Like Disney, Pixar has influenced pop culture with their stories, animation, and characters. They put a ton of work and love into their films and you can see it in the details. One such aspect is the minor characters. They have made minor characters that are just as memorable as the protagonists, whether it is due to their humor, cool design, or awesome backstory.
However, they have also made some doozies. There are minor characters that were like nails on a chalkboard due to being an overdone trope, ugly stereotype, or by just being pointless.
So here is a list of some awesome and worst minor Pixar characters.
Best: Frozone
With his ice powers, Pixar literally and figuratively made Frozone one of their coolest characters. The scene between him and his unseen wife made movie goers roar with laughter in the theaters. Fans loved it so much, they can recognize it just by calling it the “Super Suit Scene.”
Everyone knows that a feature-length film of Frozone’s family would be a hit. After all, fans loved seeing him again in the sequel.
Worst: Heimlich
On the list of both an overdone trope and ugly stereotype, we have the caterpillar from A Bug’s Life, Heimlich. The stereotype and overdone trope can be explained in three words: “fat and jolly”
This character has been done in so many kids films, and always oddly seems to be German. Characters who have this trope are also Augustus Gloop from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Heinrich from CodenameKidsNextDoor, and Üter Zörker from The Simpsons.
Heimlich was definitely a familiar ugly annoyance that everyone understood the moment they saw him and heard him talk.
Best: Karl Horst
Horst is best remembered from Ratatouille as the man who possibly killed another man with just this thumb. What made his character so fun was his mysterious backstory. All anyone knew is that he was a criminal and he would change the story as to what he did to become a criminal every time.
This minor character also had impressive voice actor, Will Arnett, the same man who voices Bojack Horseman and has voiced Batman in the Lego Movies.
Worst: Emile
Emile is the most forgettable character from Ratatouille. He is Remy’s brother whose two main character traits are gluttonous and unintelligent. Compared to the father, he’s at least nice and more understanding, but he is otherwise a pointless character in the movie. Was he just put there to make Remy seem smarter?
According to an NPR interview, the voice actor for Emile, Peter Sohn, was told to always eating something when speaking as Emile for the film.
Best: Darla
Sometimes the greatest cruelty is done in pure innocence, and that was something Darla from Finding Nemo embodied. This hyperactive child was a fish killer only because she would get so excited that she’d shake them too hard. It is such a real characteristic we sometimes see in real life. Some kids love animals too much and terrorize them in the process.
Not only was the idea behind Darla’s monstrosity a creative idea, it was well executed by her voice actor, LuLu Ebeling, and the animation team that designed her crazy and hyperactive look.
Worst: Chick Hicks
Chick Hicks was a pointless villain of Cars. Some villains are pointless because there is already enough that the main character is struggling with. In Cars, Lightening McQueen is struggling against his own egotism. That is enough of a problem that a villain is not needed. However, the creators thought otherwise and put in a pretty forgettable typical jerk character. Having a villain detracts from the main message of the movie if it’s about McQueen being too egotistical.
Also even though he was the main villain the first movie, he did not even make it into the second one.
Best: Sid
Like Darla, Sid was a character that was monstrous but also just being a kid at the same time. While watching the movie, he seems like a horrible monster but we easily forget that he does not know that the toys are alive.
There are kids that destroy their toys for fun. Destruction is an exciting learning experience for them. As far as Sid was concerned, he was just playing around with junk, not living people. That’s what makes his character so believable and so evil at the same time.
Worst: Harris, Hubert, And Hamish
All three of these triplets are basically the same character so they get to share a spot on the list. That is also part of why they are on this list. They all are pointless with no defining personalities. Most fans of the movie do not even know their names and just call them “the triplets” because that is their major defining feature.
A lot can be done with characters that do not speak, but Pixar did not do anything interesting with them. They were just there to be there.
Best: Ellie Fredricksen
Ellie from Up only appeared for about the first ten minutes of the film, but it’s that part of the film that set-up the movie to be groundbreaking. We hear very little of Ellie, only seeing her life fly by her as she marries her soul-mate. However, audiences immediately connected with her and her life despite knowing little about her. What isn’t there to love about a woman who loves adventure? She was passionate and a driving force of the movie, even after she was gone.
Worst: Poppa Henry
The Good Dinosaur is known as one of Pixar’s worst films. A major reason for why it got a bad reputation was for un-imaginative characters like Poppa Henry. Basically, he was Mufasa from the Lion King. He was full of wisdom, was a great father-figure, and dies tragically in front of his son. Even the death-scenes were oddly similar except instead of a herd of wildebeest, it was a flood. To make matters even more similar, Arlo, his son, sees him in visions just like Simba did with his dad.
