What's Up With Disney Villains and the Color Green, Anyway?

(SPOT.ph) For some, Disney villains are right up there with Disney Princesses (and sometimes princes, sure) when it comes to formative childhood figures. And if we're talking Disney bad guys, we're almost always thinking of the color green. The vibrant lime hue has been attached to some of the biggest and baddest of the Disney universe, and now, they're bringing it back for the latest film: King Magnifico.

Voiced by the ever charismatic Chris Pine, Magnifico follows suit in the multi-layered Disney villains of old, dropping right in time for the House of Mouse's 100th year. They're marking that massive celebration with Wish, a movie that bridges everything that made Disney what it is in the past century—including a green-hued villain.  

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Wish creators talk about Magnifico, Disney villains, and the color green

Wish introduces a whole new world. It is set in the Kingdom of Rosas, an idyllic type of place led by sorcerer King Magnifico; it is a place where nothing bad ever happens, supposedly. It is also in this kingdom that a young girl named Asha (Ariana DeBose) sets off on adventure to prove herself and save her kingdom—with wishes at the center of it all. 

This movie is thoroughly new, and it is thoroughly Disney. The story it carries is very much of the new age, think Tangled onwards, only this time, it is drawn in a style that mixes both the 3D animation the studio has become known for with the old hand-drawn look it first became popular for. So if it feels oddly familiar and new at the same time, that's exactly why. 

And with the old 2D illustrations of before returns the bright green of evil. Remember the cauldron of poison the evil queen dips Snow White's apple into? Or Malificient's flames? Scar's glowing eyes? All the way to the Shadow Man's powers, too. This time, it returns for King Magnifico. We chatted with the film's directors, Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, about how green keeps popping back up in Disney.

"It is a choice," said Veerasunthorn in a virtual media roundtable. "We love that it calls back to the classic Disney villains of many."

Now as to whether there's an unspoken rule over at Disney, well, it looks like there isn't. Sure, they chose to paint Magnifico's powers green, but that was in a callback to the villains of old. "Maybe it's just, there's something about that lime green that is just sort of unsettling when it comes to a villain. And it's different. It feels like it's magical as opposed to just like an orange flame or something like that that would feel like fire. So this does have kind of a magical quality to it," adds Buck. "We're definitely were honoring our history there."

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Wish and honoring Disney's history

While the green may be a small detail, the whole movie works to mark a century of Disney. The two directors explain that Wish is inspired directly by Walt Disney's own journey. In the same way Asha fights for what she believes in, the movie reflects "Walt's journey into making the first movie, Snow White, and the perseverance that went into making something that everyone said was a bit of a wild, crazy goose chase. And he did it anyway," says Veerasunthorn. "And he created something that lasted for generations."

"And so our main character, Asha, has sort of that same sort of story arc within the film, that determination to a belief in something and following that through."

Green is just one small detail they put in as a nod to history. As Veerasunthorn cheekily explains, "I felt like we left no stone unturned on this film." To spell that out for you, apart from an overarching narrative inspired by the man himself, you'll spot all sorts of references and Easter Eggs in the film. "We went so nerdy about it," laugh the directors.

You can spot hidden Mickeys throughout the film, as well as nods to timeless characters. For Buck, especially, he was able to sneak in Grandma Willow, having been one of the original animators on Pocahontas. "Someone has a list that is at least [at a] hundred," add the directors. "A lot of the artists in different departments would just keep adding things in the backgrounds or whatever. They would surprise us with some of them. I don't think we even know [how many] are in there."

Wish is the type of movie that can't be watched just once. In the same way you likely had an overused VHS tape of Lion King or a VCD of the Little Mermaid growing up, Wish is setting itself up to be next on the list of favorites. And for the older gens, it will take at least a couple watches to get all the little references; we've already started you off with the color green. 

Wish drops in Philippine cinemas on November 22.