Pascal and Maximus are a pair of anthropomorphic non-talking animal characters 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. 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.

Filmmaker Walt Disney himself had first attempted to adapt the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Rapunzel" into a feature-length animated film during the 1930s. However, he abandoned the project because the story was considered too "small." When they were approached to direct Tangled in 2008, directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard decided that it would be best to update the story "for a modern audience", soon discovering "that the problem with having a prison character [like Rapunzel] ... is that they don't have anyone to talk to." Howard explained that because Rapunzel is incapable of having a decent conversation with Mother Gothel, the isolated, incarcerated heroine "needed someone to relate to." Unwilling to default to using the traditional "boring, ordinary side-kick," Greno and Howard created Pascal, conceiving the character as a chameleon because Rapunzel is, according to Greno, "a rough-and-tumble girl." Howard explained that "we wanted to do ... something fresh, something different. This girl, she's not a dainty, precious girl ... So what would she have? ... She's going to have a lizard." Additionally, Howard believed that a reptile would complement Rapunzel's personality best, describing the character as "a quirky pet for a quirky young woman."

Howard originally envisioned Maximus as the "ultimate super-cop", jokingly referring to the character as "the Tommy Lee Jones of horses". Attempting to make Maximus feel like a "fresh" character, the filmmakers researched several historical horses from both animated and live-action films to ensure that the character would be unique and different enough from his predecessors. Greno explained that "Maximus ... could have easily slipped into the category of, 'Oh, I've seen that before.'" To prevent this, the filmmakers referenced "a board with photos of all the different animated horses that had been done". Howard explained that Maximus was originally conceived as a "pretty serious" character, but eventually developed into a funnier and more likeable horse as the animators continued to draw him with dog-like attributes. Both Pascal and Maximus, who according to the Austin American-Statesman are responsible for providing the film with the majority of its comic relief, were eventually written into the film by screenwriter Dan Fogelman. Analyzing the characters' roles in the film, HitFix observed that "There's a simplicity to it all that I admire, and you throw in a few anthropomorphized animals so everyone laughs a lot, and that's the Disney recipe". One critic wrote about Maximus:

"Horses have played a key role in armies and police forces around the world for hundreds of years, but Maximus is clearly one of a kind. Fearless in the face of danger, relentless in pursuit, and possessed of a nose befitting a bloodhound, this equine super-sleuth won't let anything stop him getting his man."

— Femalefirst

Considered rare for Disney animals, Pascal and Maximus do not speak. The idea to make Pascal and Maximus mute was inspired by the performances of actors Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in Silent films. Identifying themselves as "huge fans" of Chaplin, Greno and Howard suggested that it would be a good idea to have a character like the actor featured in the film. Additionally, the directors explained in an interview with Orange that Pascal and Maximus' silence was also inspired by the roles of Princess Aurora's animal friends in Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959), following the film's rules and guidelines that even though they do not talk, they remain "very expressive" nonetheless and "act and understand without words." Maximus particularly "belongs to the grand tradition of Disney creatures that are full of personality even though they don't talk." One film critic observed that Pascal and Maximus "have personalities all their own, making use of techniques harkening back to the silent era". Howard explained that "Pantomime acting is a great challenge for our animators" because, according to animator Jin Kim, Pascal and Maximus both "had to be funny without speech", forcing the animators to exaggerate their emotions and facial expressions. The Chicago Sun-Times observed that "Pascal ... doesn't speak, but manages to convey himself with eye rolls and changes of color."