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Monday, November 27, 2017

My Least Favorite Disney Villains

If there is one company that knows the art of making good villains, its Disney. Whether their villains appear in movies, shows or comics and whether they are completely original creations or adapted from another source, one can usually count on the House of Mouse to bring worthwhile additions to the legions of fictional evil-doers.
Usually being the keyword here, because the fact is that not every Disney-villain can be a Xanatos or a Frollo and that's fine; but some does not even reach to the level of "good", being really lackluster in the role of villain.
Below are a few of my least favorite Disney-villains and I should stress this is just my personal opinion. Oh, and the list is in no particular order. I thought about ranking them, but ultimately decided against it.
Anyway, on with the list:



Assistant Mayor Dawn Bellwether (Zootopia)




Out of all the surprise-villains in Disney-movies, Bellwether is by far the weakest. Mostly because this was the fourth time in a row that Disney used the same shtick and by then it was no longer fresh or interesting. I really like Zootopia and consider it one of Disney's finest movies, but it has nothing to do with its villain who is one of the weakest aspects of another-wise great movie.




Various Paul Murry villains (Mickey Mouse comics)




I must admit that I've never been a fan of Paul Murry's work. I'm aware that there are people who like his comics, but none that I've read have really impressed me. Especially not the ones he did in collaboration with Carl Fallberg; bog-standard mystery/adventure-stories in which a personality-free Mickey goes up against some of the blandest, most generic crooks ever seen in a Disney-comic. Considering that Mickey actually has a rogues'-gallery that any superhero would be proud of, the lack of even decent new villains (save perhaps Emil Eagle) during the Murry-era is pretty depressing.




Edgar (The Aristocats)




Edgar is usually regarded as the worst villain in the Disney Animated Canon and for good reason. First of all, he manages to be bumbling and non-threatening even for a comedic villain;
compare Edgar to Prince John from Disney's Robin Hood. Sure, PJ may have been a crybaby with mommy-issues, but he was also genuinely nasty; bleeding his subjects dry and wanting to kill the hero. Edgar lacks even the tiniest hint of any menacing qualities, which is why The Aristocats as a movie is severely lacking in terms of meaningful conflict. There's also the fact that his reason for getting rid of Duchess and the kittens really makes no sense: It seems reasonable to assume that he would be the cats' primary care-taker, which means that, as long as he took good care of the cats he should be able to spend at least some of the money on himself. What are the cats going to do about it? They're cats.

Leaving that aside, if you're going to get rid of the cats why not wait until after your employer is dead? Then again this is the same guy who believed that cats actually have nine lives, so we're not exactly talking criminal mastermind here.
I will however say one thing for Edgar: He has some pretty amusing facial expressions.






Sarousch (The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2)




The original The Hunchback of Notre Dame gave us one of the all-time great Disney villains in Judge Claude Frollo; as dark and complex a villain that you will ever find in a Disney film. A man who seemed to embody so many real-life evils such as bigotry, abuse, religious hypocrisy, all while having an amazing villain-song to boot. What does the sequel give us? A narcissistic circus-owner who wants to steal a bell. Yeah.
I know that few, if any of the sequel villains can measure up to the original and there was no way that any new villain could completely fill Frollo's shoes, but this guy was just awful regardless. Edgar may be the worst villain in the Animated Canon, but Sarousch is a strong contender for worst Disney-villain period.

2 comments:

  1. No Mushu from Mulan 2? If you're counting the DTV sequels, he's up there on bad Disney villains for causing an entire conflict to happen for Mulan all because he didn't talk to her and Shang about his role as a guardian spirit.

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  2. Good call, I've only seen Mulan 2 once and have no real desire to watch it again, but I do recall Mushu being a dick in that movie. Consider him a dishonorable mention.

    Thanks for commenting, by the way. It's nice to get a comment that isn't spam.

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