Whether it’s a young woman trying to bring honor to her family and save her country or a precocious lion accepting his responsibility and winning the thrown from his evil uncle, we are captivated and enthralled by heroes. Heroes allow us to see the best in ourselves and others and remind us that we all capable of success.
Over the years, Disney has created some pretty memorable heroes. Angela and I both had some pretty strong opinions on who was the best, so we decided to lay out our case for the top three Disney heroes of all time.
Ground Rules
Before we get into our picks, let’s set some ground rules.
We only included characters from Disney movies. Pixar is included in this since they have basically been a part of Disney since the beginning. However, we did not any characters from other companies Disney purchased – namely Marvel and Star Wars (to handicap Joe’s affinity for these franchises).
The character could be from a live-action or animated movie and could not be a villain.
Now let’s get to our picks!
Angela’s Picks
Number Three – Moana
One of the things that really strikes me as quintessentially Disney is the Disney Princesses. I really appreciate a woman who has some agency. Someone who can get out there and do things for herself and there are two Disney Princesses that come to mind.
Mulan and Moana.
Mulan set the stage for strong female characters. Moana carried her torch and even took it up one level.
By the end of Mulan, Mulan saves China from the Huns, makes her family proud, and finds a love connection with Shang. Similarly, Moana saves her people and the island she loves, reunites her people with their history, becomes an effective leader, and finds a new friend in Maui. No love-connection needed.
Like Merida in the underrated movie Brave, Moana proves to young girls that a woman doesn’t have to finish the movie with a man by her side for her to be happy.
Moana is part of this new revolution of Disney Princesses who do the saving as opposed to always being saved.
Not only that, but Moana is flawed. She is not a perfect woman. A lot of the past Disney Princesses were meant to be seen as perfect. They’re beautiful, smart, and kind. They’re basically everything. I’m not saying that Moana doesn’t have a lot of these characteristics, but she also does say some things and do some things that prove she’s flawed. For example, she raves about the pork in front of Pua and hurts his feelings. She also takes advantage of Maui and, because of this, nearly loses his friendship and causes him to lose his hook.
Another reason Moana is one of my top heroes is that she’s strong-willed. She takes charge and eventually she does what she thinks is right even though her father tells her not to leave the island. It’s then her mother and grandmother who help her secure an exit. Talk about woman power!
Number Two – Captain Jack Sparrow
For my second pick, Captain Jack from Pirates of the Caribbean was a shoe-in.
Yes, the later movies mixed and muddled up his character’s backstory and motivation, but I choose to remember him as the (almost) perfect character he was in Curse of the Black Pearl.
Captain Jack falls into my favorite character archetype: trickster. Carl Jung outlined various archetypes that tie all of us together. The trickster archetype appears throughout history in different mythologies and different cultures. Tricksters play tricks, disobey rules, and don’t follow conventional behaviors. They can even provide comic relief, as is the case with Captain Jack Sparrow.
The brilliance of the character lies in his dual nature. He’s a bumbling fool, but at the same time, he’s a witty genius. He’s a gentleman, but he’s also a pirate. One moment, he saves Elizabeth from drowning and the next, he threatens her life to bargain for his freedom.
Jack’s unconventional morality and ability to manipulate situations make him captivating. From the very start of the Curse of the Black Pearl, we know he’s one to watch. As he sails into the harbor on his sinking ship, he’s not panicking when he bails the water out, he’s just trying to make it to shore. Once he docks his boat, he pays extra so he doesn’t have to give his name. As soon as that guy turns his back, Captain Jack steals his coin purse. It may be one of the best openings to a movie Disney has ever done.
Jack’s so unique (in the most wonderful way) to the Disney treasure trove of characters that even the writers couldn’t replicate him exactly from one movie to the next.
Number One – Maui
Like Captain Jack, Maui also falls into the trickster archetype. What puts Maui ahead of Jack is his excellent character arc.
He basically starts out as this jerk who’s totally self-absorbed. “You’re Welcome” lays this out perfectly- Maui thinks he’s the center of the universe therefore he does only what benefits him. But by the end of the movie, he’s grown into so much more. He actually cares for Moana. We see that he’s misunderstood and the reason why he’s kind of turned into this self-absorbed character is that he’s been striving for human love and attention all these years.
Plus, he’s voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. (I’d be lying if I didn’t list that as a component to my decision to put him at #1. I tried to be impartial, but I will always be in the mood for what The Rock is cookin’.) The Rock brings the perfect strength and charisma to the character. Maui’s overflowing with confidence and you believe it because The Rock does such a great job delivering his lines and singing. Who knew The Rock could sing? What can’t he do honestly?
And can we please talk about Maui’s tattoo? It’s almost a manifestation of Maui’s conscience. With Maui, his tattoo functions to excuse his misbehavior because it shows that somewhere deep down inside of him, he doesn’t agree with what he’s doing. Not to mention, the tattoo provides great comic relief for serious scenes.
Joe’s Picks
While Angela picked one live action character, I stuck with all animation. For me, there’s something about great animation that really draws me into the character. I think it’s the fact that with animated movies you can more easily believe you are in a different world.
Number Three – Baymax
For my number three pick, I chose Baymax from Big Hero 6.
When I started thinking about all of the memorable characters from recent movies I’ve seen, Baymax stuck out. While Angela got into some heavy literary analysis for her picks (cough, nerd, cough), my rationale is much simpler.
Baymax is great because he’s so lovable. Designed to be a health care robot, he was built to appear friendly to people. Plus, he provides great comic relief. My favorite scene with him is when his battery is running low and he is petting a cat. The fact that he calls it a “hairy baby” is hilarious.
He’s voiced by Scott Adsit (fans of 30 Rock know him as Pete Hornberger). Adsit brings a lot of personality and likeability of the character. Ultimately, Baymax plays a pivotal role in helping Hiro as he sacrifices himself at the end of the movie.
The fact that in Germany and Japan the movie was called Baymax instead of Big Hero 6 goes to show how important a character he really is.
Number Two – Wall-E
Typically, I enjoy animated characters that are voiced by great actors, but my number two pick doesn’t even talk.
While most of the characters we remember seem to have larger than life personalities, the fact that Wall-E is so subdued is what makes him stand out for me. His entire performance is done completely with his facial expressions, mostly his eyes, and his sounds.
Even though Wall-E has no memorable lines, you still remember him. His relationship with Eve and their journey together sticks with you long after the movie has ended. It’s an incredible job by the animation team.
Number One – Genie
My number one pick may be the best animated character ever created. The Genie from Aladdin is the perfect mix of an incredible voice actor and a larger-than-life performance.
Robin Williams brought the character to life. Disney gave him free rein to use all of his different voice and comedic talents and it completely paid off. They didn’t try to hold him back or make him fit into kind of some box. Genie was a character that was made for Williams. Williams was known for his impersonations and the animations did an excellent job having the Genie constantly changing personas.
It’s hard to imagine now, but when Aladdin came out in the early 90s, they did really didn’t have celebrities voicing characters. The success of Genie as a character really paved the way for the big-name actors lending their voices to animated movies today.
Aladdin as a movie was a grand spectacle and Genie was the grandest of it all. He had the show-stopping numbers of Friend Like Me and Prince Ali.
Plus, Williams brought a humanity to the character. If you really think about it, Genie is a tormented individual. He’s been trapped for thousands of years and while you can sense some of the struggle, he never lets that difficulty define him. He stays upbeat and really develops a great bond with Aladdin.
Growing up, Aladdin was one of my favorite movies, and Genie was a major reason.
Your Picks
There you have it, our favorite Disney heroes of all time. We ended up with six great characters, but there are so many others that just missed the cut.
What do you think of our list? We’d love to hear what your favorite characters are