Animated Villains: That Lime Green

We all know about that lime green - it's a signature color for so many animated villains - and is such an unnatural color that it boosts a villain's serious and creepy level. The more evil the villain the more prevalent the creepy green, and magic isn't a requirement.

Scar, from Disney's The Lion King

Scar's most evil scene - and arguably the most bada** villain song - is also the most green scene in, I think, the entire film. The rest of Scar's scenes feature the natural earthy tones of the African savanna, but the audience is immediately alerted to the change in tone by the surreal lighting as Scar reveals his diabolical plans. I don't know where Scar would find a place that comes with green smoke billowing from the floor but he would have the most ideal villain's lair ever.

Dr. Facilier, Disney's The Princess and the Frog

Disney's The Princess and the Frog is a very green film; it is, in fact, about frogs. However, most of the green shades used in the film are clearly natural except for Dr. Facilier's voodoo magic. His neon green magic is incredibly beautiful, flowing like water, and he has deep feelings towards green. His scheme is focused on Big Daddy's money, while his more memorable quotes thinly allude to what he intends to do to Naveen: "It's the green, it's the green, it's the green you need." Although Naveen - and most of the audience - may interpret the line to reference money, it could mean several things for this film: a need for magic, a need for a new perspective (i.e. to be a frog), the need for nature, etc. Regardless of what Dr. Facilier truly meant, his magic is definitely some of the more beautifully animated from Disney, who had started the trend of green magic in one of their very first films.

Maleficent, Disney's Sleeping Beauty

Ignoring for now the new Maleficent movie, Disney defined the villainous green with one of the most evil villains of all time, and, unlike Dr. Facilier's flowing watery magic, Maleficent's powers do really resemble the "powers of Hell." It's fire, terrifying and powerful and supposedly uncontrollable, and yet Maleficent does control it incredibly well. Before her past was rewritten and her villain status thrown into question, she was the "Mistress of All Evil": she became iconic for it, was top villain easily, and put forth an animated villainess that was evil just for the sake of being evil.

Hexxus, Kroyer Films' FernGully

Taking a step outside of Disney, but not too far, you'll find the little gem called FernGully, in which Tim Curry lends his gorgeous voice to a destructive pollution spirit named Hexxus. With a power ballad mirroring Scar's, Hexxus' back-up green, as an unnatural element, isn't so out of tone as he is aboard a giant tree-chopping machine filled with oil. This said, the green setting seems perfect for this oily, creepy villain. Despite his primary colors - black, brown, and red - being still more natural, the totally mechanical sort of green suits his diabolical villainy.

Cruella de Vil, Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians

Cruella is another of that fabulous breed of female villains who just enjoy being evil. Unlike Maleficent, however, Cruella's only 'powers' are her lack of any sense of morality and her ability to make a lot of disgusting green smoke from one small cigarette. One of her most iconic scenes is when she encircles the image of Pongo and Perdita with apparently nasty-smelling cigarette smoke, which also fills the room fairly quickly. Cruella's smoke is seriously representative of herself - something always there but toxic; she's a relatively normal person, slightly more psychotic and definitely wealthier, but more normal than Maleficent. Her green accompaniment is both a smoke screen and a warning flag, but not because she's a smoker; let's remember that Roger smokes, too, but the smoke from his pipe looks significantly healthier than Cruella's cigarette.

Beldam, Laika's Coraline

Coraline begins with a natural feeling of unnaturalness, as if the audience knows something is lurking around the corner - and the audience isn't wrong. The Beldam - perhaps a reference to Keats' 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' - or Other Mother, begins her role in Coraline's life by trying to be as close to normal as possible while still catering to what Coraline thinks she wants from her real parents. It's only when the Beldam reveals her true and arachnid-esque appearance that unnatural and neon colors show up. Of course, the classic bright green becomes part of the Beldam's natural setting, mirroring Maleficent's fiery powers while the Beldam reflects a villain who just wants to be evil. Even without the green fire, the Beldam stands on her own as a truly frightening villain and, here, the fire works as a softening feature; the fire reminds viewers that this is a different world, one that can't breach their own.

Ursula, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Ursula, a truly evil sea witch whose magic is more like wind than water, could easily give Maleficent a run for her money, and she even has more competent henchmen. Ursula's green magic is terrifying but doesn't seem as unnatural as most green magics do because, perhaps, ethereal green is much a part of the natural coloring of the sea, especially the deep sea. Deep underwater, Ursula's lair lies in a deep trench, only lending to the audience's fear of the unexplored areas of the ocean, and is fairly lit up with Disney's signature villainous green. Rather than creating discomfort with an unnatural color, Ursula's green magic creates fear from its overwhelming sense of surrounding Ariel; it works with the audience's natural discomfort in being enclosed by a distrusted individual.

Rasputin, Don Bluth's Anastasia

Rasputin is vaguely sinister but mostly a flop on the villainous scale of terror, mostly because his obsession with destroying the Romanovs only leads him to making more mistakes and increasing his dependence on a demonic green reliquary. The reliquary, given in trade for his soul, is inhabited by several thousand tiny green demons; in effect, Rasputin has tiny green henchmen, except that they aren't particularly loyal to him but, rather, are like hired hit men - super expensive hit men. In all honesty, most of Rasputin's villain cred comes from the reliquary, not his half-a**ed plans or bad fighting skills.

Stay tuned this week for Hotel Transylvania 2, the beginning of the Halloween films series, film reviews, and fun accumulation posts!