Amidst the discouragement of treating PE as a badge of honour/glorifying PE (at least on the VW wiki), I thought I'd go in the opposite direction: demonizing PE. While there are plenty of great PE villains out there, there are also some really s#%tty ones, and I'd thought it'd be interesting to hear what your opinion is on the worst Pure Evils. After all, just because a villain is PE doesn't mean they are automatically going to be an entertaining or intriguing character, which is something that a lot of idiots don't get for some reason and something that really irks me. Ideally I'd like to hear how their PE status hinders the character (i.e. the fact they are one-dimensional presents missed potential for a complex and interesting villain), but you can also list other reasons, such as terrible acting, horrible execution, or illogical motivations, or simply being dreadfully insipid or lackluster. I'll give one example:
Jafar (2019): This is a fantastic example of how making a villain even more evil doesn't always work out. Granted, I don't think the writers were trying to make him PE, but they certainly sucked all life out of the Jafar we are familiar with. Making a character more serious can be effective, but it can also rid the character of any charm and turn them into a complete bore. That is exactly what happened with this Jafar, and he now has all the charisma of a soaked loaf of bread. The original Jafar was menacing and psychopathic, but he also had comedic moments and, most importantly, he had presence and individuality. Here, 2019 Jafar had been downgraded to a one-dimensional unmemorable drag who, while still menacing, is no longer entertaining. The writers made him more sinister, but they must've forgot that they were trying to entertain the viewers. While 2019 Jafar being rid of all his comedic traits allows him to be PE, but that is certainly not a good thing, especially when the original Jafar was humorous, charismatic, and memorable. As well, no offense to the actor who played him, but his portrayal was completely unmemorable, and the abysmal CGI effects, substandard writing, and flip-floppy pacing certainly don't help. Overall, this Jafar is not only one of the worst PE villains I have come across, and one of the worst Disney villains as a whole. While I don't think 2019 Aladdin is the worst of Disney's live-action remakes, I certainly don't think this reincarnation of Jafar helps its case either.
Of course, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what the worst PE villain IYO is. Feel free to comment below.
