My Top Ten Animated Disney Villain List

So I'm writing this list from personal preference. I'll try and explain why I've placed them in the order I have. If a certain villain hasn't made this list it doesn't mean I don't like them. I've just tried to keep the list to movies I have watched recently.

10. Mulan's Shan Yu

There's not much to say about this guy, that's probably because he doesn't say much over the course of the movie. But why did he make my list? Well for one specific scene... errr... well what happens off screen. When he "returns" the little girl's doll. The fact that we don't see exactly what goes on and only see the result makes him that much creepier. Whatever you come up in your mind will always be worse then what any movie will ever be able to show you. You know that he and his men brutally murdered everyone in that town, including the soldiers that tried to save the towns people. This guy is a monster.

Even the way he (and his men for that matter) is animated is completely different from the normal people. He's bigger, he's couloured differently (he's gray, he's dressed in black) and hell, his eyes are inverted! They're black, yellow and black! Seriously Disney! Do you WANT to give me nightmares?

9. The Lion King's Scar
I'm a Shakespearian nut. So I can't help but love The Lion King, which is CLEARLY a retelling of Hamlet (and I love Hamlet) Scar isn't scary like Shan Yu, he's kind of likeable in a weird twisted he's-that-sketchy-uncle-the-family-doesn't-like-to-talk-about kind of way. And he's voiced by Jeremy Irons.

To go along with the idea of The Lion King as a Hamlet adaptation, Scar is clearly Claudius. Yet, unlike Claudius, Scar makes a horrible ruler. He wanted the power and was willing to do everything to get it, including killing his brother. But once he acquires all of the power he could ever dream of, he doesn't know what to do with it and causes Pride Rock to fall into a horrible state, he even causes a drought. I mean seriously dude! How did you STOP THE RAIN! (This of course a nod to the fisher king story... I'll blog about it at a previous date probably). Scar's own incompetence is his downfall, his own minions turn on him in the end.

8. Beauty and the Beast's Gaston
In my blog a few months ago I posted about going to see Disney's Beauty in the Beast in theatres. I'll post a link here. When I watched Beauty and the Beast as a kid, I always had to skip the opening sequence with the Enchantress and the stained glass. Something about it terrified me. Looking back, I think it probably was the music, but I can never really be sure. Beauty and the Beast was never my favourite Disney movie when I was little... but now that I'm older I find I like it more... and man Gaston is a creeper. Like seriously. He freaks me out.

The way Gaston acts around Belle is scary. The only way to describe it is like he's a predator. He's constantly cornering her, pushing her up against walls. Whenever he's in frame with her he takes up more of the screen. Like look at this still: when he's asking her to propose to him. He has her cornered. He's clearly the dominant on. Granted, Belle is able to get rid of him easily by opening the door. But you can't help but worry about what he is willing to do to get what he wants.

As I kid I just saw Gaston as a loser that is standing in the way of the true romance of the movie (yeah, check my blog post about that one). Now, being older and more aware, well I just can't ignore the wrongness of this character.

7. Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent
SHE INVOKES THE POWERS OF HELL! ENOUGH SAID!

Seriously though, this woman is terrifying. She's an evil fairy, who when she doesn't get invited to a party puts a curse on the baby princess saying that she will die on her sixteenth birthday. Kind of cold. Then, when one of theGood Fairy's undermines her, Maleficent goes out of her way to stop the Prince from reaching Aurora BY TURNING HERSELF INTO A GIANT PURPLE AND BLACK DRAGON! SHE CAN CHANGE INTO A DRAGON! A DRAGON!

I think she's more terrifying then the witch in Snow White for that reason exactly. A Dragon is ten times more terrifying then a Poison-Apple-Toting Old Crone. Also, I think the Dragon approach is a lot more effective.  Not much else to say about this one, other than I have most of Sleeping Beauty blocked out of my mind, probably because of her.

6. Aladdin's Jafar
To most family and friends, the fact that Jafar is this high up on the list may come as a shock. Jafar was my FAVOURITE. DISNEY. CHARACTER. EVER. when I was little. I had every single Aladdin movie, I watched the TV Show like any other avid three year old fangirl would (I'm not sure if he ever actually showed up in the TV Show...) I had action figures and well.... there are pictures of me fangirling at Disney World.

Jafar, is similar to Scar in the fact that he wants power, but he doesn't know what to do with it when he finally gets it. It's because of this that Aladdin is able to capture him. I don't know why I was so obsessed with him as a child, or if my love for him was just the very beginning of my love of villains over the good guys which I still suffer from. Jafar makes this list, because he's never really defeated in the first movie. The best that Aladdin and friends can do is capture him in a lamp and hope that it's never found ever again.

5. The Hunchback of Notredame's Frollo

Frollo finds his way on a lot of lists these days. Everywhere I turn Bloggers and Reviewers are talking about how Frollo was probably one of Disney's more ambitious and risky villains to be released. I agree with this completely. Frollo is a rather complicated character. Throughout the film he is in constant battle with his temptation for the gypsy woman Esmeralda. He of course comes to the conclusion that this temptation is her fault and she needs to be destroyed for it. In this scene, where he confronts his instability (in song, as only a Disney character can. Watch it here) what really scared me were the red cloaked figures that were watching him and (possibly) judging him. The entire sequence was amazingly animated and you're able to dive right into the psyche of one of the most screwed up villains. Even his death is epic and symbolic. He falls into (what metaphorically have to be) the fires of hell. This is deep twisted stuff.

4. Fantasia's Chernabog

This is another one that I think goes without saying. HE'S SATAN! HE'S ACTUALLY THE DEVIL! DISNEY ANIMATED THE DEVIL! AND HE'S STICKING OUT OF A VOLCANO! As a kid I never saw Fantasia, and my first introduction to Chernabog was his appearance in Kingdom Hearts. I thought that he was just another monster that Square Enix had thrown into the game to be one of the final-ish bosses. It was in my third year of university when I was taking a mass media course did I come to realize that Chernabog was an actual creation of the animators at Disney. (Also, a fun fact this movie was originally released on my birthday: November 13th) Chernaborg is in the final movement of Fantasia: The Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria.

This is by far my favourite section of the film, just because of how different it is. The audience gets to see evil, total incomprehensible evil in the forms of ghosts, demons and ghouls who perform for their master. You feel fear for the little town nestled so close to the giant demon and just when it looks like all is done for. The sun and goodness arrives and defeats the evil. As a film major, I can't help but notice the clear nods to German Expressionism Film (which I spoke about briefly in my film noir post). It's beautiful in it's dark way and I highly recommend you check it out here.

3. Hercules' Hades
I've always loves Hercules. I know that it is not an accurate representation of the original mythology. It takes the original source material, and dumbs it down and turns it into a sugary fluff. But it's soooo entertaining. People either really love or really hate this movie and a lot of that has to do with Hades. Hades is the more likeable character in the movie.

You have to feel sorry for the guy. He's the God of the dead. he's stuck in the Underworld while his Brother Zeus has the Earth and the Sky and his other brother Poseidon is the Lord of the Sea. Hades clearly got the short end of the stick and is now just out to take what he sees as being his fair share. Of course, he has to be stopped because well... someone has to be the bad guy in this flick. I'm going to reference the Nostalgia Chick and her review of the film (watch it here) where she makes a really good point about this film. Hades always keeps to his word. When he makes the deal with Hercules during the climax he does give Hercules his powers back like he said he would. It is Hercules who shows the more villain-like qualities (lying, attacking Hades in cold-blood, etc). Say what you will, Hades is one of the more fun Disney Villains.

2. The Emperor's New Groove Yzma and Kronk
I love this movie. The Emperor's New Groove is one of those movies that I can watch over and over again and it will never ever get old. This is completely and totally because of Yzma and Kronk. These two are comedy GOLD. Everything about their relationship is perfection. They play off of each other so well and it just works. The Emperor's New Groove is a fun buddy cop kind of film that doesn't take itself too seriously. It has a moral but it doesn't feel like it needs to hit you over the head with it. Instead it does everything it can to make its characters memorable.

The strongest point of these two is by far their play off of one another. But they are able to hold their own by themselves as well. Think of Kronk inventing his own theme music when he tries to dispose of the now llama-afied Kuzco or Yzma's flea rant. These two make the movie, and I think they're one of the only villain duos that are "reformed" at the end of their film.



And My Favourite Disney Villain is:


1. The Princess and the Frog's The Shadow Man (Dr. Faciller)

I didn't get to see The Princess and the Frog until its DVD release. This had nothing to do with the controversy that was surrounding it, I wasn't trying to avoid it, I did want to see it. One of my friends was one of the animators. And I love the original hand drawn style. I just never got around to seeing it. But when I did. Damn... The Shadow Man. The Princess and the Frog was good. It was cute and it had the same feeling that the original princess movies had... even though the message was slightly tweaked. Tiana was likeable, and it was nice to see a Disney Princess have some form of character development OTHER than just finding a Prince to marry.

But that's slightly off topic. The Shadow Man or Dr. Faciller was by far the best part of this film. He's one of the best evil character's that Disney has put out in a long time. And his villain song (watch it here) was fantastic. If I had seen this as a kid, he would have terrified me to no end. And what happens to him at the end of the movie would have also given me nightmares. The Shadow Man is a middle man. He's playing with forces that he can't really control and the fact that he could unleash total evil into the world. All in all he's a lot of fun. I wouldn't say you find yourself rooting for him by the end of the movie, but you feel kind if sad that he's gone.

So there you have it! My Top Ten Favourite Disney Villain List. Thanks for reading guys and DFTBA!