Disney Villians - Ursula

We all know these two right?

Or more specifically...

This lady.

Ain't she just a doll? No? Come one people, don't tell you you don't adore this face.

Honestly though, why DO we enjoy Disney Villians? Because you know, *SPOILERS* she stole Ariel's voice, used it for her own, womanized Ariel's man, brain washed him, tried to drown him, and then tried to vaporize Ariel, and THEN she got stabbed in the stomach. Rather violently. With a broken  down, moldy, splintering ship.

Oh and did I mention she literally stole people's souls and left their bodies as empy husks oddly resembling some kinda algae growth... or something.

Point is, she's not a good person.

So WHY do we love her?

That's an easy question to answer, depending on how far you want to wade into Crazy Town, and as I want to keep this as sweet and simple as I can, I'm going to say this:

Because she's EVIL.

That justifies everything she does doesn't it? We can watch her steal voices and generally be a horrible person all around and shrug it off because she's 'evil'.

But what's some of the differences between this cephalopod (Ursula only has six tentacles, not eight)...

And this one?

'One looks like she skimped out on the fried fish?' You might say.

'The second one has really horrible lackeys?' Someone might say.

'Somehow, one of them manages to live in Superman's Fortress of Solitude?' Another person might ask.

But then there would be that one person who just might say: 'The tiny one's stupid.'

To which I would respond. 'YES.'

Why would I say that? Because it's true. And why is that true? Why couldn't you take her, the tiny one, Morgana, seriously after you got over the age of seven?

Let's compare and contrast.

Now, let me ask you something.

Does something look a bit off in the first video? The way Morgana moves? What's something Morgana doesn't do that often that Ursula does a LOT? If you said: 'Swim' then you're correct!

Woah, woah, woah! Stop the presses, you're telling me that they made a movie about being underwater and the villain doesn't SWIM?! Yes. That is exactly what I'm telling you. But WHY. Why doesn't she swim? She's a squid thing! (Which she's actually not, because she only has six tentacles, mind you.) She must swim!

Well... swimming's hard to animate.

And expensive. The budget for the sequel was MUCH lower then the one for the first, so they get a crappy plot, characters, and animation to boot like most Disney classic sequels.

Is it really enough to just say 'that movie was crappy' and just leave it alone?

NO.

We must say WHY the movie is crappy and then NEVER leave it alone.

The reason Morgana's image is stupid, is because it's unbelievable.

Back on subject though. What is is about Ursula swimming vs. Morgana swimming (the like two times she does) that makes the first one so much more convincing then the last?

This would be why.

So what is it? What in these pictures makes it so convincing, that she's ACTUALLY swimming?

It would be that little bit open close action right before Ursula pushes herself away. Of course this isn't the ONLY reason she 'feels' like she's underwater, but WOW does it help when she's pushing herself from one place to the other.

In real life, cephalopods move my 'jetting' themselves forwards using the tentacles to move the water around them and 'jet' themselves forward  Simple right? HA. Not when you're animating. Drawing all six of those tentacles operating separately, but interacting with each other? Ha. 

Do I look like one of the nine old men? Or a professional? At all. HA.

So I can understand why Morgana doesn't swim very often.

Back to Ursula. If you can stand it, go back to watching this cut in the song. Pay attention to how quickly Ursula propels forward when she collects enough water to whoosh away. And not only that, she SLITHERS. Like she's breaking through the water. She minimizes the area her body mass so she can move faster! How great is that? Her snake like movements also help support her character as being the 'bad guy' of the film! Two for two! Morgana just kinda.... shifts places.

Now, what exactly is the opening and closing of her tentacles provide for this shot?

Anticipation and then Reaction.

(I mean, what else can I do to those words to get them to stand out more?)

While I don't think this is an EXACT example of Anticipation/Reaction, in theory, it could be. Here's a better example. In this oncoming shot, Ursula is supposed to laugh (evilly) and continue to explain and pacify things to Ariel, in the process, she sits down and leans against her cauldron. 

See? This is what we NEED. There's action going on here and it's sufficient.

This conveys what's going on and it progresses the story. But. (There's always a 'but' with animation.) BUT, there's something missing. Something's not quite... satifactory. What do we WANT here? What is it about this action that doesn't seem so... complete?

Aha! What is Ursula doing right here? She's taking a deep breath. ('But she's underwat-' shhhhhh.) Okay, so what do I do with this drawing? Why is is significant? What's so important about Ursula breathing? ('BUT SHE'S UNDERWATER!' Yes baby, I know, here's a passy.)

Okay, she's breathing, we get the point. Now what do I do with this? Why is it important? Oh you foolish mortals. Do you really want to know? Do you think you can handle it? This is not for the faint of heart. You sure? Okay, I warned you.

WOAH! WHAT'S THIS?! WHAT HAPPENED. I BLEW YOUR MIND!

Ursula took a breath BEFORE she sat down!

Woah! THAT MAKES HER... HUMAN.

*le gasp*

Did I just call a tentacled water breathing anthropomorphic being... human? I think I just did. Is that weird?
Relating to a soul stealing underwater witch with tentacles for legs and technically is naked save a necklace the entire time she's on screen? (In this form anyway.)

Hell yes.

There's something wrong with you.

BUT THAT'S THE WAY WE LIKE IT. (Welcome to Creeper Town, alias, Disney.)

You NEED to see be the creep. We WANT you to be the creep. Or else... Ursula's the Creep. And not in the good way either. She'll seem awkward onscreen, and her movements won't seem to flow just right. So, yes, you have to substitute as the 'Creep' for the duration of this movie.

Jeez, rambling. Anyway, what I'm saying is, we get a sense of humanity in Ursula right here. She's in her comfort zone right here, manipulating people and getting what she wants out of them. So she's almost poised. And to show that, she takes a deep breath. And guess what this does for us? This spoon feeds us the evidence of that fact.

We all know, or expect, what someone who's in gloating in their comfort zone looks like right? Of course you do. (You're on the Internet for pete's sake!) We see here take a breath and we ANTICIPATE her REACTION.

Oh snap, did something just click? I think hope it just did! We know what's going to happen. We anticipate what Ursula's going to do. We RELATE to her movements. For a moment, we can see what Ursula is thinking, and we want to scream at Ariel to just SWIM THE HELL OUT OF THERE. But of course she doesn't because the show must go on. And Ursula's a Disney Villain. We kinda want her to succeed.

Which makes them even cooler.

So do you get it kiddos? Because I have other things to do then explain things to you Interwebbers. Like... food.

Live Long and Prosper.