MALEFICENT (Sleeping Beauty)
Most of us probably saw this movie when were fairly young (or might have seen it recently, considering Disney just rolled out the red carpet for its DVD release), so it’s probably fairly faint in most of our memories. But there’s no denying the one thing that we do remember for those of us who have seen it: Maleficent (voiced by Eleanor Audley), the scheming witch who also turns into a dragon. While Disney villain props tend to go to the Wicked Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves or Scar from The Lion King, there’s really no denying that Maleficent is probably the single most evil character in cartoon history.
Why does she deserve to be on this list? The presence. Ursula from The Little Mermaid might have been a little more flamboyant, but Maleficent was simply too cool to be bothered with those kinds of theatrics (save for when she turns into a dragon, of course). She walks around with her cane, has a crow on her shoulder, and hangs out with all sorts ghouls and goblins that actually make the orcs seem kind of tame. There’s something about people (or witches) that seem to hang out exclsuively with people that much younger or smaller than them that’s kind of creepy (sort of like with Townies), but you get the impression that Maleficent could roll with whatever crowd she damn well pleased.
But she picked goblins. That, my friends, is depth.
Why isn’t she more popular? The world of Disney villains and princesses is a crowded one, and Sleeping Beauty just doesn’t get the attention that the rest of them do, probably because the older Disney films don’t resonate with today’s young’uns as they did with even most people in our generation. I’m hopeful, though, that someday after the dust has settled on this argument (the argument has yet to begin, I might add), Maleficent will be given be rightful title as Coldest Witch in Film History.
