see the first shot of the tower after the opening prologue. Rapunzel states it's 7:00 AM. The light comes from the side, and does not directly shine into the door window. The waterfall is in a narrow shadow.



This shot is from when Mother Gothel returns to the tower to see if Rapunzel is okay. The scene transitions to dusk as it takes time for her to break into the tower. Notice the rocks around the waterfall are fully lit.



This shot is from Eugene's ride to the tower. This is in the afternoon, since he arrives after Mother Gothel has told Rapunzel to get ready for dinner. As above, the rocks around the waterfall are fully lit. The sun shines directly into the door window, somewhat from the other side than the morning shot.



This shot is a brief cut after Eugene and Rapunzel's kiss in the tower. There is no cue to tell you that any time has passed, so you would think this shot is in the afternoon of day 3.

Wrong! Look at the lighting. The waterfall is in a narrow shadow, matching the 7:00 AM shot. The tower is lit from the side as in the 7:00 AM shot. Therefore, this shot of the tower is on the morning after--on day 4. The implication may be that Eugine and Rapunzel spend the entire night in the tower. However, this is not consistent with them reaching the castle by the break of dawn (see below).



This shot of the bridge takes place at 8 in the morning. From the shadows, the sun must be off to the right (when looking toward the castle).



This shot of the bridge takes place in the morning, not long after Eugene and Rapunzel wake up. As before, the sun must be off to the right (when looking toward the castle).



This shot is from afternoon on day 3. The shadows go the other way, so the sun must be off to the left (when looking toward the castle).



These shots are of the castle's main balcony, which faces the same direction as the bridge.

There are no obvious cues to indicate time has passed, so you might think this shot is at sunset day 3 (although this isn't plausible from the perspective of how much time it should take to travel the distance).

However, the direction of the sun is in the same direction as the other morning scenes--and the opposite from the direction of the sun in the afternoon scene. Therefore, the reunion must take place at dawn. Assuming this takes place on day 4, Eugine and Rapunzel must have left the tower before daybreak.