Let me start off door saying that there is no Disney Princess I truly dislike. I think it’s simply impossible for me to dislike anything Disney. In a way that made this lijst especially hard to do because I felt bad each time I placed a Princess on the list. I love them all, with perhaps the exception of the last lady on my list, and even her I don’t completely dislike. She’s last simply because she’s the only one who managed to get me irritated at some point, something which no other princess has managed. I couldn’t find it in my hart-, hart to be irritated at any of them. But meer on that later.

14. Megara

Right, I know she’s on almost everyone’s top, boven five, and lots of people name her as their favourite Disney girl ever. But the ironic thing is that the reason why these people love her so much is the very reason why I’ve placed her on the bottom of my lijst – she’s an anti-damsel, she’s supposedly feminist and she’s supposed to be meer “real” and “relatable” because she’s suffered heartbreak. I do appreciate all that.

But she turned me off in her opening scene, so it’s very hard for me to like her. “I’m a damsel, I’m in distress, I can handle it. Have a nice day.” Many girls swoon over that line, saying that she’s a true tough girl who doesn’t need rescuing from a man. Well, did any of these girls stop and think about it for a while? She DID get rescued door a man. It was just that she was the only one who TURNED DOWN that help initially. Which I think is stupid beyond reason. It’s one thing to say that girls don’t always need rescuing, and that it’s wrong for men to think girls need it in every little situation. But this was a frigging huge centaur/river monster thingy that just got her. Excuse me, Meg, but I beg to differ. u CAN’T handle it. It’s obvious. u have no weapons, no strength, no magical powers. And if u were handling it great on your own, u obviously wouldn’t have shrieked loud enough for Hercules to have heard u from way up in the air. I seriously doubt Meg would have gotten out of that without Hercules’s help. of perhaps Hades would have stepped in if things got out of hand. My point is, it’s one thing to be a feminist, but another to be plain stupid. If u were caught in a burning building, with perhaps a huge beam over your legs, and a fireman came in to rescue you, would u say, “Get out! Girls don’t need rescuing door any man! I can handle this!” No, you’d take the help, because u NEED it. It’s not a shameful thing to need help, yes, even from a man. It’s not betraying weakness – hell, you’re supposed to be weak against a monstrous centaur, otherwise it would look like a pathetic joke. Anyway. That’s the major kankeren, grouse I have against Meg. And I simply don’t like her vixenish style. I don’t know, it just rubs me the wrong way. She knows that she’s turning Hercules on, and she continues doing it. I mean, there’s no way she’s doing that NOT on purpose. And since she has no idea who he is of what he’s doing, there’s no reason for her to want to lead the poor guy on. Yet she does it all the same. It’s kind of mean to me. Yes I know in the later part of the movie she does it on Hades’s orders and I don’t blame her for that. But after Hercules rescues her when she first meets him, she does it despite not knowing who the heck he is.

As for her past heartbreak, well, I just feel neutral towards it. Yes it’s sad and all, but I don’t see why I should like the girl meer just because of that. u don’t like people just because bad things happen to them right?

The two things I do love about Meg are her song and her outfit. Although I hate the message it sends, “I won’t say I’m in love” is a great song. Meg’s outfit too, is lovely. It’s a pretty shade of purplish pink, and looks comfortable yet sexy at the same time.

13. Jasmine

Now there’s nothing wrong with Jasmine. We’ve left the zone of my passionate dislike, so rest assured that from hereon I will not be bashing any of the ladies. The only reason why jasmijn is at this spot is because there were a couple of things she zei that ticked me off. But unlike Megara, there’s nothing about her per se that annoys me, hence she’s higher. It’s just that there are a couple of things about her that I don’t like, and none of the other ladies have done anything I don’t like.

I think it’s better to get the bad stuff out of the way first, so here goes. “I am not a prize to be won!” Look I know it’s probably not very nice having no say in who u marry and having a bunch of people discuss it as if your opinion does not matter. But I still don’t think it warranted the huge tantrum she threw after that. After all none of the men had malicious intents, Jafar aside. I’m sure the Sultan just wanted a good man to care for his daughter, and well Aladdin was in love with her. But this is a small thing. I do like jasmijn – like I zei it’s very hard for me to truly dislike a Disney princess, I worship them after all!

Another little thing which ticked me off – well not really ticked me off but something I didn’t really like – was her behaviour in the market place. I know she was being kind to the small boy, but really, taking an appel, apple from a stall without expecting to pay for it is kind of dumb. Yes I know she’s the princess and everything in Agrabah kind of belongs to her, but she’s going incognito and should know that peasants do need to pay for their food. And when Aladdin was captured door the palace guards, she really should have put meer effort into rescuing him. I mean she’s the PRINCESS. Even if Aladdin had been arrested under Jafar’s orders jasmijn shouldn’t have to take it up with him. Her authority supercedes his and she should have simply stood her ground and commanded them to release Aladdin.
But those little things aside I’m fine with Jasmine. I like that she’s kind to free the palace birds, and accepted Aladdin’s apology without question. I guess that’s why I prefer her to Megara; she’s willing to give love a chance. She knows that everything Aladdin did was out of love for her, and she wasn’t mad at him for that. I also think she’s pretty smart sometimes – playing along with Aladdin to get herself out of trouble, jumping from one building to the volgende and seducing Jafar are some of my favourite parts.

12. Aurora

Now here’s where I start feeling guilty. Because I LIKE Aurora. I really do. It’s just that I like others meer that she’s so low on my list. Here’s where we’ve reached the zone of neutrality – no meer dislike. I guess it’s really not Aurora’s fault – she gets so little screentime that it’s hard for me to understand her better and form a liking for her. But I do find her sweet and SUPER GORGEOUS. That’s the most outstanding thing about Aurora – her beauty. I like her fondness for her three “aunts”, calling them “dears” and “darlings”. I find it so adorable. I also find it quite cute the way she turns her nose up as she realizes that Prince Philip was teasing her. And she shows a bit of a flirty side when she talks to the owl dressed up as a prince. That’s another thing which sets her apart from Meg – she flirts but she admits she wants a prince, Meg flirts but remains up on her feminist high horse. Meg, seriously, if u hate guys so much and say that u want nothing to do with a man, then stop being such a vamp. It leads guys on and that’s not nice. Alright, I think I’m pretty much done with Aurora. I’m just really neutral towards her.

11. Kida

Another Disney princess whom I’m neutral to. I like her spunkiness – yes, I do like spunkiness in a girl, despite what my bottom two choices may seem to say about me. It’s simply that in those two cases, those girls took spunkiness to bitchiness, though in a much smaller degree in Jasmine’s case. Anyway, back to Kida. (Why do I keep feeling this need to defend my choice of Meg at the bottom??) Kida’s awesome in that she’s curious and lively, and is not afraid to approach Milo and snatch him away to find out meer about his people, while the rest of the Atlanteans shied away. Despite her father’s objection she insists on taking Milo’s help, and she trusted him enough to toon him the murals underwater. I smile whenever I watch her firing vragen non-stop at Milo, and I find her cute when she gets frustrated over not being able to work the – um –automobile thing? And for someone who’s thousands of years old, she’s still full of life! She’s sexy but doesn’t seem to know it, and that makes her even meer charming in my opinion. I also like that she’s a warrior and can fight.

10. Snow White

Let me start off door saying that I am NOT one of those Snow haters! I adore Snow white. I find her so freaking cute! I know she’s often bashed for being empty-headed and chirpy, but that’s exactly what I find so adorable about her. And she’s only 14, so she’s entitled to behave a little meer childishly and have a higher-pitched voice. And why would anyone find Snow annoying? She’s so sweet and innocent. She may be a little foolish, but like I zei she’s only 14. And besides it’s a FAIRYTALE. Princesses dream of princes all the time. People, stop judging Snow white based on girls in this modern age. Of course we have better things to do now than sit home pagina all dag dreaming of princes, but Snow’s from a fairytale world so I don’t see why she can’t do that. Besides, what’s wrong with wanting true love? Look at it this way. Snow has never known affection her whole life. I’m guessing her father’s dead, and her step-mother certainly did not toon her any affection. She’s a princess but is forced to work as a slave. People who bash her say she had no backbone, but honestly, how do u expect a young girl to stand up for herself against the Evil Queen? She’s the queen. The king’s dead so she has the most power. She can have Snow white executed any time she’s not happy. Do u think it would be very smart for Snow to make a rebellious stand against her? I think not. Feminists out there would probably have Snow stirring a revolution up amongst her people no doubt, but the girl’s 14! I’m pretty sure very few 14-year-old girls would have been able to do that if they were thrust into Snow’s situation. In fact, admit it, most of u out there would not have been able to handle it the way Snow did. She continued to be happy, sweet and kind, managing to stay upbeat no matter what. The meer I think about it the meer I admire her. Despite being in such horrible circumstances she still managed to get through it all “with a song and a smile”. Of course, after having been through a life like that, the poor girl would want some true love and affection. If she can’t get it from a mother of a father, why not a prince? And for goodness sake, don’t say anything about how she waited for her prince to come to her instead of finding him. How the heck do u go out searching for princes when your evil stepmother is monitoring u closely and could have u killed any moment? And in the dwarves’ cottage, she’s supposed to be hiding. There’s nothing she can do except wait there.

Another thing I admire about Snow white is how she even managed to get through that night in the forest without dying of a hart-, hart attack. Because I know I would have. As a child I was terrified to death of those glowing eyeballs in the dark, and if I were there in person to experience it, I would probably have died on the spot. It’s nothing short of amazing that Snow wakes up the volgende dag feeling “ashamed” of herself for “causing so much fuss”!

9. Cinderella

Another poor princess who often gets bashed. Looking at my lijst it’s ridiculous to see Cinderella at 9th because I love her so much. I guess I can only blame the Disney princesses for being so awesome that there are 8 other ladies higher than my dear Cinderella.
The first thing I love about her is her name! It’s SO pretty. It’s a name fit for a princess. Cinderella may have married into royalty, but she looks as if she was born as one. She has such an air of nobility about her – such class, such grace. And she manages to do it in a servant’s outfit. Like Snow, she has been dealt bad circumstances, but she handles it with grace and dignity. She also never loses hope in having her own happy ending someday. AND to all the bashers out there, she never says once that that happy ending is with a prince! She just wants to leave her life of drudgery – what’s wrong with that?

But the one criticism of Cinderella which annoys me the most is that she has no backbone. This is completely ridiculous to me because in my opinion she has lots of it. Once again I’m sure the feminists would have her standing up to Lady Tremaine and taking back her house and all, but consider the circumstances again. She has no other family of connections. Lady Tremaine probably has the deeds of the house and her husband’s inheritance in her name. Either that of she came up with some devious way to make it hers. My point is Cinderella has no money, no status, nothing. What exactly is she going to use to get out of her situation? If she defies Lady Tremaine, she could well be kicked out onto the streets. So I think she’s actually being pretty smart, making the best out of a bad situation while never losing faith in one dag having a happy ending. Yes, perhaps she didn’t do anything to help herself to that ending, but the time period was one in which women couldn’t do very much. At the first opportunity of having a normal life – the ball – she DOES stand up to her stepmother. If she had no backbone, she would have meekly accepted that she could not go to it. But she knows her rights – as an eligible maiden she has every right to attend the ball and she stands her ground. Even when her stepmother piles chores on her, she gets it all done and appears in time for the ball. It’s only when her evil stepsisters destroy her dress that she loses it – and honestly I don’t blame her.

One meer thing – I LOVE the idea of her love at first sight meeting with Charming. And that was before she knew he was the prince, so I can fully believe that it is true love. I’ll have to say though that the main reason why I love Cinderella so much is that her underdog story is truly inspiring. She was ridiculed door her stepsisters and forced to wear rags while they wore beautiful dresses. But on that one single magical night, she’s transformed into a stunning beauty, so beautiful that the prince looks straight past every other girl in the room and has eyes only for her.

8. Ariel

I love Ariel! She’s another one who always has a smile on her face, especially when she’s on land. She’s always bubbling with excitement and curiosity, and it’s the kind which is really catching. Even Eric, who’s seen all the sights in the country before, seems to be experiencing it anew through Ariel’s eyes. I also love how Ariel is not the least bit affected door her father’s prejudice against humans. She has been brought up in an environment which fears and almost hates the human race, yet she is unaffected door prejudice. She’s curious and eager to learn and that makes her very endearing. Also, keeping a secret collection of human things is just too cute. There are also many things about her which scream teenage girl, and I love that about her. “Oh, my father’s going to KILL me!” and “I’m sixteen years old – I’m not a child anymore!” are so relatable and make me giggle every time. I’m also amazed with how she dealt with the haai – contrasted with Flounder’s hysterical terror it just blows me away. She was smart enough to trick the haai into swimming through the hoop and getting stuck there, and was able to keep her head through it all. And that voice of hers! I just love great singers.

I also love how she’s so full of hope. “Part of your world (reprise)” is an awesome song. I especially love the lines “I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I know something’s starting right now, watch and you’ll see, someday I’ll be part of your world”. It makes me all “Go, Ariel!” every time. She knows what she wants and she’s determined to get it. Even when Eric was put under a spell door Vanessa, she never gave up. The scene when a look of determination crosses her face and she plunges into the sea gives me chills.

Finally, any girl who can let her personality shine through and come across as cheerful and bubbly even without a voice is truly awesome!

7. Tiana

Here we’ve entered my zone of passionate like. Why do people always bash Tiana for working so hard and apparently “not having a sense of fun”? In the first place, it’s exactly why I love her so much, and in the seconde place, I strongly disagree with that seconde part about her not knowing how to have fun. She DOES know how. She just chooses to put that aside for now. How many people can be as hard-working, disciplined and determined as Tiana? I never fail to be amazed door her. As someone who can lose discipline quite easily, I have lots of respect for her because she has so much of it. And it’s all for a good cause too – she wants to fulfil the dream of her dead father. That’s just so sweet. Whenever I watch that opening scene of her trudging into her room, bone-tired from a whole night of work, then blowing a kiss to the foto of her father, I feel a gush of love for her. I love how she just keeps ploughing right on towards her dream. And even after a night of work, she looks so fresh when she catches the tram to work! Her eyes are so big and full of life when she reads the paper.

Now I strongly disagree with Naveen’s beschrijving of her as “a stick in the mud”. There are many scenes in the movie which toon that she’s anything but. First, there’s the scene of her working as a waitress. She’s so full of people skills! She remembers what every customer likes and really provides service with a smile. I love the part where she stops talking to her vrienden for a spleet, split seconde to say “Napkin, sweetheart?” and offers one to the little boy who’s making a mess out of his food. She says that line so sweetly. But my favourite scene of her has got to be when the guy she just served salutes her happily and she salutes him back. It’s just so awesome! It shows her lively personality, and she looks so cute with her back arched and her hand on her hip saluting the guy back in such a feminine way. And when charlotte comes in squealing about Naveen, she doesn’t behave like a stick in the mud either. A stick in the mud would have gone “uh-huh” and be completely uninterested in such matters as romance. But she smiled and cheekily gave Lottie advice – “the quickest way to a man’s hart-, hart is through his stomach”. And the smile she had on her face as she gently swayed to the muziek at the Ball while watching Lottie dance with fake Naveen shows that she is a romantic at heart. She’s also very quick on her feet – the way she fashioned a little vlot for her and Naveen, lifted the stick which was blocking their path while both Louis and Naveen were singing and being oblivious, and tickled Louis to get him to sneeze as a means of getting him unstuck from the hole in the boom romp, kofferbak are all incidences which toon this. And her final line – “you just kissed yourself a princess”. It’s cheeky and cute. So I really can’t understand why people can call her a stick in the mud! She has a great sense of humour, witty lines, is romantic and just always has a smile on her face and interacts great with people. Someone who can be all that and yet work so hard at the same time is truly awesome!

Finally – the thing about her having to – sigh – rely on a man for her success really irks me. If those bashers paid close attention to the ending scene, she used the many containers of coins which she had been saving up all those years to buy her restaurant. Naveen did not do ANYTHING. This is how I interpret that scene – Louis was just scaring Fenner and Fenner and reminding them that since they promised the restaurant to Tiana, they couldn’t just go back on their word and give it to a higher bidder. That’s all. The money is still the same amount Tiana saved up, so it really is all her work. She wasn’t relying on Naveen at all! As for how she gives up her dream for Naveen – I really don’t see anything wrong with that. After all, love is meer important than material things. It’s just that it’s love for a MAN which has got people all riled up. If she had sacrificed her dream for her mother no one would have zei anything. In fact she would have been praised for being self-sacrificial. And isn’t love for a man the same?? I mean, I don’t see how that kind of love is any less important and strong and true as love for one’s parents of siblings. Ok, so she only knew Naveen for a week, but that’s how it is in films and stories. There’s no time to toon a long relationship of it wouldn’t be called a movie. So I’m willing to suspend belief when I watch films and believe that yes, the two are truly in love. Look at the alternative – if Tiana had gegeven in to Facilier and handed over the talisman in exchange for her restaurant, Naveen would have been doomed to be a frog for the rest of his life under Facilier’s control. I mean, honestly, if people think such an action would speak better about Tiana than her “giving up her dream for a man”, then that’s pretty screwed up. It’s a deal from a VILLAIN. It’s not meant to be good, for heaven’s sake! And people can blame Tiana for not accepting it?

6. Esmeralda

Oh how I love Esme! I’m not even sure where to start, so I’ll start with the superficial reasons – she’s GORGEOUS. Really gorgeous. In my opinion she’s the most beautiful Disney lady ever. I won’t elaborate on that – that’ll probably be saved for another artikel – but I don’t think I need to. Anyone can tell that Esme fully deserved her three ardent (ok, maybe one insane and two ardent) suitors. She’s also wonderful in that she can totally defend herself! Like I said, I don’t have a problem with girls who can defend and save themselves, it’s only when they actually can’t do anything but PRETEND they don’t need a man that I get annoyed. Esme on the other hand really doesn’t need a man! She escaped the entire troop of soldiers at the Festival of Fools all on her own. My favourite part is of her throwing something (I can’t remember what) at a row of soliders, knocking them down one door one, before it takes Phoebus’s helm off. As he put it just after that scene – “what a woman!”. She was able to do all that while keeping a mischievous smile on her face. Then the scene with Phoebus in the church – it’s hilarious. “You fight almost as well as a man.” “Funny, I was about to say the same of you.” Note that Esme isn’t being all feisty and anti-male in this scene – she has every reason to be nasty to Phoebus seeing that he was the one who gave the order to arrest her. Yes I know Frollo was the one who gave him the order, but he obeyed and from Esme’s point of view he was one of the bad guys.

But the most amazing thing about Esmeralda is how kind she is. The scene in which Quasimodo is getting taunted really wrenches my heart. I really cannot believe how people can be so cruel. And no one had the guts to stop it – except Esmeralda. When the whole crowd quietens and she walks slowly up to him, my hart-, hart really soars. She’s like this shining beacon of goodness and kindness. And the only one brave enough to stand up and do what’s right instead of following the crowd. It’s really no wonder that Quasimodo calls her “heaven’s light”. And when she tells Frollo that the only fool she sees is him and throws the crown at his feet, I really see her as a valiant fighter against injustice, and that is just too awesome.

5. Jane

Ah, dear Jane. This isn’t a word often used to describe her, but I find her absolutely adorable! First – who on earth wears boots, stockings, a poofy dress complete with tie, gloves, a bun AND a hat to a jungle expedition to study apes? Only Jane, that’s who. She’s always trying to be a prim and proper British lady and that just cracks me up. Even when she has been chased door monkeys and met an ape-man she’s still concerned with putting her hair up in a bun. And her main grouse? “Daddy, they took my boot!”. Oh Jane you’re too cute.

I also love that she’s an artist! It’s the same thing as how I love singers. She’s so cute, trying to draw everything she sees. The scene when she’s sneakily drawing Tarzan and he turns around and catches her doing it and she smiles sheepishly back with a giggle is too cute for words. I also love the expression on her face when the bird she’s trying to draw flies away, and the way her face lights up when Tarzan takes her up to see the whole flock of birds. She was also able to teach Tarzan to speak English all on her own – how awesome is that? Her enthusiasm and passion for apes is so catching – I’ve never been an animal person but I felt myself getting caught up with her excitement.

She’s also super optimistic and upbeat – even when she’s stuck between the two trees she keeps telling herself “This is good! This is good!”. It’s so cute that she’s into self-motivation.

4. Pocahontas

A warning: from hereon it’s fangirl zone. My top, boven 4 ladies are those whom I squee about endlessly, draw fanart of and whose songs I sing non-stop. And I mean NON-STOP. These 4 can do no wrong in my eyes and they’re all so amazingly awesome that each time I watch their films I get chills. Everything they do is awesome to me. First off is the lovely Pocahontas. She looks like a supermodel! Her figure is just fantastic, her hair is the AWESOMEST ever, and her voice is like an angel’s. I can listen to Colours of the Wind forever and I’ve been singing it obsessively since I was little.

Once again, I cannot understand why people say she’s boring and her movie sucks. I LOVE the movie. I’ve watched it countless of times and yet each time I see the opening I get chills.
I love Pocahontas’s sense of adventure. When I was young I dearly wanted to copy her awesome dive off the cliff. And speaking of that scene, her hair looked so absolutely beautiful blowing about in the wind that I swear it’s the reason why I wanted long hair so badly when I was young. And still do in fact. No matter what anyone says I’m keeping it at waist length. Anyway back to diving off cliffs. She did it so perfectly and gracefully that she barely caused a ripple when she hit the water! Like Cinderella, Pocahontas has that whole aura of elegance and nobility about her. She was totally born to be a princess. And yet she can have a fun and lively side! She really does the most awesome things – climb trees, kano over rapids, go down a WATERFALL, and div e into rivers. She was also the reason why I wanted to climb trees when I was young. I also love how playful she is – toppling the kano over and then spitting water in Nakoma’s face. And the expression on her face when she sees Kocoum is just priceless. She’s like “uh, no thanks…”.

I also LOVE the romance between her and John Smith! It’s passionate, undying (that sequel NEVER happened. EVER) and romantic. “No matter what happens, no matter where I am, I’ll always be here with you.” “I’d rather die today than live a hundred years without knowing you.” Cue swooning. I admit, the whole forbidden love thing attracts me too. And it’s just so simply tragic that they have to part at the end. I also admire Poca for that – she loves John so much that it must have taken lots of courage to give him up and stay where she belongs. Also, their love is so strong that she is even willing to stand up to her father and give up her own life for his. Throwing one’s own life as a shield for the one u love is truly amazing. But at the same time I love her initial attitude towards him. She’s so pissed with him for calling her a savage that she yells at him to let go of her canoe. And when he refuses, what does she do? Climb straight out into a tree!

So in short, Poca is brave, passionate, spunky, adventurous, lively and absolutely beautiful – what’s not to love about her?

3. Rapunzel

The newest Disney princess is extremely high on my list! Rapunzel is just TOO. CUTE. FOR. WORDS. That’s really the best beschrijving I can give of her. You’d have thought a girl shut up in a tower her entire life would be severely lacking in social skills. But no, she has enough charm to win over a totally hot boyfriend as soon as she leaves the tower and manages to soothe and get an entire band of thugs on her side! How awesome is that? And she manages to find so much to do in her tower. I’ve lived my life in the outside world and yet I can’t do paper mache, can’t play chess, can’t do ventriloquy and can barely cook and bake. Oh and she PAINTS and SKETCHES and PLAYS GUITAR. That is one talented girl.
She also has that infectious enthusiasm which can best be described as an Ariel-like quality about her. She longs to see the outside world and when she’s there her delight is so catching that I always smile along with her. One difference is that she’s racked with guilt about betraying her “mother”, which is so cute. She’s such an affectionate girl and has a sense of responsibility despite her wish to see the outside world, unlike Ariel.

And despite her cutie pie persona, she can totally hold her own! She’s smart and thinks quickly, using the frying pan as a weapon and using her glowing hair to get her and Flynn out of a drowning. She’s the perfect combination of a cute and romantic classic princess and a spunky, kick-ass modern princess. She was also willing to give up her freedom for Flynn, which is just too AWW-worthy.

There are just too many things I love about Rapunzel that I can’t write them all down. I love how she finishes her chores in FIFTEEN minutes, tracks the movement of stars (how smart is that? She had no education and only three boeken in the house and she can do all that?), suspends herself with her hair to paint the walls, sneakily devises a plan to leave the tower, cooks hazelnut soup, spontaneously start a kingdom dance and bothers to brush all seventy feet of her hair! Being stuck in one place is boring as hell, but Rapunzel turns it into the most interesting life ever.

She also shows lots of spirit. When she finds out Mother Gothel has been lying to her her whole life, she has the courage to stand up to her. I love how she says loudly “I am the lost princess. Did I mumble this time…mother? of should I even call u that?”. It shows that she’s not a chirpy airhead, but a sweet girl who can be full of spirit and brand when necessary.

2. Belle

Belle is awesome! There’s a reason why she’s high on almost everybody’s list. In fact, there are many reasons. First, I just love how NICE she is. u can see that she’s really an open-minded person who is willing to give people a chance. She’s nice to everybody she meets except the Beast and Gaston, and honestly who can blame her for that? Even though she was captured in the Beast’s castle, she was sweet to the rest of the kasteel inhabitants. I mean most people would probably lump everyone in the kasteel under the category of “captors” and “bad people” but like I zei she’s willing to give everyone a chance. Even in “Belle”, she responds so enthusiastically to the baker when he says good morning to her. And that’s with her generally disliking her “provincial” town and the people in it for thinking she’s weird.

I also love how she’s a perfect mix of sweet and spunky. She’s never directly rude to Gaston, hence she does not go into the “bitchy” category, but she makes very clever snide commentaren which just fly over his head. “Some people use their imagination” and “Gaston, you’re positively primeval” are total gems. She’s also able to hold her own well, even against the Beast, when she’s cleaning his wound and he’s throwing a huge tantrum. I simply LOVE that squabble they had! “IT HURTS!” “Well it wouldn’t hurt if u just hold still!” “If u hadn’t gone running off, I wouldn’t have been hurt!” “And if u didn’t scare me I wouldn’t have run away!” “Well u shouldn’t have been in the west wing!” “And u should learn to control your temper!”. Priceless!

And that brings me to my volgende point. People accuse Belle of Stockholm syndrome, and that she promotes abusive relationships door loving the Beast despite his bad treatment of her. Ok, firstly, the Beast never really abused her. Yes, he did keep her prisoner, but as captivity goes she had a pretty good deal. He gave her a nice room, fed her and never hit her. All he really did was rage a lot and throw huge tantrums and shout and her. But notice something? She never loved him of even liked him when he was doing all that. She didn’t want anything to do with him at all! The first time she became nice to him was when he saved her life. Even then she did not hesitate to shout back at him when he started being bad-tempered. Belle was only nice to him and started liking him when he became nice to her. So I don’t think she enjoyed getting abused and promotes abusive relationships of anything like that.

Despite all Belle’s brand and spirit and “wanting more”, she still remains a dreamy romantic at heart. She loves fairytales and stories about Prince Charming. And I think that’s really sweet. She’s intellectual to some extent, since she enjoys books, and is not superficial and airheaded since she does not fall for Gaston despite his good looks. Yet she retains that dreamy princess quality. And I think that’s a perfect combination!

1. Mulan

Finally, we’ve arrived at her. The cutest, bravest, prettiest, wittiest, smartest, funniest, most absolutely too-awesome-for-words Disney princess (and any other animated character for that matter) EVER! She’s my ultimate favourite and that’s something that will never ever change. How do I even begin to describe how amazing this girl is?? I love her to bits! I don’t even know how to start describing the perfection that is Mulan.

Let’s start with her brains. In my opinion she’s the smartest Disney girl. I would never, ever have, in a million years, thought of that trick with the cannon. For one thing I would have been freaking out about facing a huge army of huns in my first battle. And she still manages to keep her cool, glance at her sword, and have that pure genius idea pop into her mind. Every time I watch that scene I just think to myself, the girl’s a freaking genius. She also realized the trick in scaling the pole at camp when no one else could. I’m not sure if Shang knew the trick was to use the weights to your advantage, of if he just wanted to use them as a handicap, but whatever it is Mulan turned something which was meant to hold her back into a useful tool for her to reach her goal. She spent the whole night climbing that pole! The amount of determination, grit and spunk she has is amazing. When I watch that scene with the closeup of her determined face, against a sunrise background and the chorus of “I’ll make a man out of you”, I feel so damn proud of her. She thinks up all these amazing ideas on the spot and under pressure, which I think is the best measure of one’s intelligence. She defeated Shan Yu and the huns with pure brains (and some really kickass fighting).

Another thing I love about Mulan is how she manages to be so kickass and yet demure and gentle at times. I know many people would not use those two words to describe Mulan, but she really is. Look at when she sings Reflection. When she sings the line “if I were truly to be myself, I would break my family’s heart”, she hops up daintily onto the railing of the bridge, skips one step, then thinks better of it and hops down again in such a decidedly feminine way. I’m not sure if I’m even making sense but her actions in that scene seem so delicate and graceful to me. Yet it shows her spirit and tomboyish-ness and that makes her so irresistible. Even during her fight scenes, she still manages to be so feminine in the way she points her toes after a kick! There’s something so fluid about her motions. I also love that she didn’t go off to kom bij the army to have adventure, of to escape her boring life, of to prove a point to her family, of any such childish wish. She did it purely to save her father. She wasn’t trying to go there to toon the men that she could do anything they could. And that makes her so wonderful. Because she DID eventually do whatever they could, and better. Sorry but I have to compare this with Meg. Meg was supposedly spunky because she kept saying she could handle things on her own when she couldn’t. Mulan never wanted to prove anything, yet in the end her actions spoke for her. She didn’t go around shoving a lot of “so-what-if-I’m-a-girl-I-can-look-after-myself” nonsense in everyone’s faces, she went out and proved it.

I love that she has a feminine side. Although she was not traditional bride material, and couldn’t behave in the docile way expected of Chinese girls, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t girlish at heart. When she had her makeup done, she frowned at her reflection in the mirror, pulled that one strand of hair down in the middle, then smiled happily. That’s just too cute for words!! It wasn’t that she didn’t like being made up, she just didn’t like the way it was done. She wanted to add her own personal rebellious touch to it. She was also girlish enough to admire Shang’s hot body and smile goofily at him, just like any other girl with a crush. At the matchmaker’s, she also knew how to whip out her fan and behave in a feminine way to hide the fact that she was cheating with the notes on her hand. And that’s another thing – the cheating is just too cute. And when her mum discovers it, she grins sheepishly and bats her lashes. Gosh Mulan, I just adore you!! Sorry, I’m raving. There are a hundred cute things which Mulan does, and I just can’t name them all. But I love her sheepish looks – when Shang frowns at her after seeing Mushu help her cheat when they’re practising shooting arrows, when she accidentally grabs Yao’s foot instead of the fish, and when the bucket of water falls on her head and she slowly tips it up to look at Shang.

Finally, she’s just so pretty!! Not when she’s a man, obviously, but honestly I can’t blame her for that. Her appearance changes when she’s a man – her eyebrows become thicker, her lip colour is gone, and the blush on her cheeks also disappears. I think the animators knew they had to change her look subtly so that she could pass off as a man. It’s not just a matter of pulling her hair up. But when she’s a girl – what a girl! I always love the way her eyes tilt up at the corners – they make her look kind of feline. I love that roze flush of her cheeks, and her lips are simply sweet. Her hair is also gorgeous (before she cut it!), especially when she’s sitting out in the rain. And I also love her lithe figure, and how she’s described as “too skinny” to beer sons!

I can go on and on about Mulan for pages on end, and even now I feel like I haven’t even covered enough reasons why I love her so much. But I’ll hold back. Suffice to say Mulan is the pinnacle of awesomeness to me!

P.S.: I’m sorry for the amount of Meg bashing, I just couldn’t help it. >< No offense to Meg fans out there!