— Cruella DeVille, The Little Mermaid — Ursula, The Lion King — Scar) in them. Even the Muppets have to put up with being kidnapped (The Muppet Movie
), accused of theft (The Great Muppet Caper), fight pirates (Muppet Treasure Island), or someone trying to shut down their theater (The Muppets
). I guess most children's stories need to have conflict or someone for a child to root for — or against. And of course there are so many more. Here are just a few of the best: |
| Margaret Hamilton as The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz |
Voldemort and many others in the Harry Potter series
The Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Principal Ed Rooney in Ferris Buellers Day Off
Biff Tannen in Back To The Future
Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Darth Vader (and his minions) in Star Wars
The mean kids who gave The Karate Kid such a hard time (in both the Ralph Macchio and Jaden Smith versions)
The White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Captain Hook in Peter Pan
The Grand High Witch in The Witches
There are a few children's movies that come to mind with no bad guy:
Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro
has some suspense, as little sister Mei goes missing temporarily when she goes to visit her mother in the hospital, but the entire spirit of the movie is loving and gentle. |
| Totoro and the gang hang out |
features a bratty kid in the doctor's office and some scary sea creatures, but no bad guy or girl — again, just suspense — will Nemo's dad and Dory be able to track him down?Disney's Mary Poppins
has an out-of touch father, but even he comes around at the end, as Mary Poppins' charm and magic is irresistible.Kiki's Delivery Service
, another wonderful Miyazaki film, features apprentice witch Kiki getting into lots of scrapes, but there are no villains to speak of. |
| Suzanne Pleshette with her canine friends |
features some pretty naughty little dachshunds, but they're so adorable you don't mind.That's all that I can think of at the moment. Not too many. Any other movies without a bad guy out there worth checking out?
Related: kiddie catharsis
