Is Lotso the best pixar villain?

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#1

Do you believe Lotso deserves this praise?

  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

Voiced to perfection by the great Ned Beatty, Lotso is one of the new characters of the Toy Story films. [spoil]He runs Sunnyside daycare, and appears to be a friendly old bear at first, but he actually runs the daycare like a prison. He deliberately makes new toys play with destructive toddlers, where they will most likely be destroyed. He only selects a few toys to join him with the more gentler children when he believes that they can serve a purpose.[/spoil]

Lotso is not just be the best Pixar villain of all time, he may be one of the best movie villains of all time. Compared to other villains (especially animated villains) in movie history, Lotso has many unique traits that set him apart from other villains.

  1. He has no menacing outward features that would tell someone that he is a villain. On the outside, he is a cute, cuddly teddy bear that smells like strawberries. None of these traits would normally be used to describe a villain. Especially one as dark as Lotso. He is a great example of how appearances can be deceiving, and may set a bar on how villains are approached in the future.

  2. He is a well developed and complex character. Developing a villain is something many film makers either overlook or choose not to do. This is especially true of animated villains; many of them are colored in black and white. Villains like Maleficent and Cruella De Vil are memorable villains, yet there is no explanation as to why they are evil in the first place. For all we know, they were evil from the start. Lotso was not always evil, and he has an understandable reason for being the kind of person he is.

As said before, Lotso wasn’t always evil. In fact, he wasn’t that much different from Woody at one point, which makes him that more chilling of a villain. [spoil]Once owned and dearly loved by a little girl named Daisy, he along with a couple other toys were accidentally left behind at a rest stop. When he and his friends finally reach Daisy’s house, Lotso discovers that he was replaced by another Lotso during the long time he was missing. Feeling betrayed, unloved, and bitter, he abandoned Daisy and forces his comrades to do the same. Lotso held a grudge for new toys ever since, and he discarded the characteristics that he once treasured: love, loyalty, and selflessness.[/spoil]

Lotso is a true sadist, a character most people would stay away from for a kid’s movie. He takes pleasure in making the people around him just as miserable as he is.[spoil] He justifies his handling of new toys by claiming it as a necessary method to provide a utopia for the toys that deserve it. No one questions him for fear of being sent to the toddler room as well. And some toys are so brainwashed by him that they act as his henchman (Big Baby, Ken, e.t.c.) and do whatever he says. [/spoil]

In spite of all these characteristics, and the [spoil]chilling tale told by Chuckles the Clown about Lotso’s turn to darkness,[/spoil] the greatest factor that makes Lotso such an great villain takes place near the film’s climax. [spoil]He, along with Woody Buzz, and the gang are sent to the garbage dump. As they are being carried on a conveyor belt, Lotso gets stuck under a golf bag, and Woody and Buzz risk their lives to save him from a shredder. After this heroic act, Lotso gets the chance to redeem himself by pressing the emergency stop button to save the other toys. Instead, he shouts “Where’s your kid now?” and attempts to kill them all by allowing them to fall into the incinerator.[/spoil] With this act, Lotso shows to us and to the toys his lack of compassion and gratitude for what the toys done for him, showing that he was truly evil and not just a bully.

That Lotso has a cute appearance, but a truly evil personality makes him unique among villains. And the fact that we still feel sorry for him due to the way he became who he is makes him a very well crafted villain. And Ned Beatty deserves much praise for one of the best performances he has ever done. Pixar truly has made a remarkable character here, one that may be remembered as one of the greatest villains of all time.

EDIT- There are quite a few major spoilers here that you haven’t spoiler tagged, so please make sure to do so in the future!

lizardgirl

#2

I said no for one reason ; Lotso would be tied for the best villain with Syndrome in my opinion.

1.) Incriboy started out innocent enough and his older counterpart operated in the shadows for years. This may not be equal to looking cute, but not existing also helps in the evil world.

2.) Good kid turned evil by the good guys. Also complex in its own sort and gives him purpose.

Both Lotso and Syndrome simply used those around them to advance thier own agendas with little concern as to who lived and died along the way. If innocent people or toys were killed, they didn’t care. I personalty see them as equals even though Lotso is given the benefit of a little more back story.

#3

I’m not sure, about it, but he’s definately the perfect villain for Toy Story 3.

Pixar did a great job on promoting him. He was the most-promoted new character, yet it turns out we knew the least about him. Of course, the rumors of him being a villain were unavoidable, but the trailers and such made you think twice about this sweet old teddy bear. The fact that he was originally supposed to be one of Andy’s toys was a another stumper. Even the viral “commercials” and pre-released Toy Story Collection toy added to it. Bravo, Pixar.

His backstory was another great thing about him. Similar to Stinky Pete, but in my opinion, it didn’t really give him an sympathy, however, it gave him a clear motive.

Finally, this guy’s pure evil. The last time we saw a threat this big was Sid, and it can be argued that he didn’t know any better. [spoil]First, once he was called out by Woody and the gang, even his own henchmen had their doubts about him. After Big Baby sent him to his apparent doom, he was on a true mission for revenge, draggin Woody down with him.

I can’t really fully describe him on the conveyor belt. When all the toys clung to the magnetic celing to be saved from the shredder, Lotso was trapped (it just dawned on me that he might’ve been acting). Woody and Buzz can’t bare to see even a villain like him perish, so they save him. Them risking their lives was repayed by Lotso leaving them to die in the incinerator. I was even looking forward to him redeeming himself. That pretty much did it for me.

It seemed like the toys had a renewed outlook on life, and decided not to pursue Lotso, but he got what was coming in a clever way.[/spoil]

#4

No, that role goes to the Autopilot. However, I do think that he (along with Syndrome, Muntz and Hopper) are some of PIXAR’s most evil villains.

#5

In my opinion, four other villians come before him.

  1. Randall
  2. Hopper
  3. Skinner
  4. Muntz
  5. Lotso
#6

He’s up there with Syndrome and Hopper for me, that’s for sure.

Easily the best villain in the trilogy, at least.

#7

Pixar’s weak point has always been villains, in my opinion. They just never really clicked for me for some reason. I think Lotso is the best villain, though. Even though Stinky Pete had a much more rounded out story, I love Lotso’s character and all that he goes through in the movie. However, [spoil]I hated his comeuppance…it felt a little lame to me. I can’t really think of anything else to do with him, though. Killing him off would’ve been too brutal, but giving him a happy ending would’ve felt wrong after all he did.[/spoil]

#8

I couldn’t bring myself to vote, because I couldn’t separate my objective and subjective opinions enough to decide.

Hopper and Muntz are still my favorites of the Pixar villains, but Lotso certainly ranks with the two of them plus Syndrome as the most genuinely villainous Pixar villains. And I will certainly agree that Ned Beatty gives a fantastic performance.

Dinoco, that’s an interesting thought, that Lotso [spoil]might have been acting when he was trapped on the conveyor belt. It could go either way. Obviously, he didn’t want to see Woody escape, so he could have faked it knowing that Woody would be enough of a sap to come back for him. On the other hand, if he really was trapped, it plays into the old cliche that the Bully is also a Coward at heart, and that Lotso could play the game of seeming nice long enough to get what he wanted before turning nasty again.

From a filmmaking standpoint, trapping Lotso served two purposes: showing that Woody would always do the heroic thing, even to save the evil bad guy, and teasing us into thinking for a moment that Lotso was going to be redeemed.[/spoil]

#9

Umm…In short, I don’t know. Yes and no. There’s no doubt he was an amazing villain, and perfect for Toy Story 3, but I don’t know if I can bring myself to say that he’s necessarily a ‘better’ villain than Syndrome, for example. Lotso and Syndrome are pretty level pegging to me. The fact that we do get to see Lotso’s backstory helps, in the same way that it does with Syndrome, and what makes them both such good villains is great dialogue and believable motives. So it’s a tough one.

#10

I like Randall and Chef Skinner better, but Lotso is definately a close third.

#11

I don’t know about best, but his actions have been the most evil of all I’d say. Syndrome targeted a whole city but planned to save it anyways, Muntz was unfairly made a villian with false accusations, but Lotso had [spoil]not only tortured a lot of toys at sunnyside before, but after being saved turned on those who saved him and all, and there are no other villians that have those “Where’s your kid NOW, sherrif?”[/spoil] evil moments…

EDIT- Please use spoiler tags when revealing spoilers, thanks!

-lizardgirl

#12

Absolutley. He’s one of Pixar’s villains with true motivation. He lost everything and unlike Jessie who accepted it sadly, he got angry. Real angry. A bloody scary bear.

#13

I’d say now he is the best villain, IMO. Others up there are Syndrome and Hopper.

I can’t really say anything that anyone’s already said. The bear’s evil. That first poster really said it all.

So yes, to me he is Pixar’s best villain.

#14

I think that Sid is the Toy Story trilogy’s best villain, so I obviously can’t say that Lotso is Pixar’s greatest villain. Is he a great villain? Yes. But Sid will destroy any and every toy, while Lotso is selective. Does that make him a better villain and just make Sid seemed diluted? Perhaps, but not in my opinion.

A great villain, but not great enough for the title of greatest Toy Story villain. As for the best Pixar villain, I haven’t seen Up or Cars, nor do I remember much of A Bug’s Life (I was only about 5 when I last saw it). Thus, I don’t think I’m qualified to determined that.

#15

Yeah, but Sid didn’t know they were alive. Lotso had no issues with letting [spoil]people who saved his stinking life die.[/spoil]

#16

Yeah, I agree with SadStrangeLittleMan: what Sid was doing was akin to punching a pillow, or setting your lighter to a piece of paper, or anything like that- he didn’t know he was actually hurting anyone. He’s very innocent as ‘villains’ go (though I don’t even think of him as a villain, to be honest. At most, an accidental villain). And then you’ve got Lotso who [spoil]brainwashes toys, and is willing to sacrifice the lives of those who have saved him.[/spoil] There’s really no comparison, though for nostalgia’s sake I can understand why someone might just prefer Sid generally.

#17

I voted no because I do really believe that Hopper is Pixar’s best villain.