I ultimately went with Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella. All three maintain your attention without trying whenever they're onscreen (even if you muted the voices). Cruella is just a beast. That fur draws the eye like nothing else, and I actually think she's the prettiest Disney villainess, too--in the right shots. The hat and pocketbook are great, too. Ursula's design is fab in a lot of ways, but I've come to appreciate how her design serves to bring a great deal of the tension to her scenes (and not just the tentacles). A lot of TLM seems to focus on consumption--the first scene we see of Ursula is of her swallowing (sentient?) shrimp, then there's Ariel and Flounder fleeing the shark, Sebastian's horror during "Les Poissons," the fish in the opening escaping the ship, Ariel swimming (literally) through the mouth down into the belly of the beast to visit Ursula. The fact that they made Ursula's mouth so large adds a great deal to the scene when she becomes gigantic, as if she's about to literally eat them alive. And it's more funny, because I doubt it was intentional exactly; from the making-of features, apparently the Giant Ursula scene came much later into the film's production, thanks to Katzenberg wanting something more climactic, so her design was probably set before they ever thought of that scene, right? Anyway, I believe I'd choose Lady Tremaine next if I'd had another vote; the character's face alone is so expressive. The Evil Queen would be next. Although I've never been a fan of the white collar-thing, I do think the rest of the design is very beautiful in the right shots (mainly the opening one when she's calling the mirror, stalking down the stairs to her dungeon, and the very last shot of the scene where she speaks with the Huntsman when she holds out the box for SW's heart).
@Sotiris: I suppose I can see your point about the ways in which Maleficent's design imitates Tremaine's. They both have that very regal posture and graceful movement (something about the shoulders is very controlled, it reminds me of Lansbury actually, who was a ballet dancer). The faces also have some similarities, too. Still, Maleficent's robes alone are just gorgeous, especially when the character raises her arms and all the various colors / folds are shown. I do think Tremaine is the better villain overall, but I give Maleficent the edge in design.
_________________ Listening to most often lately: Conan Gray ~ "Overdrive" Carly Rae Jepsen ~ "Gimmie Love" Carly Rae Jepsen ~ "Your Type"
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