A Top 40 Countdown of Disney's Heroines.

[Wonderlands]

20. Chicha from The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

Now I can see why you'd be confused on why she's so high on this countdown. When there's actually a very simple reason on why she is! Since The Emperor's New Groove isn't like other Disney films, seeing how it's a comedy instead of a grand adventure with a dashing hero or charismatic princess and instead we have a spoiled emperor turned llama and a kind peasant man as our heroes. I actually rooted for the villains in this movie since Yzma and Kronk are just amazing and hilarious. Anyways, since I was rooting for the villains I found their scenes to be more memorable than the heroes. Chicha was very prominent during these scenes, since she cleverly jumps into comedic action by tricking Yzma and Kronk by locking them inside their closet, and working with her children to slow them down even more before the chase. Chicha is a very different heroine because she's a comedy heroine, she's not a singing princess or young naive girl like some of heroines already seen on this list. She's just a normal woman who helps her husband and Kuzco get away in a humorous way, all while being pregnant and sassy.

19. Charlotte La Bouff from The Princess and the Frog (2009)

I was actually late watching this film. I first wathced it in 2011 and I was extremely satisfied with the outcome and characters. But I do remember seeing stills from the film back in 2009 and I saw a picture of Lottie and I automatically assumed; "There's our villain." I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she was far from being villainous. Despite being the archetype of a spoiled daddy's girl, Charlotte is generous and absolutely sweet. Her friendship with Tiana is amazing and you can really tell that they care for one another. Now we know from the beginning of the film that Lottie's dream is to get herself a Prince Charming, and it almost looks like she will when Naveen comes to town. However when she finds out that Naveen and Tiana were both frogs and loved one another, Charlotte wasn't jealous or spiteful. She was amazed and proud of her best friend, and even agreed to kiss Naveen for Tiana. Not to mention that during the Mardi Gras dance with Lawrence-Naveen she quickly abandoned her prince to help Tiana after her costume got ruined at the dance. Lottie placed her best friend first over her dream of finding love with a prince and that is incredibly heroic, and is a breath of fresh air from a character. Lottie is a unique heroine that deserves to be this high on this countdown.

 

[Wonderlands]

These next two ladies I know I'm going to get beef for ranking them so low, but I'm sorry I have to do it.

18. Rapunzel from Tangled (2010)

Now don't get me wrong, I found Tangled to be charming and fun as the next person. However, I can honestly say that Rapunzel was kind of a let down for a heroine for me. Sure she had fun moments, had a clever quirks like usage of a frying pan and had a ton of hobbies that she learned over the years from being kept in the tower, but I just don't really find her all that interesting? Like I felt as if she was just a bunch of random stereotypes you find in a teenage girl and other cliches thrown together in a massive tangle of hair. (Ha)
Actually when I recently watched the film for maybe the twentieth time; I still find myself more interested In Flynn's side of the story. Anyways, we already established I find her sort of bland compared to other characters, whatever that doesn't really matter because this is a list that's based on overall heroics, and does she deliver?
....I guess so?

I mean she has her moments, between healing Flynn with her hair powers, standing up to Gothel for the first time all the while whacking things with that frying pan of hers, but she honestly doesn't do much else in terms of being heroic. Realistically her love interest has more heroic moments, which is really disappointing seeing how this movie is supposed to be about Rapunzel's journey, not Flynn's.

Do I like Rapunzel? Yes I do! Does she rank high on your PERSONAL list of Disney ladies? No not even close. And I did try to remove as much bias thoughts as I could when placing her here, but I just can't rank her higher than this. She really does have her golden moments but they all fall short to a much more interesting villain and a much more interesting and heroic love interest.

Now moving on to the next one, please shield me from all the hate and anger I'm going to get from crazy Frozen fanatics.

17. Anna from Frozen (2013)

Oh boy, what do I have to say about Anna? Well for starters I find her more dull and boring than Rapunzel, and the fact that Disney made her "relatable" makes her all the more sleep inducing. Now moving on from my personal feelings towards Anna's character How does she rank on the heroic scale? Well... pretty great. She is the one that has the huge heroic moment in the end, and her love for her sister really is charming.

Now some might argue that Anna's actions in the film makes her a deserving placement for the top ten, I disagree. While she does possess the drive to go after her sister and stop the eternal winter, she just doesn't have enough character to do it herself. They could have easily made her an amazing heroine going on an awesome journey across the frozen terrain all the while learning things about herself and what she can do. Instead we got her enlisting the help of the walking forced love interest plot device Kristoff. I say this because Kristoff served no purpose in the film other than being the way Anna gets to point A to point B, oh and of course being Anna's new-found boyfriend.

Maybe I'm being too critical of Anna, but my point still stands, she does have her heroic moment at the end and I cannot take that from her, but it's not something we haven't seen before. With Sitka sacrificing his life for his brothers, Belle giving her life for her father's, Triton giving his life for Ariel's, Pocahontas throwing herself on John Smith, Meg pushing Hercules out of the way of the stone pillar, Shang sacrificing his life in the god awful Mulan 2, as well as Flynn cutting Rapunzel's hair and ultimately saving her in the end. The list goes on. So I firmly believe this is a good spot for Anna to rest at during this countdown

 

[Allym146]

I'm enjoying this immensely! I forgot how great Chicha is, and that whole movie actually. Love that they are all gifs...I'm mesmerized haha.

 

[Wonderlands]

16. Captain Amelia from Treasure Planet (2002)

Though I'm not the biggest fan of Treasure Planet, I will say that Amelia is pretty fantastic character. She's fun, she has a military rank, she holds your interest by being strict but still have a certain charm about her. Her romance with the ship's doctor was pretty great, and I like that she's a feline, (see the gif above because I love that part.) She does share similar traits with another heroine who has yet to appear on this list, and there's a definite reason why that heroine ranks higher than Amelia here. I don't have a lot to say, but I can say that I find her character to be much more useful and heroic than Anna and Rapunzel.

15. Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

Kida is definitely one of the most gorgeously animated Disney characters ever, but what about her heroine status? While she doesn't play an active role in the actual battle, she does however take her place at the heart of Atlantis even knowing what happened to her mother when she did the same. That took some guts and it was an EXTREMELY heroic thing to do. That upon itself is enough to land her a spot in the top fifteen. Does she do enough to rank her higher? No she really doesn't. In fact I originally had Kida out before Anna, Rapunzel, and Charlotte, but I kept bumping her up for what actions she did do in her film, and I believe this is a deserving spot for her.

 

[Wonderlands]

Double post today? I think so!

14. Cinderella from Cinderella (1950)

Arguably Disney's most famous heroine? Which might not be the case with children now; with those money grubbing Frozen sisters around, but let's not talk about them. Let's talk about how wonderful Cinderella is. I hate when people automatically assume that Cinderella just wanted a man, when in reality she never spoke of wanting love at all. She just wanted to go to the ball and have fun. She's selfless and kind and just amazing. Even with all the emotional abuse (and sometimes physical when it comes to her dress.) she still kept that kind and optimistic attitude. Well... that is until her step sisters ripped her mother's dress up (which still remains to be one of the most horrific moments in Disney history.)

We all wanted to cheer for joy when she got her wish and got that gorgeous silver dress and danced with the Prince and of course fell in love. Cinderella didn't fight like Lady Kluck and she didn't sacrifice her life like Anna, but her strong willpower to keep dreaming in her situation is so heroic and inspiring. There isn't much else to say, Cindy is great and her happy ending still remains to be one of my favorites to this day.

13. Lilo Pelekai from Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Lilo is probably the most accurate representation of a little girl who has had some emotional trauma. She's different and clearly bothered by things. Going as far as to feeling like she must feed a fish that 'controls the weather' because her parents died in a car crash while it was raining. And while during the climax of the film she's taken hostage and ultimately ends up needing saving, that doesn't take away from how heroic and inspiring she is. She's young, lonely, and all she has is her sister (Who we'll get to eventually). When she finally gets Stitch she's just so happy she gets something to love and (to eventually love her back) it's just too sweet to not like her. Sure she's a little strange, but for a girl who suffered from the loss of her parents I say she's great! Her moments with Nani and David at the beach were beautiful and Lilo is actually my personal favorite Disney child. Not to mention her trying to get Stitch to be a 'model person' was an adorable montage to contrast with Nani's job search, even if we were REALLY hoping for Nani to get a job. Lilo is a wonderful character in a wonderful film.

 

[Wonderlands]

We're at the top twelve! Where will they rank?

Who are you rooting for?

 

[Matt_Black]

Kida is the only Princess to knee a guy in the groin twice and try to stab him. That's pretty awesome.

 

[brb1006]

These first two heroines can really be swapped around, as they both come from the same film, and they're not much different from each other.

40/39. Duchess and Marie from the Aristocats (1970)

Another point I'd like to make before giving my thoughts on these two is that even though they rank the lowest doesn't mean I don't like them and that I don't find them to be good heroines. I just find them to not be AS good as others. I love both Duchess and Marie for different reasons, just not in a heroic sense.

Anyways, I think I should start with Duchess seeing how she's the mother. Duchess right away is shown to be our leading lady, from being adored by her lovable owner, to being the responsible mother of her three kittens, and her blooming love with Thomas O'Malley. I will give Duchess credit where its due, and that credit goes to her love for her children and her owner. However, when it comes to the conflict of the movie when she and her kittens are abducted her exact words to her children were;

"Well, darlings, I-- I just don't know. It does look hopeless, doesn't it?"

I'm not saying that it's wrong to be a hopeless mother, because let's face it, their situation was looking pretty grim. Another reason why she will not be listed higher is because she doesn't exactly do anything to help when something bad happens to go wrong. Her daughter getting left behind or her family getting locked into a safe for example. Those scenes all went to Thomas O'Malley and Roquefort. Though I do love Duchess for her brilliant voice acting and her loving scenes with her family, Duchess doesn't scream Disney Heroine to me.

Moving onto Marie, there really isn't much to say in regards to her, she's the only daughter of Duchess and she's wants to be like her mother and loves to stand her ground to her two brothers. She loves romantic things or "sissy stuff" as her brother would call it, and it's clear that she loves the adventure they received during her movie. I do believe that Marie could definitely hold her own as a hardcore alley cat along with her brothers (under the watchful eye of Duchess and Thomas of course) but she's too young and too small to do much in her respective film to be classified as heroic. Especially since most of her scenes consist of her being saved by Thomas O'Malley.

Now there we have it, the first two done on my countdown. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts, whether your agree of disagree with my statements and reasonings, let me know!

There was a Manga released in Japan which is a spin-off of The Aristocats where Marie plays a big role in the manga. The manga is called "Miriya & Marie" which is currently only released in Japan and Brazil.

 

[summondice]

ACK!
I'm...I'm...devastated! The list is unfinished!
I was really enjoying this. It prompted me to register an account, just to say so