I skipped Tiana because I already did something like this for her.

How is she the smartest? She's so naive and one of the least intelligent.

^Yeah, why do Ariel, Merida, Anna, and Snow White always get called stupid for their naivete but Rapunzel is seen as intelligent in spite of her being just as naive as them? Just because she reads (oh, it's Belle Syndrome again...)?

I dislike the argument that charting the stars by herself is proof she's smart. You'd need to be taught how to do something that difficult yet she somehow magically taught herself. that's not being smart, that's just unrealistic. Now, being GOOD at charting stars and such AFTER you've been taught to? Sure. But it's clear Gothel hasn't known about this given that Rapunzel has to inform her of this ability.

She's smart, but not the smartest in my opinion.

AudreyFreak: To be fair, while Rapunzel is also naive (as in lacking world experience), I think people call her smarter because she makes better choices with the limited information she has.

Ariel swims into shark infested waters, willingly visits a sea witch she knows is dangerous, trades her voice for a pair of legs, and sells her soul on a gamble with impossibly high odds (get the guy to kiss her out of "true love" in three days without her voice). Merida follows wisps into a witch's cottage, asks for a potion with incredibly vague instructions of "I want to change my mum" without specifying HOW she wants her to change, and just gives her mom the potion without knowing what it's supposed to do. (I don't care who you are. That is STUPID.) Snow White knows the Queen wants to kill her, is warned she'll stop at nothing to kill her (as the Huntsman tells her), knows the Queen has magic powers (as Grumpy points out), and is warned not to let anyone in the cottage as the Queen could be anywhere. What does she do? Stay in the country her stepmother rules, lets someone in the cottage, and fall the obviously untrue "wishing apple" ploy.

Rapunzel makes some bad decisions too (trusts Flynn, which he points out is a horrible decision), but for the most part takes steps to defend herself. She holds the sachel hostage, knowing Flynn will have no choice but to take her to the lanterns and get her home safely if he wants it back, brings a frying pan as protection, and often uses her hair to her advantage when out and about. She's shown to adapt and use her environment to her advantage regularly. Does she make mistakes and bad choices? Yeah, what realistic character doesn't?

But I think the comments that she's "smart" come from her not making fatally stupid or trusting choices the way the others do.

Yes, I think she's the second smartest. Considering her limited access to the outside world, her creative talents, ability to think pretty quickly on her feet, learning to chart stars and making the best decisions with what she has to me makes her the second smartest, only beaten by Mulan.

Unfortunately, as a whole I don't think intelligence is consistently shown by ANY Disney Princess and that is something I would like to see for a future DP.

I've never heard anyone say so.

One of the smartest??? Definitely si!

Well, it depends how smart you have to be to be one of the smartest. I think she is maybe 4th or 5th so I think that is high enough for this,