A FEW CHANGES ARE GOING TO BE MADE

Hi, Tyler Michael here. Before I post my horror reviews for October, I feel that now would be a good time to announce three changes that will be made for my blog. A part of me feels a little bad for breaking a few traditions, but I have my reasons for why I have to.

      THE RATING SYSTEM WILL BE CUT

This was something that I've been debating on doing for a few years now. On one hand it gives people an idea of what kind of film I think it is. You know 5/5 being great; 2/5 being Worth Watching; 0/5 being pure crap; and a 3/5 being Hit and Miss. But to be honest, I found it to be more of a tool to categorize films, rather than what I think of the film as a whole, because there are 4/5 films that I like better than I do with 5/5s. There are some 3/5's that I love better than 4/5's. Even some of the stuff I gave 5/5's too, only got that rating because I couldn't find much to fault it for. I feel like that the review should speak for itself, and should not be overall judged by the rating. However, if you want to just read my overall thoughts when I close the review, you can read it under the caps words that read "OVERALL THOUGHTS". This will also help avoid confusion for when I do TV shows, since I like to give some episodes an introduction before showing the title.

    I WILL NO LONGER DO TOP TEN LISTS AFTER EACH REVIEW SEASON OF A TV SHOW

This was another one that I've been debating really hard on excluding from my blog. But since I'm always curious to review the next Season since most of my reviews on TV Shows are first impression, I'd figure it would be best to the review the entire show first, and then do lists about it after I reviewed it. It to me just seemed to make more sense since you'd never know if an episode or Season will hold up when compared to the many others to come. Plus, I don't know if I will wind-up enjoying a show as a whole enough to really start doing lists on it, I mean what's the point if I feel like I wasted my time. Even with shows I do know and love, I feel like doing lists after reviewing them since most of these I haven’t viewed in years. It just overall keeps more focused on following the show through their Seasons, rather then stopping in between Seasons to point out the episodes that I love and hate. So yeah, the lists of favorite episodes from shows that I'm reviewing will have to wait until I am finished reviewing the show as a whole. 

   THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS REVIEWS WILL OFFICIALLY BE CANCELLED FOR GOOD

Out of all the things that I had to cut, or move around, this for me personally is the most heartbreaking tradition that I had to sacrifice. A major part of the reason why I had to drop this tradition is mainly because it takes me months to get it ready, and I am just getting sick of preparing 12 Christmas reviews out of season. I'd rather spend most of that time getting horror reviews ready for October since that's a genre that I highly love. But even though I'm canceling the tradition of reviewing 12 Holiday themed reviews in December, that doesn't mean that I won't have a few during that Month, because I will. I also planed to keep the tradition of reviewing "A Christmas Carol" adaptation to close all Christmas reviews, only it will be posted on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.

It was overall difficult making all of these choices, but after feeling like that I wasn't able to have complete control on what I review and how to judge them properly, I feel like that these changes will give me more opportunities to see and review more films. That is all for now, take care, and tune in this October for some horror related reviews.

Peace and love!

MY 2ND FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN

JUDGE CLAUDE FROLLO



FROM "THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME"

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

Looking at the many Disney villains that I placed upon my list, there's usually something about many of them that I find to be more twisted, and sinister as I get older. And the most fascinating one of them all, who just becomes more and more intriguing every single time I watch him is Frollo, for how adult of a villain he is! He was the Disney villain who I found myself fearing the most as a kid out of all the others (yes, even Judge Doom). Whenever I'd put in my VHS copy, I would get excited to see the film, but would find myself being a little scared since the cover with Frollo towering above the characters and title reminded me that he is in the film. That's not to say that I didn't find him cool for how evil he was, but at the same time, I was still petrified by him. And I'm not going to lie, even though I don't find myself shielding my eyes or running away from the picture like I did as a kid, he's actually more scary and threatening than I remember him to be.

When Frollo first appears in the film, the environment for his backstory with the hunchback looks just as dark and dreary as his personality. And it happens right after we gaze at the beautiful city of Paris, and the Notre Dame cathedral; and meet the colorful friendly Gypsy Clopin, who entertains a crowd of children. When Frollo and his men appear, they come right out of nowhere as one of is men fires a warning shot at the Gypsies who have traveled into Paris illegally, and begin to surround them with their blades. Then a tall shadowy figure of a man riding a horse approaches, that horrifies one of the Gypsies so much that he exclaims his name, where we then meet the film’s antagonist in full staring at them coldly as the choir makes his entrance sound so big and intense. He orders his men to take the Gypsies to the "Palace of Justice" to be killed, and believes that a Gypsy women is hiding stolen goods from him, and he rides after her when she runs away. The chase that follows is short, but every single frame of it is intense through the pacing, the sound of the women gasping and the horse's footsteps, Frollo's endless determination to grab what she's hiding, the horse looking as monstrous and wicked as he is, the gloomy atmosphere, and of course that awesome Latin choir! When Frollo does reach her after she cries for sanctuary at Notre Dame, he grabs away the goods, and kicks her to the ground for trying to keep it away from him, which ends up killing her instantly! When he finds that what she has is a deformed baby, he without any question or hesitation decides to drown it in an ice cold well nearby, but is stopped by the Archdeacon from doing so, and shames Frollo for his cruel actions of murdering an innocent woman and drowning her baby. Frollo tries to justify these accusations by claiming the baby to be an "unholy demon" that must be "sent back to hell, where it belongs", and simply perused woman and had to use harsh means to grab what she had "stolen". But is suddenly convinced that he’s sinned when the statues of Notre Dame seem to be glaring at him for his crimes. Fearing that his soul will be damned to Hell, he asks the Archdeacon of what he must do to save himself, and that's to raise the child as his own. He reluctantly does so, only if he will live in the church and be locked away in the Bell-tower where no one else can see him, believing “that this foul creature may yet prove one day to be of use” to him. This whole entire opening revolving around this villain is simply one of the best and darkest openings to ever be put in a Disney film, that has a great song, narrative, and visual style to tell its backstory. And literally within these first 5 minutes, we learn everything that we need to know about our villain, which I will get into more detail throughout the article. I remember being horrified by this opening as a kid, but would find myself feeling better when I saw Quasimodo ring the bells, encourage a little bird to fly, and see his Gargoyle friends cheer him up....that is until Frollo walks in and just sucks out all the fun and positive energy that we just embraced during these past few scenes.

One of the many qualities that makes Frollo out to be one of Disney's scariest villains of all time is the design and voice work from the late and great Tony Jay. Actors like Patrick Stewart, and Ian Mckellen were considered for the role, and while being terrific actors, I don't believe that none of the two can out do what Tony Jay brought to the character. Jay's voice and the personality that he gives to Frollo is so grim and cold, and yet so cool and fancy that his voice attached to such as a shady figure that only carries the expressions of evil is a match-made in heaven, or more appropriately a match made in Hell!  I get nothing but fear from this guy whenever I have to look at his merciless face and hear him speak with that deep intimidating voice. There's just never a moment with this character where I feel at ease whenever he appears on-screen.

Even when hi-jinx ensue this character, or says a funny line, he'll still manage to keep his class and intimidation. One moment he's being seduced and humiliated by the Gypsy Esmeralda, the next second he gets nasty once she leaves him; when his tent and carriage gets destroyed during the chaos around him, he'll go from looking shocked to getting down-right pissed. There's hardly time to laugh at these little bits since Frollo's looks of anger always breaks the comedy of what just happened to him, especially since he comes after the characters for the many times that they have gotten under his skin. Even when he says such priceless lines like "Get him! And don't hit my horse" (when one of his victims escapes from him by using his horse) and "I had a little trouble with the fireplace" (since he looks like he's suffering from a hangover, after singing "Hellfire") he still sounds cheerless and respectable! And this is coming out of the same guy who's voiced such over the top sophisticated characters like Rex Smythe-Higgins in "Hey Arnold", and Dr. Lipschitz in "The Rugrats"! It's hard for me to picture that he voiced those previous characters, despite having the same booming British voice.

So now being burden with the responsibility to take care of the deformed baby, even though he provides him food, teaches him, gets paint and supplies for him to craft, he is the worst villain to guard over a Disney protagonist ever, even worse than Mother Gothel and the Step-Mother. He gives him a name that means "Half-formed, Quasimodo" for how misshapen he is. Has him sleep on the floor instead of a bed. Forces Quasi to make his own cup and plate out of wood, as opposed to providing him with real ones that he uses right in front of him when they dine together. And above all, lies to him in order to imprison him in the Bell Tower, away from society and any kind of happiness that he could pursue outside of the cathedral. He does so by using his deformed face and body to make up a story of how he took him in through the kindness of his heart after being abandon by his own Mother when everybody else would have drowned him, and that nobody will accept him for how cruel and wicked the world is, where society will gaze at him only as a monster! There is some truth to Frollo’s lies because people do turn against him for his looks, but there are still many people out there that would accept him as well. Furthermore, with the proper parenting, and giving him the same encouragement as his Gargoyle friends would, not to mention that he has the power to create such propaganda of having Quasi being treated equally by society if he really wanted too, Quasi would have probably been out and about in no time. But the fact that he ignores all of this since he has no love and compassion for him at all, and is only caring for him just to save his own soul rather than raising him out of guilt for what he's done to him and his Mother, just proves what a cold and horrible guardian he is! He's always so strict and hostile whenever he's around Quasimodo that not one moment does he try to show legitimate love for him, not even so much as a hug, or a "God bless you"! He also wants Quasi to refer to him as "Master" as if he was his slave. And that's what Frollo pretty much sees him as, a slave who obeys every order that he commands, and uses him to his advantage by saving himself and helping him find the Gypsies top secret hide-out. He thinks so little of him as a person that when people at the festival tie him up to a wheel to be tortured as they throw food at him, Frollo just sits there and watches, ignoring his pleas for help! And if you think the people outside of Notre Dame like to make fun him, Frollo does so himself, only in a more subtle way. He even blames Quasimodo for the city of Paris burning because he helped the Gypsy Esmeralda escape, when in reality Frollo is the one responsible for burning the city. And he claims this as he's destroying a model of the city that Quasi has spent many long hours crafting. I don't care what other evil guardians have done in other Disney films, this guy gets my award for "The Worst Guardian from Disney Ever"! You'd think after all this abuse, Quasi would've have left the bell tower sooner, but considering that he's always been lied to since birth, and having a face that differs from others, you can't necessarily blame him for not trying either.

 

As badly as he treats poor Quasimodo, nothing can ever compare to how he treats the Gypsy race. He just gives them no sense of justice at all, and uses their negative stereotypes as a tool to have the people in Paris turn against them. Much like how Judge Doom treats Toons, Frollo gives them no leg to stand on. You give him one reason for him to think that they have gone against the law, and he'll lock them up in "The Palace of Justice" to eventually be killed by either being burned alive or tortured to death, and that also applies to the elderly and children. We never see these people again after Frollo has ransacked the places where they hide and live just to ask them where the Gypsy Esmeralda is in exchange for silver coins that he'll more than likely never give to them if they do tell. And speaking of the Gypsy Esmeralda, she's the reason why he's starting to search and arrest every single Gypsy that he finds, for how much he lusts over her beauty, and is craving to have sex with her. That moment when he's sniffing her hair and imagining himself making love to her, as a kid my brother Jesse and I used to laugh at this scene and make jokes about him wondering what kind of shampoo she uses, since we only saw this as typical villain gloating. But now watching an image of a perverted old man sniffing her hair, is disgusting and shocking to see in a Disney film! Let's not also forget the moment when he ties Esmeralda to the stake to be burned, and will only let her go if she will exchange her beauty for him, and only for him. I didn't even have a single clue that he wanted to make love to Esmeralda as a kid, I thought he was afraid of her and wanted to rid her for good because of her suspected witchcraft. But while Esmeralda is his current priority to find, his top priority that he's been hunting down for 20 years is the  "The Court Miracles" where every Gypsy in Paris hides, which he demonstrates his desire of finding it to Captain Phoebes with ants representing the Gypsies, the ants under a block of stone being their hiding place, and crushing each and every one of those ants for those that he has captured and killed, as he plans to do the same to all the Gypsies when he finds it, which is very uncomforting to watch a Disney villain commit genocide on a race of people. Syndrome and Judge Doom did that too, which was disturbing, but it was still more based on fantasy than actual reality. And Ratcliffe from "Pocahontas" did commit that crime as well, which was a crime committed throughout our history with Native Americans, but come on, can we really take him seriously? And what, he overall had one Native killed, and the other injured, when Frollo has been doing nothing but killing Gypsies left and right for years and giving them the same kind of mercy that other people in power have given to their kind. That for me is more disturbing than any of the other Disney villains combined!

And his cruelty to others doesn't stop there, because he is willing to let civilians suffer from his hate crimes towards Gypsies by burning their homes and shops down, where Paris is now reduced to looking like that Satan has spread an evil reign of terror on the city for how hell-like it looks with the red hot flames burning insight and glowing against Notre Dame, as the dark smoke fogs up the sky. The first time he ever does this method is by trying to burn an innocent family alive after suspecting them of harboring Gypsies, that has scared me so much when I saw this scene in the theater for how intense and violent it looked (even when the family gets saved), that my parents had to get me out of there for how much I cried. What's even more messed up about Frollo’s crimes is that he shows some enjoyment over it. People remember him smiling for when he burns Esmeralda, but for me, it's when we first enter "The Palace of Justice". We see Frollo standing in a dungeon (that also looks like hell) watching someone off-screen getting whipped, and tells his executioner to stop whipping the prisoner, and wait between slashes so that he can feel the pain. And a minute later as Frollo tells his new Captain what a "disappointment" his last one was to him, we hear the sound of the whip and former Captain's scream echo loudly in the chamber, causing Frollo to smile for a brief second when he hears it, making a whip-pun. That is one of the most messed up things that I've seen in a Disney film. And do you know who else he takes his vengeance upon, Notre Dame! Yeah, he gets so insane during the climax, that he destroys the ancient doors of the Cathedral to kill innocent people inside, and pushes the Archdeacon down a flight stairs that causes him to injure his ankle after trying to confront him for his crimes, lying there in disbelief for what Frollo has done, knowing that his soul cannot be saved this time. I have yet to see a Disney villain do something deliberately evil to a place that symbolizes god, and to one who strictly serves him.

In terms of Frollo's henchmen, aside from two of his guards that get into a bunch of slapsticky situations (the tall and thin one voiced by Corey Burton, and the small and plump one voiced Patrick Star himself, Bill Fagerbakke), none of them really stand-out as characters. They just act like any army of soldiers working for the bad-guy. Which isn't a bad thing at all, since half of the time they would look and act as threatening as Frollo is, when other times they'll get into the same kind of slapstick that the two goofy soldiers get into.

As wicked and ruthless as Frollo is, the crazy thing about all of this is that he personally believes that what he's doing is right! In fact, he considers himself to be a righteous man and a pure Christian, and tries to justify every single wrong thing he does since that's what God intended him to do, and that he's only doing his duty! He sees no faults within himself, and believes that he's "purer than the common vulgar, weak, licentious crowd", including the Archdeacon himself, hence why he pushes him. He never sees corruption within himself, but instead blames it upon everybody he meets, and sometimes even God himself. He thinks he's the only one in Paris who sees the Gypsy race to be nothing more than cunning thieves and witches, and must do whatever he can in his power to make people see that since he believes the people in Paris to be weak-minded. He lets Quasimodo get tortured by the crowd because he wanted to teach him a lesson. And when he attacks Notre Dame to kill people inside, he believes that murder was what God wanted him to do thus making it alright to kill people inside His own home. The only person he fears is God himself, since he has the power to send him to the pits of hell for all entirety. And the more he tries to justify his crimes because of his pride, and refusal to accept that he is being blinded by his own hate, fear, and lust, the more insane and mad he gets as the film progresses!

The best scene that beautifully captures Frollo's character and madness is the "Hellfire" sequence. This is not the only song that Frollo sings in the film, he sings in a bit during the film's prologue, and has a song called "Stay in here" to keep Quasimodo from leaving the bell towers, which are good songs, and sung well by Jay. But this is obviously his most memorable, that I'll even argue is the most memorable song sequence in the entire film, for how catchy, adult, and scary it is. Frollo sings to the Virgin Maria during the time of night where everybody else in Paris is turning in for the night, telling her how proud he is to be so righteous. He then turns to the fireplace where he begins hallucinating the Gypsy Esmeralda (who has always fought against him) dancing inside the flames, and asks Maria with such fear of why he sees her dancing in the fire place, and takes out a piece of silk that she has left behind earlier at the festival, and wraps his face around it, which he claims is turning him to sin because of his sexual cravings for her. This results with him now seeing giant red hooded-cloaked priests' with no face shaming him for his sin, that causes him to beg to them that it's not his fault, and blames Esmeralda for using her witchcraft to manipulate his mind with such dirty thoughts, and God himself for making the Devil stronger than a man. He begs Maria to protect him from the siren who will send him to eternal damnation, and eventually decides to destroy Esmeralda if she will not be his lover. Frollo gets furious when he hears the news of her escaping from the Cathedral that he has kept her in, and vows to find her even if it means destroying Paris in the process. He proceeds to sing again, and throws her cloth into the fireplace to watch it burn (symbolizing her fate if she turns him down). Frollo then leans up against the wall being surrounded by the shadows of men holding crucifixes that hover over him and begs for God to have mercy on her, and himself (for what he's about to do) and drops to his knees before passing out, with the fire now being completely out.

Oooohh, where to begin when talking about this song! Well for starters, much like the villain itself who makes this Disney film so adult than any other Disney film, is the amount of risqué elements that's usually not accepted from Disney. Such as Frollo describing his sexual urges in front of a half-naked girl dancing suggestively, and being tied to religious elements like lust, hell, and eternal damnation! It still amazes me that I'm seeing sex and religion mixed together in a Disney film! And it doesn't stop there with its religious themes, because Disney makes sure Frollo's sins and guilt would scare the crap out of us, just as much as it petrifies him. The hell-like priests judging Frollo, the shadows of an army of men holding crucifixes, the flames in the form of Esmeralda dancing and being burned at the stake, to suddenly turning into smoke being ready to make love to Frollo, it's just so intense to watch for both kids and adults! So intense that this scene was going to be cut, and almost gave the film a PG rating when it was kept in. I remember loving this number for how catchy it is, and yet being so scared of it at the same time for how traumatizing the imagery is! This scene, along with the scene when Frollo sees the statues of Notre Dame stare at him, are one of the very few moments where we find ourselves sympathizing with him for how much he fears of being judged by the greatest judge to him, God! Through Tony Jay's powerful singing voice supported by that Latin choir, and the reactions of guilt, fear, and madness brought to Frollo’s face, you understand why he snaps and ends up going into such a rage when it's over. Does that necessarily mean that we feel bad for him? Well yes and no. It's proven before this scene and before he has to take in Quasimodo that he's a self-righteous man with no love for others except himself, but at the same time half of his actions are done out of his fears of what will come to him in the after-life, where he doesn’t act rational enough to think that what he's doing is wrong since his pride and fear always get in the way. So personally I say that he's evil person with a bit of tragic edge given to him, which only makes him an even more fascinating villain for how complex he is. And one thing more! Do you know what I find so amusing about this number? The fact that it takes place directly after Quasi's heartfelt number "Heaven's Light" when he makes a cute doll of Esmeralda, who he defines as an angel, when "Hellfire" on the other hand does the exact opposite. Both of these numbers not just perfectly show each of the characters view of her, but they expose all the elements of the film that are aimed at both audiences. "Heaven's Light" exploits everything in the film that's aimed toward kids, such as the beautiful medley, innocent character, comedy from the Gargoyles, the theme of looking past someone’s appearance, and the awe and wonder of Disney animation; when "Hellfire" on the other hand exploits everything that's targeted to adults. If this medley alone was seen as a sneak peek for the movie before its release, this will definitely give audiences a perfect idea of what's in store for both crowds!

In the film's climax after his failed attempt of burning Esmeralda, he tries to stab Quasimodo in the back with a dagger for all the wasted years of looking after him, and for trying to protect the "Gypsy witch". Quasi overpowers him, and grabs the dagger during a bit of the struggle, that causes Frollo to lose a bit of his pride and beg for Quasi to listen to him, but only makes Quasi realize that the only reason why the world is so dark and cruel is because of people like Frollo. When Frollo discovers that Esmeralda is still alive, he takes out his sword in anger and tries to slice them both as they both try escape him. He only successfully injures Quasi's arm a bit, and finally reveals to him out of frustration that he was the one who killed his Mother and tried to kill him when he was a baby, before using his cape as an attempt to knock him into the molten lava underneath Notre Dame. The two almost fall together, until Quasi holds on to the ledge and holding Frollo's cape in his other hand with Frollo grasping on to it, unwilling to let him fall.

But when Frollo notices a Gargoyle attached to the wall next to him, he swings on over and climbs on top of the Gargoyle ready to kill Quasi and Esmeralda (who is trying to save him from falling), looking like this...

Alright! You know how I keep on talking about how much Frollo scared me as a kid, for his presence, actions, and the demons surrounding him! This moment was what really cemented my ultimate fear for him at such a young age. When he climbs up on that Gargoyle laughing like demon from Hell for how demonic it sounds, to then looking like one himself for how the flames from the fire's below reflect on him by making his eyes and teeth the color of fire as he grins and prepares to kill them while loudly justifying his actions in the name of God; has frighten me more than the scene of him burning down the house with a family trapped inside. I remember seeing this image for the first time at night, as I was lying in bed watching it on my TV in my room, and being paralyzed by this horrible image as if my heart and instincts stopped for those mere few seconds, making me feel just as helpless as Quasi and Esmeralda were.

 

And when I watched him die, I didn't feel any better either! The stone Gargoyle he stands on breaks (after slicing a part of it with his sword earlier), and clangs on to after dropping his sword and nearly falling. At first, you think he'll just fall and that will be it. But NO! The monstrous Gargoyle comes to life growling at him to protect the blasphemous and dangerous evil that has set foot on Notre Dame which horrifies him more than anything else that we've seen him cower over. And the Gargoyle breaks with him still holding on to it screaming as he falls into the Molten lava pit below. We're not just seeing a Disney fall to their death like say Gaston or Ratigan! We're seeing a Disney villain fall with a monster in an environment surrounded by flames and burned to a crisp when he hits the bottom, symbolizing that a demon is dragging him away to the place that he's been trying to avoid all his entire life, the fiery pits of Hell, where he'll burn and remain there for all entirety! And this all happens right after he talks blaspheme of what he's going to do to the two that is actually his own fate! That for me is the most gruesome, most disturbing, and most poetic scene of a Disney villain falling to their death that I've ever viewed! No other Disney villain fall can ever, and I mean ever top this one. Even when I tried to make fun of the scene when I was a little kid with my brother to make me feel less afraid, by saying that "Frollo turned into a clown" (when he looks like a devil), and "he's a taking a baby with him" (when he falls), I was still traumatized by it. It's just that grim!

Frollo is by far the scariest, coldest, and most complex and diabolical Disney villain that I’ve ever seen. Plenty of that has to do with his voice, design, personality, and actions. But the real reason why he's so great that towers above all those elements when viewed from an adult stand point is how dark and realistic of a villain he is. There are actual people out there that are like Frollo who violently go after people based on their own pride, bigotry and religious views, and claim that what they’re doing is right, like a politician, a hate group, or religious people who take it to an unhealthy and harmful extreme. People like him still sadly exist in this imperfect world, and will continue to live on as long as there is hate. That’s why I find Frollo to be a scarier villain now, than I ever did before, because he represents the blind hatred that spreads around the world like a disease, thus making him one of the most adult villains to have ever been created by Disney. 

"And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!"
-Frollo

So after placing all these great baddies on this list, they seem pretty hard to top, especially Frollo. What Disney villain do I personally love could possibly that tops them all?

FIND OUT ON OCTOBER 30TH, HALLOWS-EVE! 

MY 3RD FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN

MALEFICENT



FROM "SLEEPING BEAUTY"

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

You all knew that arguably the best and most iconic Disney villain of all time was going to make it the top 10 spot of my list sooner or later, and here she is as one of my top 3 favorites. The first time I was ever introduced to Maleficent (apart from the merchandise and pictures of her that Disney loves to market when it comes to Disney villains) is when she was seen to be dancing with the Disney villains in front of the “Haunted Mansion” during the "Grim Grinning Ghost" number in the "Disney Sing Along Song" video "Disneyland Fun". Granted, that shouldn't count since she was portrayed in live-action than in animation, but as far as back as I can remember before Disney would re-release the film to VHS for its Masterpiece collection in 1997; this was the only way that I was personally able to see her. And I just admired how she stole that number by having a presence that simply strikes fear as she's being surrounded by dancing evil trees, and scaring away the other Disney villains. She to me was so badass that I couldn't wait to see the film, and when I did it didn't disappoint. I loved watching her in the movie, as well as seeing her appear in spin-offs like the "Kingdom Hearts" franchise, and the classic Disney theme park show "Fantasmic". However, when I stopped watching Disney movies for a bit when I went through High School, and began brainstorming for the list during its early stages, apart of me didn't know if I should rank her on my top 5 or even the top 10 spot since I remember villains like Jafar, Gaston, and Ursula more than I do her. I remember more of the other villains’scenes and motivations than I do hers. And not counting the spin-offs that she's been in didn't help me much either since I remembered her more from the spin-offs than I do the actual film. I was beginning to think that she was just an overrated villain, and that she's only recognized as one of the greats because that Disney loves to market her as one. However, when I finally decided to review "Sleeping Beauty" in order for me to review its distasteful spin-off film with Angelina Jolie, I found myself admiring the character more than I ever did. What exactly were those moments that gave me a change of heart to put her so high on my personal favorites list?



Well let’s start out with the first thing that stands out about her, her design. Now before this film, Disney has created many great designs for their villains, such as the evil Queen, Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, and the Step-Mother. But as cool and original as their designs are, they’re still the kind of designs that we'd expect villains like them to look like which are inventive but nothing too new. And since many people know that a simple witch has cursed the Princess in the Fairy Tale, audiences and critics at the time were more than likely expecting her design to look a little similar to the evil Queen's design as the Old hag. You know, something very old and frail and ugly and witch like. But we don't get that at all. Oh she dresses in black, and her skin is pale green, but she's not the type of witch that we were expecting. This one is beautiful and fancy looking, but still frightening and demonic for how she towers above everyone around her clanging her staff, wearing all the colors that symbolize evil on her long robe with edges designed to look like bat-wings, and having horns and evil yellow eyes to strike fear into the hearts of people that she meets to let them know that she is the villain and is not to be messed around. Her design along with having such a cool name that sounds as classy and evil as her presence and personality is just incredible and plays a big role in what makes her to be such an awesome villain, and I feel without it, she wouldn't be as feared or recognized as she is now. So I give Disney plenty of props for getting highly creative and original with this one!



Another big part of what makes the villain to be one of Disney's absolute best is the actress they got to voice her, Eleanor Audley, who previously voiced the Step-Mother in "Cinderella". Apparently Disney enjoyed her so much for how chilling of a performance that she left behind that they felt that her voice would be perfect for Maleficent, and it is! And as much as I admire her voice work as the Step-Mother, comparing her previous performance to her performance as Maleficent, that was just a mere sample of what she can really do when voicing an evil character. She gives us everything that you would want out of a villain. She can sound loud, demanding, and over the top, but she can also sound charming, calm, and playfully taunting. And I know what you're thinking, isn't that similar to the characteristics that she gave to the Step-Mother, yes, but here's the major difference, when she was the Step-Mother she had to restrain her characters evil personality since she's supposed to be a laid-back but menacing type of villain, when here you get the vibe that she's allowed have more fun with her role. She laughs wickedly, she sounds unworldly when she chants spells (though that shouldn't be too surprising since she would channel the spirits as Madame Leota in "The Haunted Mansion"), she's given more scenes of her yelling at the people that frustrates her, and above all manages to make her voice sound just as beautiful as her design, all while carrying all of the previous traits that she's given to her previous villain role. For god sake, she's even one of the few Disney villains to use the word "hell" in a Disney flick. What's there not to admire about her performance as Maleficent, it's as perfect as a Disney villain can get that fits her design flawlessly!

And you do know why her voice fit her design flawlessly apart from it being a grand villain performance, its because she herself modeled for her character of how she should be animated by the animators.




That is just awesome since all the other people that model for the main characters in the film aren't the same the people who voiced them, thus only enhancing the reason why I admire this performance so much.

And the final major ingredient of what makes her out to be (for many) Disney's ultimate villain is for how unbelievably powerful she is. Really think about it! She has a large and gothic looking castle up in the dark forbidden mountains surrounded by henchman who all look like Orcs from hell; uses the powers of black magic to take you out before you even know it, bestow curse upon you, make things appear, and alter her appearance; and is aided by the powers of hell! They don't call her the "Mistress of Evil" for nothing; a heartless person with that kind of power deserves that kind of recognition. And a villain like that doesn't get to be this powerful if she isn't cunning, and she most definitely is, since she's always a few steps ahead of the three fairies when carrying out her plan, by getting to her victims first before they have a chance save them. I don't know why or how she doesn't have a crystal ball or use her own powers to find Aurora if she is so powerful since she has to rely on her dimwitted henchmen to find her with no success, but she still proves herself to be a witty villain that's ahead of the curve. And while being powerful and smart, she is so insane and twisted with her villainy that she does all this evil just for her own amusement. I really don't think her motivation for revenge is because she gets snubbed at a party as many have claimed the more I think of it. I truly believe that she was going to do evil to the little princess whether she was invited or not, since we're told by the three fairies that she loves destroying all that is good and can't be reasoned with. The only reason why she seems to be harping on this plan is because no one yet has been so close to outwitting her since she's so clever and knowledgeable (once again, as evidenced by the fairies). And when you look at her smile and see her laugh evilly as she watches people suffer her wrath you know that she's pure evil since that is the number 1 thing to make her legitimately happy.

Now as much as I feel like talking about her best scenes, and how she carries out her motivation right now, I'll quickly talk about her minions. I've mentioned before that they are far from intelligent since they think that they've been searching for a baby for sixteen LONG years, but as idiotic as they are, they still are a cool looking pair of henchmen, each having their own distinctive design that looks unholy (though not scary) who all act like an army of imps for Satan as they dance around the fire during a celebration at Maleficent's Castle. The most notable one, mainly because he's the only one to actually talk directly to Maleficent is the pig-like goon voiced by the great Candy Candido (and would also voice a ghost in “The Haunted Mansion” as well, as a singing old prisoner) who sounds intimidating with his gravelly voice and pig-grunts, but at the same time comical for how idiotic he is, and how his character is animated when he tells Maleficent that they searched "all the cradles". I will also give these goons this, despite miserably failing to carry out a simple task because of a misunderstanding, and rightfully deserve to be zapped by Maleficent for their foolishness; we do see them redeem themselves a bit in the last 2 thirds of the movie. They aid Maleficent in kidnapping the Prince, they do everything they can to stop the Prince from escaping (even though they are terrible fighters), and they do become scary looking when the fairies try to sneak past them since they are so close to them, and always keep popping out when they least expect them (it's a bit of a breathtaking sequence, regardless of how short it is).

Out of all the henchman that serve her, her number one henchman that's as smart as her, completely loyal and faithful to her, and gets stuff done is her pet Raven. And that would make sense why she considers her pet to be her number servant since he's always at her side to do whatever he can to please his mistress without showing any sign of fear since he’s the only thing in the world that she cares deeply about. Sure, he doesn't have any powers, or carries any weapons but he still is very observant when something is not right to him where he'll make sure that it's nothing before alerting the goons and his master, and will do whatever he can to aid Maleficent into carrying out a simple search task that her minions couldn't do and succeeds!



So I talked about the three important things that make her out to be such an amazing villain, and covered all of her henchmen, so let's finally get to how exactly she carries out her plan, why they make her to be such a devilish villainess! When we first see her in the film, she makes a grand entrance to Aurora's party by ruining the enchantment of what we just had when two of the fairies gave her their gifts, by suddenly having a wild and eerie wind burst open the doors like a hurricane as all the color and lights darken when thunder starts to roar, and lightning strikes the floor. And just as you're expecting her to emerge from the lightning, we instead see green flames rise up from the spot where the lightning hit with a glowing green orb in the middle that takes the form of our leading antagonist. Now that's how a villain should make an entrance! At first she seems sophisticated and pleasant when clearly we know that she's the villain, based on her appearance, and how the characters react to her, and appears to be taking it well that she hasn't been invited to the party, UNTIL she decides to give the baby a gift of her own. She calls upon everybody to "listen well" as she clangs her staff on the floor that echoes through the Ballroom, telling them that she will look beautiful but..."before the sun sets on her 16th Birthday she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel AND DIE" while showing hell-like imagery on the orb of her staff featuring demons, an ominous fast rotating spinning wheel, and a dead beautiful princess. This makes the Queen gasp and grab her baby, which causes Maleficent to laugh at her shock and the curse that she has bestowed upon her Daughter. The King then orders his guards to seize her as each and everyone of them points their blades at her, but does that faze her, no not at all! She just orders the fools to stand back while she disappears into the green flames that surround her. And do you know why they all hesitate, because they know that Maleficent will zap them to kingdom come if they take another step closer. I truly love that she's so powerful that not even an army of guards can stop her.

The scene involving Maleficent that gives me nothing but goosebumps is when she finds Aurora and carries out her curse. The fairies leave the Princess alone after being broken when she discovers that she's destined to marry a Prince, rather than marrying the peasant that she met in the forest (who of course is the Prince), and the bright fire in the fire place goes out where we see Maleficent standing inside it in the darkness, with only her eyes and orb glowing.



That for me is her scariest moment in the film!



She then changes into a glowing green ball of flames to hypnotize Aurora through a secret passageway in the fireplace that she's created, and up a spiral staircase to her destiny that the fairies have been trying to make her avoid for all her life. Much like how I find the scene of Judge Doom searching for Roger at the bar to still be suspenseful after seeing the film so many times, I feel the same exact way for this scene, only I find it to be more intense for how heavy it is with atmosphere. The darkness, the lightning, the pacing, Aurora's lifeless hypnotic face, the sound of the fairies voices echoing as they search for her, and that chilling and hypnotic music that continues to build as she gets closer to the room at the end of the staircase always sends me shivers for how spooky this scene is. When she enters the room at the top of the stairs, the green ball of flames then turns into the same spinning wheel that we saw in Maleficent's orb earlier in the film, and hear her voice commanding Aurora to touch the spindle. We see her finger touch it and green mist twirls around, but we don't see the body when the fairies enter, we see Maleficent claiming what fools they are to think that they can outwit her, before showing them Aurora's dead body and disappearing after her success.




However, Maleficent doesn't stop there because she still has to capture Aurora's true love to avoid the spell from being broken. Her plan here was something that I would overlook so much as a kid that when I watched the film again a few years back to review it, this scene gave me more to appreciate about her. I knew he was holding the Prince against his will as a kid, but what I didn't know is that she plans to keep him locked away in her castle and will release him to awaken the Princess from her ageless sleep when he's so old and frail that he will no longer look charming and handsome. And upon realizing this, all I can think of was what a clever empty hearted devil she is! Rather than just killing him so he can never awake Aurora from her deep sleep, she thinks it would be more enjoyable to see their hearts break when a young Aurora discovers how much time has passed, and that her once true love has lost everything that made him so attractive to her, because after all its only singing, dancing, and looks that matters in a romance from an early Disney film am I right? What I also love about this scene is how she subtly mocks him about telling him all this as a means to "cheer him up" and leave him with "happy thoughts". I especially love that when she captures Phillip, she holds up a candle close to his face to get a good look at him, claiming "what a pleasant surprise" it is to capture a Prince, instead of some good looking peasant, which she knows that keeping him locked up will just make matters worse for the kingdom (unknowing of the kingdom's deep sleep from the fairies I suppose). Furthermore, when she tells him about what she'll do to him, I like that she shows him the supposed future on her orb, only this time it plays out like a beautiful dream turning into a nightmare. It looks as whimsical as when we saw the fairies present their gifts to baby Aurora, but slowly loses its charm when we see Maleficent's face as she pleasantly tells him what will unfold in the future, to then seeing the aged Prince and his horse leaving her castle in despair. For a scene that bored me as a kid, it's definitely now something that I find to be more intriguing as an adult for how twisted it is.




As great as all her other scenes are, her best scene which is also the highlight of the movie is the climax. After discovering that her foolish minions have failed to stop the Prince from escaping, and that her loyal pet has been turned to stone, she decides that its time to take matters into her own hands by climbing up to the top of her castle, and stop the Prince herself. She furiously tries to strike him with lightning, and curses King Stefan's castle by summoning a forest of thrones, but when she sees that none of her attempts are working, she storms her way over to the castle and uses the powers of hell to turn herself into...



A GIANT MONSTROUS FIRE BREATHING DRAGON FROM HELL!

Words cannot describe how awesome her final transformation is! The design is awesome! The sound of effects of her growling, chomping, and breathing fire are awesome! How she turns the cursed forest into a sea of flames is awesome! The fight between her and the Prince is awesome! I just can't simply do her Dragon form, or the scene itself any justice, it just has to be seen to be admired! But I will point out the moment that stood out to me the most during the fight and that’s when she dies! We don't see her vanish away after being stabbed in the heart, we see her leak blood out of her chest, fall down a cliff as she's dying, and see the sword on top of her remains. Previous animated Disney villains had some nasty deaths, but we would never see them bleed or what is left of them, and I suppose with a villain so hateful and mighty as Maleficent, it was time for Disney to take off the kid gloves, and show her suffer a painful death since she is nothing else but pure evil! 

When judging Maleficent strictly only in the original film that she appeared in, she's just as wicked as when she appears in the majority of spin-offs that followed. The most important reasons why she's regarded so highly as one of the best is her design, magical powers, and the personality and voice that Audley gives to her! Every single scene that she’s in she always dominates with her presence and what she does with her powers thus making her a magnificent villain who rightfully deserves her title as the "Mistress of all evil"!

"You poor simple fools! Thinking you could defeat me...ME! The mistress of all evil!"

-Maleficent