Disney's latest film Frozen is a smash hit. It has amassed a billion dollars and counting at the box office, picked up the Oscar for best animated film, and currently sits on an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. After a rough start to the 2000's the House of Mouse's animation department has really found its groove again, and it looks like nothing but good things await fans of the studio. Or do they? While Frozen has quickly become a critical and commercial darling, it seems like there is one serious flaw in the film's formula: the villain. In the past, Disney has been responsible for creating an amazing rogues' gallery of antagonists. We've seen wicked queens, scheming siblings, and magic-bearers who can transform themselves into gigantic, fantastical creatures. These characters create mayhem for our heroes and heroines, ensuring that the road to happily ever after doesn't come without significant hurdles. But that is far from the case in Frozen, in which we are given a bratty spoiled douchebag of a prince down on his luck. For a film that does so much right, Frozen's primary villain, Prince Hans, is incredibly underwhelming. Some critics have praised the idea of turning the would-be Prince Charming into the bad guy, especially since the film's marketing made Elsa initially appear to be the film's antagonist (in the same vein as the story The Snow Queen upon which it is based), but Prince Hans is neither evil nor charismatic enough to make any real impression aside from that narrative switcheroo. This becomes even more evident when one looks back at the glorious villains that Disney has used in the past. To highlight this point, here are eight ways that Frozen's Prince Hans epitomizes the decline in quality of Disney villains.
Matthew Chard is a writer who has lived and worked across Australia, USA, South Africa, UK, Cambodia and Tanzania. When not writing articles he can be found working on his next novel, traveling, in the surf, or listening to David Bowie while wearing red Spider-man underpants.
