Princesses On the Move!

Disney Princesses: A Definitive List, Part 2

Last time we started ranking the various ladies of the Disney Princesses line, covering some of the lesser entries in the franchise, and the princesses attached to them. This time we get to cover the middle of the pack, those princesses that have proven to have the spark it takes to be fan favorites, even if not all of their films are all that great. These are the ones you can like… but maybe not love. Not yet, anyway.

As a reminder, we’re only covering official Disney Princesses, so the likes of Tinkerbell, Esmerelda, Jane, Anna, and Elsa need not apply (even though, at various times, they’ve all been included in the official list, one way or another).

Merida

Films:

I don’t want this to be a knock against Merida. She’s the only Pixar princess on the list, and she’s beloved by a contingent of fans. I’m putting her in the middle pack of princesses, which means she’s automatically better than a good portion of the field. It’s just that, in all honesty, it doesn’t feel like Merida’s legacy is all that strong, and at this point we have to start thinking not only about how the princesses are on their own but also how their legacy of movies plays out, especially when compared to the other princesses in the line.

Basically, Merida only has one film and it doesn’t seem like she’s going to get any others, or any kind of continuing legacy beyond showing up at Disney Princess festivals and the occasional cameo in films (with all the other princesses) like Ralph Breaks the Internet. There’s been no talk of a live-action remake (which would probably suck anyway, so that’s not a bad thing) nor in giving her a television series, a sequel, spin-off, or other work. Merida had her one story and nothing more and, well, if I’m being honest the story wasn’t that great.

This is where the Merida fans will probably get out their knives, but I gotta be honest. Brave is a pretty generic female empowerment story. Her family wants her to marry, but she wants to be her own person, and then she proves (through the power of a curse, family bonding, and arrow trick-shots) that she actually can be trusted to lead her own life. This despite the fact that she’s the one at fault for the curse that turns her mother, and little brothers, into bears. If anything, the film works against its own message with everything Merida does and it doesn’t make for a satisfying story.

If you like Merida I won’t argue with you. She’s a feisty, fiery, Celtic redhead and no one is going to complain about that. She’s a solid character hobbled by a middling story and no further legacy. I’d love to see more from her (especially with a better film) but for now she rides the middle of the pack because Disney doesn’t seem to have any further plans for her beyond Brave.

Aurora

Films:

If we were just discussing Sleeping Beauty alone then Aurora would be at the bottom of this whole, three-part list. That’s no joke because, as pretty as that film is, Aurora is a completely passive and useless character within it. She does nothing but stand around, sing a song, and then pass out while every other character in the film, from the evil witch Maleficent to the good fairies and the fair Prince, all control her life. She has no agency and is such a boring character within her own film.

However, then Disney came along and made Maleficent, which is a fantastic reinvention of Aurora’s tale. It took the framework of Sleeping Beauty and rebuilt it into a tale about the titular villain going through love, loss, and rebuilding herself. And then she bonds with Aurora and the two learn to fight for each other. It not only makes Maleficent into an interesting character but the film also manages to give Aurora some agency as well.

Now, sure, the sequel to that film isn’t as good… but it’s also not objectively bad as well. It’s an unnecessary sequel that continues a franchise that didn’t need continuing, but it doesn’t really sully the first film either. Plus, it is still fun hanging out with both Maleficent and Aurora in that film, which makes it worthy for the characters. Aurora gets to be a real person in these films, and not just an object for fairies to fight over and for a prince to win, which more than redeems the princess.

I can’t rate Aurora higher because she’s not really the main character in any of her films, but the moments she gets in her live-action adventures are pretty solid. That puts her firmly in the middle of the princess pack, with room to grow if Disney can figure out what to do with her beyond making her the adopted daughter of a wicked awesome evil witch.

Jasmine

Films:

I want to be clear: I think the movies featuring Jasmine are great. No one is ever going to hear me complain about the original, animated Aladdin and I even think the live-action remake is pretty good (flawed, but fun). Aladdin is a classic, and Disney has done what they can to foster and grow the legacy of that film. While The Return of Jafar is terrible, Aladdin and the King of Thieves is a far better direct-to-video sequel (at a time where Disney didn’t put much care into those). Factor all of that in together (and you can even include the tie-in Aladdin cartoon which brought all the films together) and you have a pretty solid little series of adventures there.

The reason why Jasmine is in the middle of the pack isn’t because of the quality of the films. It’s for a simple reason: look at the titles of those movies. Do you notice anything there? Jasmine’s name isn’t in any of them. While she’s a popular Disney Princess, she’s not actually the lead in any of her films. She has solid roles in all of them, but at the end of the day every single one of those movies is about Aladdin, not Jasmine. She’s never just a prize for him to win, but she also isn’t the main motivator for any of the actions in the films.

Put another way, Jasmine is slightly better in her films than Aurora is in Sleeping Beauty, but that’s really just a matter of degrees. She has to be rescued by her man, and while she can be tough and strong, she doesn’t get nearly the agency over her own story over many of the other princesses higher up on this list. I think Jasmine is great, but until she actually gets to lead her own film (come on, Disney, make it happen) I can’t really rate her higher on the list than a solid middle.

Belle

Films:

And now here is one I debated over. A lot. By the qualifications that I set up above, Belle has to be judged on everything she stars in and, for the most part, her various sequels as awful. Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a middling story that, despite some potential twists it could have thrown in, can’t actually affect the larger story because it’s a weird interquel to Beauty and the Beast. Meanwhile, Beauty and the Beast: Belle’s Magical World was so bad that instead of existing as a television series, as was originally intended, the three (or four in the special edition) finished episodes were crunched together and made into a movie so Disney could dump it out and then ignore it.

Although that’s still a better fate than what befell Belle’s Tales of Friendship, a misbegotten spin-off film from a weird live-action/animation hybrid Disney show, and now you can’t even watch it because it’s not on Disney+. You know how bad a movie has to be for Disney to wipe it from its streaming service? In short, Belle’s continued efforts have not done a lot to improve her overall legacy.

And yet, there’s no denying that Beauty and the Beast, the 1991 original animated film, is a masterwork. It has great music, fantastic animation, and a story that you can easily enjoy over and over again. Plus it gave us one of the great villains, Gaston, who might even get his own live-action reinvention sometime down the road. And while the 2017 live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast wasn’t spectacular, it did $1.266 Bil at the Box Office, showing the enduring power and legacy of the story and its lead character.

So say what you will about her overall legacy, Belle has power. Her first film is great and you can go back to it over and over again. That’s enough to rate her well on this list. She just doesn’t get to be upper echelon without a better sequel of legacy film to her name.

Next Time…

In our final part we go over the top gals, the ones that not only have the fans but also the films to back them up. These are the real ladies, the big dogs, and I’m sure you can already guess one or two that will be near the top. We’re going to crown a winner… in part three.