
Walt Disney's 28th Animated Feature, The Little Mermaid (1989)

Anastasia Tremaine and Drizella Tremaine from "Cinderella" (1950)

Tough, crass and jaded, Ursula is trying to find a way to get back from King Triton the power that once was hers.

The Sultan, ruler of Agrabah.

Walt Disney's "The Lion King"

Roger Ebert's Review of "The Little Mermaid" (1989)

John Grant
Character Description of Ronno from "Bambi" (1945)
The part of Ronno, the buck whom Bambi fights over Faline, is small yet quite vivid, all the zaidi so as the animators adopted a semi-abstract treatment for large sections of the fight. The striking thing about Ronno is that he is much zaidi solid than Bambi: darker in colour and heavier of build, he seems to be definitely heavier and definitely older than our hero. Clearly it was important to portray him in this way, for thereby Disney ensured that our sympathies are doubly engaged on Bambi's side - he is the underdog, triumphing even although the odds are stacked against him.


The hero of the movie, Aladdin.

Walt Disney's 31st animated feature, Aladdin (1992)

John Grant
Walt Disney Character Description of Iago from "Aladdin" (1992)
Jafar's sidekick is an irascible parrot, who - unusually for the birds - has teeth, and a lot of them at that. Hilariously voiced kwa Gilbert Gottfried at a general level of about one hundred decibles, Iago is as malicious as his master (although his character changed for The Return of Jafar). As is customary in the animated features, he is constantly being subjected to indignities kwa the one he serves - at one memorable stage he is deliberately trapped kwa Jafar in a sliding door - yet in this instance the slave is wiser than the master, for it is Iago who has the idea that Jafar's tactic to attain the sultanate should be through marrying Jasmine.

The scheming vizier Jafar with his constant companion Iago.

John Grant
Character Description of Maid Marian from "Robin Hood" (1973)
Maid Marian, niece to King Richard, plays a very small role in the movie, and after she and Robin have plighted their troth she seems to be largely forgotten about. Her function is essentially to provide a motive for Robin to attend the archery tournament and thereby set things up for one of the movie's major sequences. What is intriguing, however, is that the animators have succeded in making a vixen have the screen presence of an attractive woman. In part this must be due to her voice, supplied kwa Monica Evans, but this cannot be a total explanation. One must simply applaud the skill of the Disney animators.


The evil Fairy, Maleficent.