For me, Yzma is what made the Emperor's New Groove such a surprise hit. Here we have this incredibly old stick woman who is completely bent on killing the emperor, all so that she can rule the kingdom. Despite the fact that she looks like someone left Maggie Smith in a food dehydrator, she is convinced that she is the hottest thing since toast. What's interesting too is that when see does take over, despite the fact that she is "scary beyond all reason", people like her better than the Cuzco, which shows that Cuzco was so full of himself that his people would actually prefer a mummified evil sorceress with a 20 year old man/boy to him.I know they're are plenty of scarier villains, but none are quite as funny as the bumbling ineptness of this would-be usurper to the throne.
9: Hades (Hercules)
I know Disney villains have done some messed up things, but Hades is definitely one of the worst. He sends his minions to kidnap a baby, force feed it poison, then kill the poor thing by the side of a road. Later, he makes a woman who sold her soul to him try and seduce Hercules in order to find his weakness, and then uses her as bait when Hercules falls in love with her. He's a maniacal god of the underworld with a short temper with the goal to conquer Mount Olympus, definitely a formidable enemy.
8: Mother Gothel (Tangled)
I bet you didn't even know she had a name. Like Yzma, this chick is obsessed with how she looks, so much so that when the magic flower she was using to keep young ended up turning into a cute little baby princess, she did what any reasonable person would do: Kidnap the child and lock her in a tower for the rest of her life. What I love about this character is that she seems to actually love Repunzel in some way, even if it's just for her magic hair. She takes good care of Repunzel, minus the whole prisoner thing. Repunzel even loves her back until she finds out who she really is and shows her true colors. In the end though she's a selfish and vein monster, and get's just what she deserves in the end.
7: The Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)
Now for a classic from the original animated Alice in Wonderland. Ruling over a mad world is the evil and crazy Queen of Hearts. She's so fickle she'll kill her servants for changing her mind about an order she herself gave them. She plays croquet with flamingos and hedgehogs and her favorite form of entertainment is a good beheading. Combined with her hairline trigger she's not the most stable political leader, though they're have been worse.
6: The Shadow Man (The Frog Princess)
Here's a dark character: after selling his soul to dark forces for magic, he needs some good deals to get out of hawk with the forces of the netherworld. His magic is some of the darkest Disney has ever shown, and his villain song is one of the best in the company. For me his lowest point is when he steps on the little hick firefly and kills him. It's one thing when a villain tries to take out the hero, but when he starts taking out comic relief characters you know he's serious.
5: Lady Tremaine (Cinderella)
What can you really say about a woman who happily enslaves her stepdaughter for no adequately explained reason? With this type of behavior it should be no surprised she named her cat Lucifer. My favorite part about this villain is that she doesn't have a whole lot of good one-liners, but she has the perfect sneer with her quiet, proper little laugh. She has absolutely no redeeming qualities, she's just a cold hearted irredeemable woman who wants nothing more than to break one person's dreams.
4: Oogy Boogy (Nightmare before Christmas)
As I've stated before, I love Halloween. What I may not have stated is that I cannot stand Christmas. The fact that this film features a song by the Boogey Man about how he's going to torture and eat Santa fills my little black heart with glee. I love how in a town completely devoted to the celebration of werewolves, skeletons, and vampires, the guy who really freaks people out is a giant burlap bag full of bugs. Like most of the other villains I also love his song, it's catchy, groovy and just fun.
3: Jafar (Aladdin)
If you want to talk about dangerous and evil, let's talk about Jafar. The cliche'd evil vizier, Jafar takes the role to a whole new level. From manipulating the Sultan to trying to murder Aladdin, they'res just no low too deep for this "cowardly snake". I know most of Disney's sequels are abysmal, but I loved Return of Jafar. Jafar as a genie is even more terrifying then him as a sorcerer, and I love that he's still doing what he did before, sewing seeds of discord from behind the scenes until the big reveal at the end. He's an awesome character, with more than enough scary to handle two movies.
As far as villains go, Gaston is an interesting study. I heard another internet blogger say that in most other Disney movies he may've been the hero, but here he's the bad guy. He's a self-absorbed manipulative jerk who will take what he wants no matter what. What's interesting too is that I'm never sure if the reason he's going after the Beast was because it would be the ultimate hunt or because Belle was in love with him, or a combination of the two. I think either way is interesting, one because he's so absolutely jealous and the other because he's so absolutely ignorant.
1: Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty, Kingdom Hearts)
I have to admit, as much as I love Sleeping Beauty (A friend once said the movie was about Maleficent and everyone else was just extras) to me she really comes alive in Kingdom Hearts. In the game she rallies a cabal of villains in order to control the Heartless and systematically conquer all the worlds. I don't even really know why she was doing it, either she was trying to rule the universe or she was just doing it for kicks, but I honestly don't care. I also love how she keeps talking about how someone needs to be able to control darkness inside and that's why the other villains keep failing and she keeps winning. She even corrupts Riku, one of the main characters, and turns him into a little minion. It's a really dark move, and I absolutely love it. Maleficent queen of the bad guys.
I want to give special honor to some that just didn't quite make the list but whom I still love. Let me know if your favorite didn't make either list.
Syndrome (The Incredibles)
Scar (Lion King)
Ursula (Little Mermaid)
Cruella DeVille (101 Dalmations)
Captain Gantu (Lilo and Stitch)
Wicked Queen (Snow White)
Judge Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame
-JOE
Maleficent and Ursala are probably some of my favorite Disney villains.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked the goddess Eris from Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (although that wasn't a Disney movie). As the goddess of chaos, she hardly ever held still. It was awesome!
I think of Maleficent as the most powerful of all the villains. That's just awesome.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with Maleficient being number one. So excited for her own movie starring Angelina Jolie!
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends LOVES villians and her favorite is also Maleficent. I always thought she (my friend) was a freak because of that, but turns out there are other freaks out there. ;) I love Yzma. And Bellatrix Lestrange.
ReplyDeleteMaleficent is a great villain on the Kingdom Hearts video games.
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