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Disney Villains: Delightfully Evil: The Creation • The Inspiration • The Fascination

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Disney Delightfully Evil is a comprehensive catalog showcasing cruel-intentioned characters from the past eight decades of Disney and Pixar films. Each villain is profiled in detail, including information on the animators, directors, and voice actors who brought the evildoers to life.




Fresh, insightful text explores the villains' origins, roles within their stories, and influences on pop-culture and is accompanied by cauldrons of illustrations, including rare concept art, story sketches, and archival photographs depicting the development of fandom's favorite baddies. This book is a bubbling witch's brew made with a dash of Gaston, a teaspoon of Sid Phillips, a sprinkling of Shere Khan, and a touch of Lady Tremaine. Won't you have a taste?




Searching for that perfect gift for the animation fan in your life? Explore more behind-the-scenes stories from Disney

191 pages, Hardcover

Published July 12, 2016

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Jen Darcy

4 books2 followers

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5 stars
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56 (24%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
Profile Image for _och_man_.
361 reviews41 followers
January 11, 2025
Mamy tu do czynienia z zaledwie przystawką przed pełnoprawnym, wielodniowym obiadem - którego wygłodniała ja, tak bardzo wyczekiwałam. Oprawa graficzna zdecydowanie robi wrażenie, które nawiedza czytelnika każdorazowo przy kolejnym pobieżnym wertowaniu księgi. I tu morał na dziś - nigdy nie lekceważcie potęgi czytania od deski do deski (chyba, że w grę wchodzi książka telefoniczna). To właśnie za sprawą lektury "jak Bóg przykazał" mogłam dojść do wniosku przedstawionego na samym początku.
Chciałoby się więcej, DUŻO WIĘCEJ. Coś ponad drętwe cytowanie złowrogich kwestii (swoją drogą, z niektórymi tytułami jestem obeznana na tyle, by móc recytować scenariusze z pamięci - moje wprawne oko dostrzegło kilka usterek tłumaczeniowych, co boli tym bardziej, gdy w grę wchodzą raptem pojedyncze zdania) czy suche streszczenia filmów. Nie oczekuję ponownego spotkania z fabułą, którą dobrze znam; lektura tej książki nie ma mi pomóc nadrobić kulturalnych braków.
Smaczki produkcyjne, zabarwiona psychologicznie analiza postaci i ich motywacji, geneza powstania - tego oczekiwałam. I tego zabrakło (kosztem wyliczania broadwayowskich adaptacji czy oferty Disneylandu; PO CO...).

Jako krótka forma nacieszenia oczu ulubionymi kadrami - jak najbardziej. Jako kompendium wiedzy - skoczcie lepiej na DisneyWiki.
Profile Image for Bravebook.
344 reviews8 followers
Read
January 25, 2022
Album ze zdjęcia - "Złoczyńcy. Rozkosznie nikczemni" to wielki album i są w nim przedstawieni złoczyńcy i czarne charaktery znane nam wszystkim z filmów Disneya!😍

Przy każdym z nich widnieje notka informacyjna o tym, z jakiego filmu pochodzi dana postać, w którym roku była premiera animacji, kto tworzył dany charakter oraz kto podkładał mu głos w wersji angielskiej i polskim dubbingu. Pod spodem dołączona jest garść ciekawostek o danej postaci czy aktorze udzielającym jej głosu.

Do każdego antybohatera dołączone są też ilustracje, a przez to, że całość jest wydana w solidnej twardej oprawie, wielkim formacie i dobrej jakości papierze, mamy do czynienia ze wspaniałym albumem! Dowiedziałam się z niego naprawdę wielu rzeczy, ciekawostek, genez różnych złoczyńców oraz informacji o grających ich aktorach. Tekstu co prawda nie ma jakoś wiele, osobiście nie obraziłabym się za więcej ciekawostek 😂 ale po prostu wynika to z mojego zamiłowania do takich rzeczy ❤️Z pewnością jeszcze nie raz do niego zajrzę - czy to po to, by sobie coś odświeżyć, czy w poszukiwaniu inspiracji 😁

W albumie czarne charaktery zostały rozmieszczone w różnych tematycznych rozdziałach. Bardzo spodobał mi się pomysł na ten podział i wybrane motywy, bardzo fajnie prezentuje album jako całość. Mam jednak pewne "ale", ponieważ nie do końca zgadzam się z każdą decyzją jaka została podjęta 😅 niektórych złoczyńców umieściłabym osobiście po prostu w innych kategoriach. Niektóre postacie pasują do kilku z nich, nie mniej, nie do końca zgadzam się z pewnymi decyzjami w tej materii.

Podsumowując:
Jak tylko dostałam ten album do rąk to poczułam się zachwycona jest wielkością i ciężarem 🤣
Później przyszedł czas na zachwyt okładką, wklejką i ilustracjami w środku!💗
Na samo czytanie czas nadszedł trochę później, a byłam bardzo ciekawa jak odbiorę samą treść.
Znów robiłam za żywy audiobook, jednak przez niewiele tekstu na stronie czytanie poszło bardzo szybko, 2-3 wspólne posiedzenia 😁
Czułam pewien niedosyt, bo chciałabym odkryć więcej ciekawostek i sekretów związanych z kulisami tworzenia animacji dinseya, jednak z całą pewnością może rzec, że czas spędzony przy tym albumie upłynął mi w prawdziwie rozkosznie nikczemnym czasie^^

Fani Disneya i animacji, a już zwłaszcza czarnych charakterków powinni zaczerpnąć sporo miłych chwil przy tym tytule 💪
Profile Image for Daniel Perlino.
47 reviews1 follower
October 26, 2016
This is a welcome addition to the Disney Legacy / Art Books Library. My favorite aspect of the book is the categorization of the villains, especially the one-page spreads which display various overlooked villain characteristics. For example, I really loved the page on villain transformations because that is always something I have loved about Disney villains. Other examples include showcases of villain's henchmen, jewelry, and transportation of choice. Where this book falls short, however, is that what little writing it does contain is cheesy. This is definitely a book for all age groups as opposed to an in-depth study of the enduring appeal of Disney Villains. I love the fact that it is so up to date, but I much prefer Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's "The Disney Villain" from 1993 and which I am desperately in need of re-reading. Still, I enjoyed this more than the book on Disney Dragons that was also just released for reasons of personal involvement / interest in the subject material and because this book had more commentary (even if it was lackluster at best).
Profile Image for Halim.
50 reviews
July 12, 2017
I first saw this book while vacating at Disney World. I immideatly wanted to buy it but it was too expensive for me (around 40$). Luckily I found it for half the price on Amazon.

The book is not very long. And. It doesn't have a lot of writing in it (even though a lot of short fun facts about Disney movies scattered all over the book). However this book is full of fantastic drawings and never-before-seen concept art of some of Disney's most memorable Villains (and minions).

If you are Disney fan; you NEED this book in your collection!
Profile Image for Luly.
73 reviews17 followers
February 4, 2017
When I first saw this book, I immediately wanted it, but I had my doubts when I read the reviews. In general, they were mixed and people seemed to be mostly of the opinion that the amount of information in it wasn't worth the buy, especially comparing it to "The Disney Villain". I was worried, since it was the information what drew me to it in the first place, I have some Disney-themed essays on the way and villains are a big part of them. Thankfully, I ended up being very happy with my choice to purchase.

It's true that the amount of information on each villain isn't as developed as in more specialized books like Tale As Old As Time, The Disney Villain, etc. If you're looking for entire chapters dedicated to one villain in particular, this is not that. This book is more about quantity, in that regard, since it groups villains since the Laugh-O-Gram days (I didn't expect that!) up to Zootopia in 2016. Still, not every villain is devoid of useful information or inside trivia; some of them are, don't get me wrong, but there is interesting information for a lot of them (like fun facts, pages dedicated to important voice actors like Eleanor Audley or David Ogden Stiers, Disney Parks Attractions, Disney history and other interesting facts).

But what I liked the most about the book is the amount and quality of the visuals. There is a great compilation of concept art, clean-up animation, final frames, voice actors photographed in the booth (including legends like Vincent Price), performing actors photographed while being used as reference (Don Brodie as the Queen from Snow White was my favorite) and amazing treasures from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, including an Ub Iwerks clean-up animation from Steamboat Willie that had me nerding out for 10 minutes. This is especially rich for those movies or productions which don't have tons of art-books and printed material out there, which is the case of underrated gems like Robin Hood, The Rescuers or The Black Cauldron, oldies but goodies like the Alice Shorts, The Pluto Shorts, Fantasia, Saludos Amigos, Fun and Fancy Free and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, to name a few examples (did you ever ask for a model line-up of the Mr Toad cast with height comparisons? because there is one at the Walt Disney Animation Research Library and it is in this book!). Images are, mostly, properly credited, dated and cited, which is great for Disney enthusiasts looking for photographic references they can properly cite. All of this, to me, made it worthy of my money.

The villains are grouped in categories with different titles, depending on a certain characteristic they have in common (one of those categories is a Jessica Rabbit quote, which is genius but, to my disappointment, Jessica herself isn't included in the book at all, whereas other seemingly-villainous-but-not-really characters did get a place, even Quasimodo, who I would have never thought to consider for a book like this, but I love him, so I didn't mind his inclusion). This order is a bit arbitrary, but the book includes various appendixes, one of which lists the productions in order of release, for those who prefer that. The amount of pages dedicated to each villain varies, from 1 to 4, more or less, all of them have a list of information in the beginning (release date, animator/s, voice actor/s, director/s) and then text and images (mostly images, less text). In between there's the extra information, the biggest of those sections dedicated to the villains in the Disney Parks (including the Shanghai Park).

All in all, this is like a Villain encyclopedia, with more images than text but which still has some useful information, and a very good selection of art. It doesn't cover as much on the creation as other Disney books, but the amount of stuff included and the quality of the research done for the selection is very good. This book will be useful for my Disney analysis purposes, after all.
3 reviews9 followers
May 24, 2022
Great mini backstories. Nice array of characters covered. Also, great for sketchbooking for my artist friends out there.
Profile Image for booksbybookaholic.
642 reviews3 followers
December 15, 2021
W tym roku Wydawnictwo Olesiejuk przygotowało książkę, która może okazać się niesamowitą gratką i idealnym prezentem dla wszystkich fanów filmów Disneya. "Złoczyńcy. Rozkosznie nikczemni" to ilustrowany album, pełen interesujących ciekawostek i faktów o wszystkich negatywnych bohaterach z filmów tej wytwórni. Dodatkowo mamy tam też przedstawione postacie, których aparycja może przywodzić na myśl złoczyńców, a w rzeczywistości są oni przemiłymi osobami. Wszystkie te elementy składają się na niezwykle ciekawą pozycję, która pozwoliła mi lepiej poznać niektóre animowane filmy, a dodatkowo przedstawiła mi wiele ciekawostek, którymi teraz chętnie będę dzieliła się z innymi.

Oprócz tego w książce możemy poznać też różne zakulisowe informacje z momentu tworzenia i rysowania postaci, a także kadry z filmów.

Czytając uważnie album miałam też okazję poznać i zainteresować się wieloma animacjami, o których istnieniu nie miałam wcześniej pojęcia. To także bardzo mi się podobało, bo dzięki temu moja lista bajek do obejrzenia znacząco się powiększyła.

Uważam że książka będzie idealnym wyborem dla wszystkich fanów, a z racji zbliżających się Świąt warto zainteresować się nią bliżej i być może sprezentować swoim bliskim. Jej dokładne wydanie, piękne ilustracje, format i ogólna organizacja sprawiają, że będzie to podarek idealny. Ja ze swojej strony bardzo wam ją polecam. Dowiedziałam się z niej wiele i z radością będę wracała do czytania o historii co po niektórych bohaterów.
Profile Image for Alex.
312 reviews4 followers
February 8, 2020
I’ll give this a 4 for being colorful and fun, but in reality I could go a lot lower if I was looking at just content. This is a visual “history” of Disney villains. It makes a great coffee table book to flip through periodically, and I imagine children who love Disney villains would enjoy this book a lot. What I like about the book is that the chapters are broken down into the villains’ driving characteristics, and does not follow a chronological order. There’s also a lot of study work for the characters so it takes you a little more backstage. Each character has their movie’s release date, director, voice actor, and illustrator(s) listed as well. What I don’t like is how little facts there are about the making of the character! Most entries have maybe one small paragraph devoted to them. This is definitely a much more visual than informative book. While I still enjoyed it, I personally would have like to see more character studies and a more thorough explanation of how the character came to be.
Profile Image for Heather.
259 reviews5 followers
October 18, 2017
A good book to get into the Halloween spirit. Some nice concept sketches and little snippits of info throughout but this is in no way a thorough text. Mainly drawings, stills and photos with a paragraph so so for each character. They do focus on "lesser appreciated" Disney films, in fact possibly each of the classic canon is featured. Includes more recent films like Zootropolis, Wreck it Ralph and Big Hero 6. Interesting choice of chapter layout. A good coffee table browsing book for any Disney fan!
Profile Image for Mateicee.
598 reviews28 followers
February 20, 2025
Ein Bildband der sich den Bösewichten im Disney Universum widmet. Die abgedruckten Bilder sind sehr hochwertig, das ganze Buch hat eine gute Haptik.

Den Bösewichten wird jeweils eine Seite mit einem kurzen Steckbrief gewidmet. So kommen wir auf das ganze Buch verteilt vielleicht auf 10% Text. Die Texte sind sehr oberflächlich und geben nicht alles wieder.

Ich bin mit mir am Hadern ob ein Bilderbuch 40€ tatsächlich wert ist oder nicht
Profile Image for Kat Ice.
743 reviews11 followers
April 2, 2018
I loved this book!! You always see so many things about the good guys in Disney but not much about the Collins so this was a nice change of pace. I loved that it showed some concept art, information about it, and a little bit about each villian and some trivia! such an amazing book and definitely a re read and a coffee book!
Profile Image for Stella.
870 reviews16 followers
August 16, 2023
I like the variety of villains included here, some rarely mentioned in other books. And the excerpts about voice actors were wonderful. Not sure what I'm looking for in a Disney Villains book, but something more than a summary and a couple sketches of each villain. This is basically an oddly organized character encyclopedia.
Profile Image for Lisa.
2,156 reviews24 followers
November 17, 2017
This book is so beautiful!!! And so interesting. I had no idea that some of these actors did so many of the different voices for so many different characters. There are so many different adaptations. I would totally buy this book. Or buy it as a gift for someone else. So pretty.
Profile Image for Julia.
277 reviews2 followers
November 8, 2017
A beautiful coffee table or collectors book on all your favorite disney villains. Can we have sidekicks next pretty please!
Profile Image for Jen.
590 reviews
December 2, 2017
Every Disney Hero becomes the hero because of the perfectly paired Villian. °o°
Profile Image for Kristin Dahlman.
214 reviews1 follower
January 29, 2018
Interesting history on the disney villains from who drew them to to voiced them. Super interesting to a Disney nerd.
Profile Image for Ren.
64 reviews1 follower
March 25, 2020
There isn't a lot of info about each character (most only have 2 - 3 paragraphs) but I enjoy having an encyclopedia of Disney villains. I also enjoyed the concept art and fun facts.
Profile Image for Julie.
33 reviews1 follower
March 14, 2021
A really nice book if you want to know about the Disney villains and their voice actors
Profile Image for Jade.
912 reviews1 follower
April 10, 2021
Just a fun read! This makes me want to watch a lot more of the earlier shorts.
Profile Image for BrittIsReading.
146 reviews
January 8, 2022
Really interesting, I love the concept art and the quotes from the animators especially. For those who love Disney villains and are interested in how movies are made, I'd definitely recommend this!
Profile Image for A. Hadessa.
498 reviews12 followers
February 14, 2022
I LOVE THIS EDITION.
As a Fan of Disney I really love the infos and sketches about the making, developments and thoughts around and behind every villain in their universe.
made for lasting...
310 reviews
October 20, 2023
Loved it, actually learned a few things and enjoyed the in-depth look at the world of the Disney Villain
Profile Image for czytanienaszapasja.
477 reviews32 followers
January 1, 2025
3/5⭐
Dużo ciekawych informacji na temat naszych ulubionych złoczyńców! Dowiedziałam się też wiele o bajkach, o których istnieniu nie miałam pojęcia 🫶🏻
Profile Image for Sonia.
109 reviews
January 31, 2020
A pesar de tan sólo tratarse de una enciclopedia de villanos, es decir poco texto y muchas imágenes, lo he disfrutado mucho.
Me ha resultado adictivo y las imágenes poseen alta calidad.
Profile Image for Kirsten.
867 reviews61 followers
March 7, 2025
I received this book for Christmas from one of the besties and was excited about it for a couple of reasons:

1) Disney
2) Villains
3) Super recently published - as in I didn't even know this book existed

I enjoyed reading through this one even though it wasn't overly informative. Most of the information included were things I had picked up through a lot of my other Disney reading, and it wasn't organized all that well (example: the book ends without a clear conclusion/summary of thoughts and feels unfinished. There were also a bunch of random like, vignette type additions that didn't really necessarily suit the content on either side of it, and this was a recurring issue). Despite it's flaws, though, I still enjoyed revisiting and reminding myself of all of the great characters Disney has created over the years. This also plays into the conversation Lish and I had in line for Mine Train last Christmas when we tried to figure out each major villain's motivation for doing what they do.

I'm happy to have this one on the shelf and will definitely flip through it again in the future.
Profile Image for Kate.
795 reviews15 followers
August 4, 2016
A "delightfully evil" roster of baddies varying in magical monsters to normal power-hungry humans. I love how it explains their motives and categorizes them. Especially useful with the villain spoiler chapter as some would not want to know their villainy until having seen the films. The only, small misgiving I have is that I wish it showed more incarnations of these villains in their inspirations or depicted in other films or TV. Such as comparisons of them from their character counterparts in ABC's"Once Upon a Time ", Shere Khan and Kaa versions now shown in the live action/3-D Disney movie, the stepsister Anastasia's happily ever after, Hook's origins (seriously see Disney's "The Pirate Fairy"), or even other Disney sequel's villains (like Zira, Morgana, Sa'luk, etc.). No one knows that Mozenrath (from the Aladdin TV show) was scripted to be Aladdin's brother. Apparently it makes for a second volume in itself, dealing with all the lesser seen villains. Still, it holds a great amount of knowledge and concept work on the major antagonists throughout the Disney films.
Profile Image for Craig Yoshihara.
46 reviews1 follower
December 3, 2016
Disney Villains is a beautiful book filled with iconic stills from the movies which feature these villains. But more than that, the pages also contain concept art, live action photo reference material, storyboard sketches and more. Chapters are divided up by type of villain; “Oh So Vain,” “All in the Family,” and “Law and Order” give you an idea of who you’ll find within. But in case you can’t find them, there is a handy alphabetical index in the back of the book. Each villain’s bio includes when they first appeared on the scene, the director of the film, the person who voiced them, and the animators who brought them to life. Darcy puts a lot of work into each description, often including detailed information about the development or background of the character that went into making him or her the complete personification of evil that they are.

To read my complete review go to Disney Nerds
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