Why DreamWorks Villains Work

It's time to talk about dreamworks villains.

[franciscocota]

What I love about Tai Lung is that he actually demonstrates how an obsession broke him; "who told me I deserved it!? Who made me train until my bones broke!?" He may have had a darkness inside him, but it was Shifu's obsession that actually turned him.

[NintendoNerd]

"DreamWorks villains aren't necessarily better than Disney's are"

yes, yes they are

[kingagrabowska]

Every Dreamworks movie has a different villain but what I like about most Dreamworks villains is that when there is a backstory to them that explains why and how they became evil the movie doesn't try to excuse their terrible actions. Also, they tend to just be more human.

[AndroidHarris]

Im always suprised how dreamworks can make the villains not only effective in the story but also comical. Usually badly written comical villains dont carry tension but dreamworks balances it so well.

Tai lung escapes from maximum secure prison with a feather.
Also Tai Lung: He's a panda. You're a panda. what you gonna do big guy, Sit on me?

[JAProductions]

I think what works for me about Dreamworks villains is that the best ones always have a reason to be evil even if it’s something small. Jack Horner was a jealous, spoilt child. Lord Shen was vain and entitled most likely because of his upper class. And then there’s villains like Ramases and Tai Lung where we see how they’re more broken than evil

However, whilst they are understandable and sometimes sympathetic like the last two examples, the film doesn’t revolve around trying to bring them to the light. The films still acknowledge the fact that these are horrible people who deserve to be punished in spite of their reasons for being evil. I feel like HTTYD2 portrays this ideology well. Hiccup fails at reasoning with Drago and so loses his father. This is essentially Dreamworks saying how the idea of redeeming these horrible villains is stupid

[chickensox]

I just realized how rare it is that Dreamworks villains are ever redeemed. None of them ever see the light like alot of villains in other kids movies

[thesardonicpig]

An extremely underrated Dreamworks villain, for me, is Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians. He tends to be credited with being "okay" or "functional" at most, but I think there is a subtlety to his portrayal that escapes a lot of people. Like Death from The Last Wish, he is a force of nature - the embodiment of fear. But his power, his very existence, depends on children's belief in him, and he is unfairly crushed by the well-intentioned Guardians, who don't recognise his necessary role in their cosmos. Consequently, he rises up in a vicious revolt and almost obliterates them in return. The scenario could be understood as an allegory for fear, unhealthily suppressed, turning into consuming paranoia.
But the narrative does something incredibly subtle with Pitch's portrayal. He starts out as a rather flat, one-dimensional villain who revels in scaring children simply for the sake of it. But in his next appearance, the film adds a second dimension to him: his joy in frightening children is really no different than the Easter Bunny's joy in hiding eggs, or the Tooth Fairy's enthusiasm for teeth. He is simply doing his job. And his desire to be believed in, just like the Guardians, is deeply understandable.
Then, in his confrontation with Jack Frost, a third dimension is added: his desperate desire for companionship. In trying to convince Jack to become his ally, he isn't the Emperor trying to seduce him to the dark side, but a lonely person asking for a friend. And his expression at being rejected, as brief as it is, is heart-wrenching.
And after the climax, having quietly built up all that nuance, having established him as a force of nature being denied its place ... there is no payoff. Pitch is gleefully beaten up by the Guardians, comedically has a tooth whacked out, and is then dragged to eternal torment by his own nightmares.
And that might seem like folly on the part of the writers, but there is an understated genius about it. You're left with a feeling of hollowness, seemingly the only one who really understood his character. But you're not a part of the story.

Pitch isn't as openly complex and layered as Rameses, or as intrinsic to the main character's development like Shen - but the depth of his character is the kind that dawns on you gradually, the longer you think about it. Which, I think, is why people tend to overlook it.

[magnetoonproductions]

They work because Dreamworks knows their audience and they know how to diversify their character types, especially villains.

[oriontigley]

They're important to the story and more importantly, the themes.
They aren't just random dangers, they're the best dangers to oppose the hero in their specific stories

[GardeniaCreations]

For Hal, my favorite way of describing him is how Cinema Therapy did "He's the difference between being good, or just being nice."

[JaceyChristian]

Dreamworks has a way of telling compelling stories and creating complex characters that are far more relatable than Disney. It tends to show how not all people deserve nor want redemption and how the heroes can feel like actual people. The studio also conveys messages that are all to real. The villains of Dreamworks are compelling and well written and are what people want in villains. Some are evil and some are sympathetic but all have reasons as to why they are who they are.

[eyedalehim]

Without villains, we wouldn't be able to learn and grow from the journey in DreamWorks stories from "bad people", we can still have movies without villains, but ones with villains are effective at showing what the bad guy can actually represent in people.

[AnaandVerity]

Disney villains have often been a part of my childhood.

Most of the villains from Pixar’s films weren’t a big part of my childhood and while I say the same thing about some of the villains from DreamWorks’s films, I found some of their villains more threatening and funnier.

[celestialrenamon]

One thing I like about these villains, is that mostly they’re all realistic from a psychological standpoint. Notice how almost none of them start out as a villain. Something happens to them that changes them into a villain. Tai lung, and syndrome (The Incredibles) are perfect examples. Neither started bad. But they turned dark instead.

[EASJR]

I think my favorite villain in a DreamWorks movie Hass to be Eris from Sinbad. And I think the way she worked is that it’s her simplicity. She is the goddess of discord and has only one reason to be. That is to cause chaos. And second, I feel like what makes her effective is the fact that being evil is just a game to her. Her actions are motivated simply because she knows that her activities will be fun. I also feel that her actions work in developing the themes of the movie because her motivation is to appeal to Sinbad’s bad qualities. But the way she loses isn’t by Sinbad defeating her, but by Sinbad choosing to be a better person.

[roarkthehalf-orc]

I like to see lord shen's prophecy in that it says he'll be defeated by a warrior of black and white. And what the mixture of black and white? Gray. And which character is gray? Lord shen. And how does he die in the end? By his own hand. He unintentionally created his own self fulfilling prophecy, and I like to think that just before he's crushed by his own cannon when he closed his eyes he realized his blunder and took it with grace like the peacock he is.
He's very similar to the titan kronos or voldemort in that trying to prevent their prophecies they only set it in motion

[StonedHunter]

The reason I'd label Fairy Godmother as best Villain and not Death is because Death is more of an antagonist for Puss, not a straight up villain. He isn't evil, Death can't be good or evil, it just is. He's vindictive and bending the rules to vent his frustration with Puss, but he's not hurting other people just to get to him, and when Puss was retired he left the cat alone. He has a moral code, it just isn't one that aligns with most people and he was acting out of emotion vs pure logic due to Puss's blatant disregard for the value of his lives.

[mysryuza]

The Fairy Godmother was probably the start of me liking characters that subverts expectations of a trope by taking what is usually seen as a “good-aligned character” thing, but making it a “bad guy” thing and the other way around. Kinda like how there’s a villain in My Hero Academia that uses her Love powers, but she’s a villain and a guy who has a power seen as a “villain” thing, but he wants to use it for heroism. I love stuff like that.

[therealopaartist]

I think Hal will always be the most terrifying..because it’s realistic.

He’s what the average man (who can’t take no) will do. He WILL spy on you. He WILL stalk you. He’ll ‘rescue’ you.


I KNOW a guy like Hal and I fear the day that man is granted any sort of power.

[李재성]

Don’t forget about the villains in Over the Hedge. Mostly the Verminator.