It’s no secret that I love Disney and I’m thrilled to see them growing the use of their villains during the Halloween season. Without villains, there can be no heroes. So I’m glad to see the villains getting a little bit of show time.
Naturally, over the years, I’ve developed a fondness for certain villains. My appreciation of them does not necessarily rely on how I feel about the full story in which they exist. Meaning, just because I’ve ranked a villain number five doesn’t mean it’s my fifth favorite Disney movie. Speaking of which, I did think it would be fun to rank the villains for this week so the list will go in opposite order (to build suspense – of course).
7. Pete (Mickey and Friends): Pete makes an appearance in a number of Disney animations as the nemesis to Mickey Mouse. It took me to about age 20 to realize Pete is a cat – thus, playing off the classic cat and mouse conflicts. Honestly, his role as the Ghost of Christmas Future in “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” was Oscar-worthy.
6. Yzma (The Emperor’s New Groove): You won’t find a more comical villain in any Disney animation (yes, even more than Hades). There’s something Cruella de Vil about her except she has possibly the best sidekick ever – Kronk.
5. Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog): The Shadow Man is one of Disney’s most brilliant recent villains. He’s creepy, yet fascinating. Plus, he’s tampering with voodoo and has friends on the other side.
4. Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians): She wants to skin puppies. You have to be pretty sick in the head to have that kind of desire. I mean, her name is literally “Cruel Devil”.
3. Chernabog (Fantasia): Charnabog is a demon who is the incarnation of evil. Seriously what nightmares are made of. In fact, he only gets eleven minutes of screen time in Fantasia but has found a place as the centerpieces of many scary Disney marketing materials.
2. Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty): Sorcerous who turns into a dragon. A DRAGON. Enough said.
1. Ursula (The Little Mermaid): As a kid, I loved Ursula because she had an amazing villain song, “Poor Unfortunate Souls”. As an adult, I love Ursula because I respect and fear her. Why? Ursula’s antics are what all adults fear; she’s fabulous at writing contracts! All she did was hold Ariel to her word, but never fully outlined that she couldn’t interfere. Quite frankly, Ursula is a genius.
Who would make your list?
The featured image was pulled from disneyfreak19’s Deviant Art page. It’s actually a computer wallpaper you can download here!