Hades
Voice: James Woods
Henchmen: Pain and Panic unsuccessfully
feed baby Hercules the whole bottle of the
mortal potion, therefore making him half god,
half mortal.
Motive: getting Zeus and Hercules out of his
way, so he can become King of the Gods.
Review: Another decision has been made, Hades is my choice for best comedic Disney male villain. His competitor: Jafar, a not so close fight. The decision wasn't nearly as hard as the Frollo vs. Scar competition two weeks ago. Of course some of you are going to disagree, I still think Jafar is a good villain, but in my opinion Hades has more of what it takes to be a true comedic villain. He's got the voice, the animation, and the best lines in the whole film. Hades introduction is classic, dropping by at a party for the newly born Hercules. He bolts out cheesy one-liners that none of gods find amusing, and shows his eternal hate for his brother Zeus. This scene reminded me of the opening sequence in "Sleeping Beauty," the only difference is that Hades doesn't stand around making a big lecture (like Maleficent), he takes action. In this scene we are also introduced to Hades' voice, exquisitely done by James Woods; which, in my opinion, did the best voice over work for any Disney character, not just the villains. His voice and Nik Ranieri's beautiful animation run together very smoothly in this outstanding villain's finished product. And as for the lines, they were mostly ad-libbed by Woods on the spot, truly genius!