With Magnifico he should've been a mix between classic and sympathetic. You can keep his sad backstory to show why he won't make every wish but show how his evil actions outweigh whatever motivation he has. I would also add to the movie that when he takes a wish, it leaves the person in a constantly drugged state where they're always happy and compliant. I would also rewrite King Magnifico's motivation from power to paranoia and have a flashback to his backstory where when he and Amaya were young, he traveled the world as a wandering sorcerer who loved granting wishes wherever he went until one day he made a seemingly harmless wish to a person who then used the power they were given to wreak havoc and destroy the village they were staying in. This experience changed Magnifico and disillusioned him with the idea of wishes, seeing only selfishness and potential danger in them, which is an idea that only grows with each passing year until he only grants wishes he knows for a fact won't cause any harm to his 'perfect' utopia. However, when Star and Asha come in and he learns that wishes are being granted willy-nilly this drives him mad with the idea of his 'perfect' kingdom crumbling and how 'ungrateful' people are, and this is when he opens the Book of Forbidden Arts and decides to destroy the people in the kingdom so he can start over. Other note: I would also add that he thinks people, including his own, are stupid and inherently selfish and need people like him to tell them what to do.
Honestly, this would be a much better story and lesson for children about leadership- if you are a leader do not let paranoia take over you and your leadership abilities.
@@carolinemcgovern4488 Thank you! I wanted to show that Magnifico’s end was his own fault. He didn’t trust anyone after what happened to him and began to see knives in shadows until everything he feared happened by him gripping too tightly.
God I heavily agree that a lot of modern Disney Villans feel like rough drafts Like Hans, Bellwether and Yokai are good on paper but execution wise they feel like they were rushed into the final film Its not that the twist villain trope or these recent villains are bad concepts its just that these villains are underbaked and needs fleshing out and refinement to be on par with the greats
When you said Magnifico could've been a sympathetic villain, I thought of how he could literally be like Abuela in Encanto where he THINKS he's doing the right thing. Magnifico: "I'm protecting the kingdom!" Asha: "You're destroying the kingdom!" It would've been a better take on how good intentions for the many can overlook significant individual hurts and how that leads to a broken population. They probably shied away from that because they realized they're being hypocrites and Disney is Magnifico ignoring the wants of their people (their fans). Or they just preferred to take executive direction in playing it too safe and failed to create a classic villain. Either way, it sucks. I didn't hate the movie upon first watch, there's a lot of good ideas and concepts there, but I do wish (ha, get it?) we got more. Thank you for addressing this in a way I haven't seen others describe it yet! I love all the ideas of content creators for what this movie could've been if they prioritized good storytelling over corporate profit. 🧡
It's funny that Disney's TV show villains are closer to the classic Disney villains than their movies and I'm talking about these: 1. Bill Cipher ( Gravity Falls ) 2. Toffee and Ludo ( Star vs the forces of evil S1 and S2 ) 3. Emperor Belos ( Owl House ) 4. Andrias ( Amphibia ) 5. Magica, Lunaris and Bradford ( Ducktales 2017 )
I feel like magnifico is originally written as an antagonist and not a villain but the uproar of demands for a return in classical disney villains made them change him and it ended up being rushed and confusing
...And there is Nowhere King from Centaurworld who is a classic villain, sympathetic villain and a twist villain at the same time. Peak villain writing.
I'm going to use this on Mickey Mouse now that it's public domain. I'm going to make Mickey Mouse the best Disney villain and I'm going to call my public domain horror movie Steamboat Killings.
6:00, Maleficent wasn't really motivated by jealousy in Sleeping Beauty 😅. She was more motivated by spite and pride. Spite, because she felt personally slighted by how the royal family had the gall to not consider inviting her to their daughter's christening. Pride, because she felt her reputation as someone to be feared was being threatened by Stefan's bold move to uninvite her, especially with how Merriweather publicly confirmed this. So Maleficent wanted to remind them that she's someone not to be trifled with, and that they should fear the very idea of ever disgracing her. You could also throw in the plausibility of malice as well, as you could believe her simply doing what she did just for the sake of causing misery and despair, seeing how she seems to revel in it 😆.
That and it's Mythology 101 to not f*ck with the fey. If the king and queen had invited all of them, no problem. If they'd invited none of them, also no problem, because the fey understand neutrality. Inviting one side and not the other? You've chosen a side in a fey-borne faction war that's gone on longer than your country has existed. Maleficent actually cut them some slack by not just straight up killing Aurora and giving them an solution out of the 100 year sleep with the true love stipulation.
@@Crazyashley42 You've raised another excellent point 😂. And given how well known Maleficent is in the lands as a powerful force of evil and darkness, it was a very, VERY ballsy move on Stefan's part. Foolish and harrowing, but bold nonetheless 😅. Still, he was gonna reap what he sowed when he made his choice. It can get incredibly dire in the Fey world 😆. Also, about the last thing you said. Maleficent actually didn't do the royal family any favors 😅. She straight up crashed the christening intending to give Aurora a literal Death Curse 💀. The dark fairy wasn't holding anything back. It was only thanks to Merriweather using and changing her remaining Gift for Aurora that Maleficent's Death Curse transformed into a Sleeping Curse. As they themselves stated, the Three Good Fairies can't really nullify Maleficent's spells, only alter them. I think you were referring to what Maleficent did in her self-titled, live-action film, rather than what she actually did in Sleeping Beauty.
@@2gredvisions8560 Actually, if you find the opening scene and rewatch it. Maleficent did give them an out. She was pissed, and maybe she was just toying with them, and would have cursed them somehow anyway, but she started out polite, menacing, but very polite, except towards the "rabble". And she didn't curse the baby until Merryweather outright said she wasn't wanted, and the Queen agreed with her. Merryweather: You weren't wanted! Maleficent: Not wanted- Oh, oooh how awkward... I'd hoped it was a mistake. In that case I'd better be on my way. _(Translation: I'm giving you an out, you can say the invitation got lost, that the messenger failed. And my anger might, _*_might_*_ be soothed._ Queen: You're not offended, your Excellency? _(Translation: You're not mad we don't want you here? That we didn't bother sending you an invite? Are you letting us off the hook?)_ Of course, we can't know what would have happened if they'd taked the out. Or if they'd invited her to begin with. She _does_ get called Mistress of Evil. Maybe she would have cursed Aurora anyway, just for lols. Maybe she would have given her an incredible blessing to show off how much better she is than the other faeries. Or maybe she wouldn't even have showed up. I think if she did curse the baby who's christening she got invited to, it would be a far smaller curse than death.
@@MsLilly200 Oh no, I already knew that 😅. That wasn't what I was referring to. I was responding to what Crazyashley42 said about Maleficent giving the royal family some slack by not killing Aurora immediately, and instead gave them time and a solution with the Sleeping Curse. While it's true that in the animated film she gave them lots of time before her curse could take affect, the actual curse Maleficent gave Aurora was a Death Curse, not a Sleeping Curse. Not only that but she didn't give them any solutions to stopping it. It was only thanks to Merriweather that the curse changed into a Sleeping Curse, and that she provided a solution to how it could be broken. She basically altered and lightened what initially was a death sentence-in-waiting 😆. I was simply just correcting the commentor s'all 😅. As what she described was what happened in the Maleficent film, not in Sleeping Beauty. However, I loved that you brought this up, as I always enjoyed the subtleties found in this animated film 😁. Despite having been polite, mindful, and coy with them regarding her not being invited, you could tell that Maleficent was always intending to do something horrific to the royal family under the surface, and was indeed just toying with them. And I also agree with you wholeheartedly on the notion that whether she was invited or not, Maleficent was gonna raise havoc and misery somehow. She is the Mistress Of All Evil after all, and she's infamous across the land for bringing darkness wherever she goes. Honestly, I wouldn't doubt it if Maleficent was just waiting for Merriweather to say something only to help push her ruse and ultimatum further, given how well she presumably knows the impulsive blue fairy and her comrades 😆. I just love how calm and collected she is whenever she's faced with a potential threat or humiliation. Showing just how devious she could be with letting everyone's gaurd down, but still leaving them feeling gravely tense of every word and move she makes 😁. And then eventually showing the full brunt of her wrath and spite at the perfect moment where she deems it essential, such as when she's announcing and casting her Death Curse. Her prologue prior to the curse was especially wicked, as she clarifies how beautiful and benevolent Aurora will grow up to be, only to eventually take that person away from everyone via her death. Talk about a tragic slow burn. Maleficent's not only such a great villain, but a great force of nature as well 😈.
@@2gredvisions8560 Oh, yeah I realised you're right now that I re-read the comment you replied to. I must have accidentally skimmed past that bit before lol. I don't know if she was already planning on killing Aurora when she first showed up. I think she'd still be pissed no matter what. But I do think she would have settled for a lesser curse, if they appeased her properly instead of insulting her even worse than they already had. Or maybe even settled for just ruining the party, if the grovelled well enough. But yeah once she decided on the curse, giving the parents 16 years to raise and fall in love with their daughter was definitely not a kindness. It was really just part of the curse, probably the biggest point. To make it hurt worse, when their kind, beautiful little girl, with the voice of a songbird, died literally the night she would have become an adult. Cause let's face it, if she'd killed the baby immediately... Babies died all the time back then. Yes, it was sad, devastating, but an incredibly common thing. Some societies didn't even bother naming their kids until they were like a year old and could be expected to survive. And Baby Aurora definitely wasn't older than 1.
Magnifico isn't a bad villain, he wasn't a villan. Asha's wish MADE him evil. He was a tool, but largely lawful good. He just wanted to make sure that the all the wishes were "good". When Asha wished for them to have more, the wish made him evil because it was the only way for the wishes to be freed.
I feel like syndrome is kinda the most perfect villain Disney created. He has a motivation that makes sense to him but takes it to far. He's also a really fun and charismatic villain. He meets a very fitting end also.
Technically, trying to keep the power is a valid motivation. We can always lose what we obtained... However, in this case it's the writing that didn't follow (at least if I refer to what people say. I haven't seen the film yet).
@@nevaehhamilton3493 It's not a stupid motivation in itself. Once you obtained power, you're at risk of losing it and still have to fight for it (a chief can be demoted, a president not reelected,...). And if a selfish and cruel person has the power, then it can work. But again, it should be done well. And since so many people didn't react the way the writers expected, it might mean the writing wasn't clear enough.
@@agnesleuenberger3713 I agree, is a perfectly valid motivation, most disney villains had wanting power as their main motivation: Hades, Scar, Ursula and Jafar wanted to rule their respective kingdoms because they wanted more power or to have a better position than the one they already had (and the only one who actually keep that new power for a long time was Scar). It makes sense that Magnifico would had keeping his power and place as king as his motivation, specialy because, unlike all the previous villains mentioned, he built the kingdom of Rosas himself (with Amaya).
@agnesleuenberger3713 Yeah, but the problem is Magnifico is a GOOD ruler. Everyone in Rosas loves and respects him. If he was a horrible ruler, I could understand his motivation of losing his power. They had a good idea, but managed to mess it up.
My biggest problem with Magnifico is how he is loved in Rosas, everyone in Rosas talks about how he is such a kind and generous ruler (hell they even have a song about how much they love Rosas). Which in my opinion completely ruins his so called "motivation" he is worried that he can lose his power and Rosas but how??? They give no reason on to WHY he would lose his kingdom. He has no motivation, he is just a man who is paranoid that he'll lose his kingdom like he lost his old home. Maybe if he was an actual corrupt ruler and granted wishes for his own selfish reasons that won't benefit his kingdom or people. Then I'll understand his motivation of losing power.
Maybe being close to the forbidden book made him paranoid? Like the book making him hear voices "If they see you as a failure you'll lose everything", also, that's a good metaphor on depression.
He's one of those villains from a bad kids movie that doesn't actually do anything bad and the writers realize that so they have them kick a kitten or whatever.
Yep, we got an anti-villain, a sinister villain, and a comedic villain. What more do we want? Puss in Boots 2 is like the better version of Oliver and Company! But idk who I prefer as better though.. Sykes or Death... I always had that thing in Oliver and Company where Sykes represents death as Fagin doesn't realizing his end is near him, blinded by his consequences.
10:52, I can’t believe I’m saying this about a character in a feature film but Magnifico feels like a poor man’s version of Flappy Bob from the Fairly OddParents
After Coco, it seems like Disney is afraid to show death death of a living being, especially towards a bad guy. If Disney's Wish wanted Magnifico to be Classic Disney villain, they have to give him DEATH, not imprisonment for eternity and vagueness if he does die within the mirror. Something like falling somewhere high, stabbed by a sword, or anything like that. Considering the artbook mentions that Wish had Magnifico and his wife be a VILLAIN COUPLE, they could have gotten their cake and eat it too. One of them has to die and the other in eternal imprisonment. Or split both with one being a classic villain and the other sympathetic.
I think Disney is chickening out of taking risks because they care more about money than they do telling an actual fucking story. They took away what made them Disney in the first place in order to become yet another capitalist empire with no love or hard work put into their "films". They suck as a company, and as an animation studio, and I refuse to humanize anyone working for Disney anymore. They are worthless to me. Worthless.
True. But considering they put it as 100th anniversary and promote Magnifico to stand in line with other Disney villains like Jafar, Ursula, Dr. Facilier, Wicked Queen... those villains have a death demise.@@IsabellaMathew
@@apchibidubtalia8286 I guess fare. Though I think do one biggest problem of film is that tired so hard to fallow the Disney recipe instead of what is natural for the story.
No not really, they had imprisonment for Jafar, and that was much more satisfying because of the karmic irony of it all. So it doesn’t always have to end with death
Y’know, I’ve been writing a fantasy world/series for a while now. I care so much about world building that a made an encyclopedia (work in progress) so I had a reference for every tiny aspect of my world. Hopefully one day I can publish my hard work
I think another huge component of a classic Disney villain is that they’re fun to watch; they do bad stuff, and they’re entertaining sometimes. A good example of why this is important is Frollo from Hunchback. The reason he typically isn’t included in the classic Disney villain lineup is that he isn’t an ENTERTAINING villain like the rest. Don’t get me wrong, Frollo is an EXCELLENT villain, but you don’t enjoy watching him do his bad stuff. He’s despicable. He’s the classic Disney villain without the fun personality and catchy song. (Instead we get Hellfire, and I am not complaining!)
Villains used to be super fun and unique design wise. They had entertaining personalities. A twist villain doesn't get to be entertaining or evil because their more of a plot device.
i kept thinking about this, and thought that maybe to make him work as a somewhat good villain but still not drastically change him and his motives, it could be something like this: They could keep Magnificos backstory and the reason why he doesnt grant every wish, but instead of randomly making him hungry for power and suddenly mad, they couldve made him slowly grow scared of granting a wish that could harm his kingdom and his people, wich slowly leads to him becoming obsessed with the idea of safety and grows stricter and stricter with each wish he chooses to grant, and as the movies progresses, Asha rebels against his behaviour, trying to show him how some wishes are in fact safe and should be granted, but he refuses to listen and soon decides he wont grant any more wishes, wich makes asha seek help from her friends and eventually getting help from the queen to make magnifico either: 1- realize his wrongdoings and change ways 2- if he refuses to change, they come up with a way to stop him once and for all and then the wishes start being granted again if they meet the rules (no violent wishes, things that could change someones life for the worse, infinite power, etc) this is just an idea that i had after seeing so many complaints and people having their own ideas on how theyd write the movie☆
i honestly think Magnifico isn't as terrible of villain a lot of people think he is. Firstly most of the wishes he doesn't even grant he even said so himself and most of the wishes (or at least the ones we see) have nothing to do with overthrowing him or anything that could be a danger to himself or the kingdom. and Secondly the power he has and all the praise he gets from the people of Rosas goes to his head making him power hungry
He is kind of an arrogant bad boss but not a villain, the bad writing of the plot twist is what ruins his arc, I mean, he could have been driven mad by losing his wife (dead is even more powerful) and hold dearly to whatever of his "ideal life" remained, or the forbidden book could drive him mad. Too much potential, bad writing.
I think the hard thing about Magnifico was that he was not only the villain but also had to be the male lead, the second lead arguably. The movie was missing a character. See Star boy concept. They literally gave Magnifico a love duet??? He wasn’t JUST the villain. It’s like he was a plot twist protagonist? He had to also be a really integral part of Asha’s story which sounds weird but when you think about it very few villains and heroes ever interact in Disney movies. Or at least not a lot. Hercules doesn’t meet Hades until act 3. Pocahontas never meets Radcliffe I think. Ursula and Ariel have a single scene together until the end. Which could e been the case for wish except in the one scene they had together….they sang a love duet. What if Magnifico sang This is the Thanks I Get TO Asha? I think….i think I just fixed the movie. Let Asha know not only are you holding onto people’s wishes but let her know you’re awful.
Skar and Jafar are leading males too. Magnifico is just bad writing, I mean, he could have been corrupted by the book, or paranoid because he lost his wife, or both, but no, foreshadowing? Who needs that?
I think they could have fixed it by showing his descent to madness, maybe by the book. Think about Gaston: he's a jerk, yes, but, at first, doesn't harm Belle, as the movie progresses he slowly starts showing his true colors until he descends completely into madness.
I magnifico is supposed to be the man in the mirror that snow White's step mom talks to! The one that tells her to kill snow white to be the only beautiful in the land
@@Kenny-bu4uv um actually he did tell her that snow white is prettier than the queen! Thereby giving her the idea to kill snow white! So you are wrong and i am not going to argue about it Karen
@@michaelsmith4616 um , you’re the one who SPECIFICALLY said he TOLD her to kill Snow White (which again, he did not) then you tried to back track and say”he gave her the idea” and try to insult me , once you realized I was correct . You can’t say he told her to do it and then say “well , he gave her the idea” lol which one did he do ?
@@Kenny-bu4uv again did we watch the same movie? I don't think we did? Keven i told you i am not going to argue with a weak person like you! Not really worth my time or day! This argument is over! Leave me alone
@@michaelsmith4616 Kenny is my name , why you so worked up over Snow White ? lol it’s ok to be wrong sometime. Whose arguing ? You’re the hostile one . lol. If you met me in person I’d show you how “weak” I am 😊. Learn to get your facts straight before just posting anything online , and don’t be so salty when someone corrects you . Bye white man ! And you tried calling me a Karen lol
I really hope Disney will give us more better classic villains in future movies (Magnifico was so close, but they shouldn’t emphasized any sort of backstory and most importantly he should’ve died, if Wish gets a sequel I hope he gets the Jafar treatment and dies)
@@Simbala-bq5vy you're not seeing the bigger picture. Money is more important than anything else in this godforsaken nation now! Being good will never get you anywhere in life. You must take matters into your own hands, even if you lose yourself along the way. That's the only way you can truly be successful. Our efforts alone will never be enough to foil the plans of the almighty wealthy superiors. We have no power over them. Anything we do, they see as a minor inconvenience to brush off. We need them to be afraid us. Afraid for their own lives!
The book could have made a great villain! Always there, apparently innocuous, until he starts to whisper madness to Magnifico's ears, driving him slowly mad until it can control him. The hat from "Meet the Robinsons" comes to mind.
I don't agree... Although Abuela was manipulative sometimes she wasn't pushing a selfish goal, she tried to perfect (although in the way she thought was "perfect") the abilities of each Madrigal and marry Isabella to a good man, unfortunately she was rigid because of the trauma of losing her husband. Cult leaders have a selfish goal: self aggrandizing, I think they tried to do that with Magnifico but... bad writing.
@@ladyheavdev hmmm, depends, she was punished by losing her house and the family union she wanted so desperately. Disney heroes have a tendency to forgive fast. Has she been more of a classical/twisted villain, instead of an antagonist and the trauma "being the villain", like Hans, I would agree with you.
@@angelr194 Yeah but she got it back way too quickly and she didn't even put in effort to fix the house and only gave a really hollow apology. Seems like a toxic message for kids imo. But I see what you mean too lol
@@ladyheavdev she is an old lady, what can she do apart from making beverages? What I find incoherent (and MatPat, cof, cof) is that they received back their gifts, that ending of "you don't need your gifts to be you" would have been so much better. Meh, preferences, I guess.
