Disney-Pixar Villains Who Make Good Points
By William Rodriguez
You should believe in the wonder of the unknown. Who could argue with that? Of course, Charles Muntz somewhat lost sight of where he was originally coming from as he descended into madness, but the villain of 2009's Up really made a good point before his work and subsequent ridicule drove him crazy.
He'd discovered something amazing — a new species of bird — and he wanted people to experience it, to believe in it. That's really all he wanted to prove before he grew more and more delusional. He just wanted people to have faith in discovery and to experience curiosity about the wonderful things in store for an avid explorer and friend of the Earth. But instead, they called him a fraud and discredited him in public, sending him spiraling into violence, paranoia, and destruction.
At the end, Charles Muntz, the childhood hero of Mr. Fredrickson, was still hunting for the bird that everyone had told him, disdainfully, didn't exist. But he'd also begun killing any other explorers he met along the way, thinking they were there to find it, too. If his colleagues and the public at large had been a little more open-minded, he could've used this rabid dedication to serve the scientific community and the world. We could all do with a little more curiosity and wonder, rather than assuming we've already discovered all the answers we need.
