Heel Face Turn / Animated Films

---

• Aladdin: Iago spends the entirety of the first film on Jafar's side. The beginning of the second film, Aladdin: The Return of Jafar, sees Iago get away from Jafar's lamp and gradually turn face over the course of the movie, even offing Jafar permanently by kicking his lamp into magma. Not that Iago's all that heroic, but his conscience does get the better of him on a number of occasions. He bellyaches over it a lot.
• An Angel for Christmas:
  • Bear, and the other members of the Christmas Squad, have a change of heart after seeing Angela save Bobby's life, and help the kids bring back Christmas.
  • Two of the three unnamed bullies end up helping Angela, Bobby and Marian bring Christmas back.
  • Kovet himself, due to Angela's angel powers, becomes a nice guy at the end of the story.
• Dr. Tenma in the 2009 Astro Boy film. Tenma spends the first two-thirds of the movie acting like a king ass, blatantly telling Astro he doesn't want him and kicking him out, and later helping the crazy politician that wants to kill him. Tenma then has a change of heart, risking his own life and freedom to save his "son".
• In Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Audrey, Mole, Vinny, Cookie and Ms. Packard join Milo after it is revealed that they were Evil All Along and he gives them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech for helping Rourke wipe out the Atlanteans for profit.
  Rourke: Aw, you can't be serious.
  Audrey: This is wrong and you know it!
  Rourke: We're this close to our biggest payday ever and you pick now of all times to grow a conscience?!
  Vinny: We've done a lot of things we're not proud of — robbing graves, plundering tombs, double-parking... but, nobody got hurt! Well... maybe somebody got hurt but, nobody we knew.
• In Beauty and the Beast, Beast frequently throws childish tantrums, furiously scolds his servants, and only housed Belle in a stateroom and gave her free run of the castle, except the west wing, at the insistence of his servants and with the expectation that she must fall in love him and break the curse. However after he furiously shouts "GET OUT!!" and she runs away, Beast goes out to force her to return to the castle, and manages to rescue her from a pack of ravenous wolves. When he passes out from the pain of his wounds, Belle briefly considers going back to the village, but instead takes pity on the injured Beast, and they return to the castle together where she helps nurse his injuries and thanks him for saving her life. After she helps him recover, Beast's demeanor begins to change from that of an angry Spoiled Brat, to bashful Prince Charming, and following their romantic date in the ballroom, Belle, using Beast's magic mirror, sees that her father's in trouble and Beast lets her go back to take care of him.
• BoBoiBoy: The Movie: J-Rex, the Land Shark who was dispatched by the Tengkotak to hunt the heroes, joins the side of good after Papa Zola saves his life.
• Xibalba in The Book of Life, after Manolo bests him in his final test.
• Done by Mr. Pickles and Mr. Trout in The Boxtrolls. Averted with Snatcher and Mr. Gristle.
• Molt in A Bug's Life starts out on Hopper's side, though he's so inept that it's hard for him to be even remotely menacing. He ends up abandoning the grasshoppers after the ants stand up to them, and even gets to join P.T. Flea's circus.
• Care Bears
  • In The Care Bears Movie, Nicholas is talked out of being The Dragon for the evil book by The Power of Friendship.
  • Dark Heart turns good at the end of Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation, when he admits he cares about Christy in order to save her.
• A Cat in Paris: Nico was not a bad guy per se in the beginning, but he did rob houses and museums without any scruples, and his first question is why a group of men, a girl, and a woman are in his house. When he sees Zoe is in trouble, however, and that Dino knows her, he switches his motivation to saving her from Costa.
• Like Iago, Cinderella has a character who starts off rotten to the core in the original movie, and then turns in the sequel, this being Anastasia. The first sequel, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, has her as one of the protagonists in "An Uncommon Romance", where Cinderella helps her win the heart of a baker she falls in love with. But the third movie, Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, has her start things off by stealing the Fairy Godmother's magic wand and handing it to her mother. From that point on, she poses as the one who the prince fell in love with...and her conscience slowly gets the better of her as she realizes what love really means until, at the end of the film, she can no longer go along with Lady Tremaine's plan, and openly defies her. Cinderella ultimately forgives Anastasia and lets her stay in the palace. As such, she's the only one of the three Tremaines whose story ends with a happily ever after.
  • Unfortunately, this wasn't the case in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep whereas Anastasia lets her hatred of Cinderella after fitting the glass slippers turn into an Unversed and get killed messily, this time being remembered as an irredeemable monster through and through. This is unlike Iago above, who kept his Heel–Face Turn in the game eventually. Then again, the events of the game happened during the first movie's events and she was not given the chance to feel what love really means, meaning the idea of Heel–Face Turn hasn't really crossed her mind (rather than rejecting the chance).
• This is the plot of Despicable Me: supervillain Felonious Gru finds that his latest Evil Plan requires that he pretend to adopt three orphan girls, named Margo, Edith, and Agnes. Problem is, after a few days with them, he finds he doesn't want to stop pretending...
• Interestingly, despite Disney's kid-friendly reputation, there are only two Big Bads in the Disney Animated Canon to turn face (so far):
  • The Fox and the Hound: Amos Slade already starts the movie as an Anti-Villain whose desire to get Tod is driven for misunderstandings and legitimately cares for his dogs. However, after Tod saves him and Copper from a savage grizzly bear, he's convinced by Copper not to shoot the weak Tod for it and lets go of his hate.
  • Treasure Planet has John Silver, whose paternal bond with Jim eventually drives him to sacrifice a boatload of gold to save Jim's life.
• In Disney Fairies Great Fairy Rescue, Vidia turns good after leading Silvermist, Rosetta, Fawn, Iridessa, Clank and Bobble to rescue Tinker Bell from humans, and even risks her life to save Tinker Bell from being taken to a a museum to be pinned to a display case. Tink returns the favor and now Vidia is not only a Sixth Ranger, but also The Lancer of the group.
• Sour Kangaroo and, to an extent, Vlad from Horton Hears a Who! (2008) Word of God says that Sour Kangaroo was originally meant to have a satisfactory comeuppance, but due to it being against Dr. Seuss' wishes about peace and friendship, she ultimately makes this instead.
• Ice Age: Diego the sabre-toothed tiger is a double agent who spends most of the film trying to steal a baby so his boss can eat him, but is gradually swayed and softened up by The Power of Friendship. At the end, he sacrifices himself to protect the babysitters. However, he narrowly avoids Redemption Equals Death, thanks to an offscreen Unexplained Recovery, and becomes a full-fledged good guy for the rest of the franchise.
• In Ice Age: Continental Drift, Shira, Diego's Love Interest and Distaff Counterpart similarly turns to the heroes' side after seeing the Herd's adherence to The Power of Friendship and Captain Gutt threatening to kill her.
• Mirage in The Incredibles stops supporting Syndrome because he Would Hurt a Child and he calls Mr. Incredible's bluff to crush her, despite his following claims that he was doing so since he knew Mr. Incredible would never kill a person. Regardless, she leaves him (making him shocked and confused) and instead aids the heroes in their escape from Nomanisan Island.
• Koati: Jithu starts out fully aligned with the main villain Zaina, and agrees to hunt down Nachi to prevent him from learning new information and undermining Zaina's authority. By the end, he helps push down a pillar to prevent lava from entering the Mouth that Does Not Speak, where the animals are taking refuge.
• In Kung Fu Panda 4, Zhen, actually the Chameleon's adopted ward, initially betrays Po and gives his Staff of Wisdom to her mentor. She soon comes to regret her actions and helps Po to stop her master.
• In The LEGO Movie, first Good/Bad Cop then Lord Business.
  • The Joker and Gotham Criminals in The LEGO Batman Movie
  • Lord Garmadon, later Ninjago Students in The LEGO Ninjago Movie.
• Lilo & Stitch. Stitch starts out with a programmed instinct to destroy anything in sight, and Jumba is the Mad Scientist who illegally engineered him to do so. Stitch ends up being won over by Lilo's friendship and love while pretending to be a dog, while Jumba comes to accept Pleakley's company, ally with Lilo's family, and turn his back on the Federation.
  • In Lilo & Stitch: The Series, almost each episode focuses on Lilo and Stitch's attempts to rehabilitate one of the other 625 escaped experiments. Captain Gantu and Experiment 625 has one in the Grand Finale film.
• In The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Kovu is conditioned by Zira to infiltrate Simba's pride and kill him, but comes to love Kiara and refuse to go through with the assassination after hearing Simba's side on Scar's death. Later, Vitani accepts Kiara and Kovu's claim that the Outlanders' war with Simba is pointless, and the rest of the Outlanders turn against Zira when she threatens to kill her for it.
• This is the Reconstruction plot culmination of Megamind. With Metroman gone, supervillainy is too easy, so Megamind creates a new Cape to oppose... who promptly becomes Drunk with Power. Between the city being destroyed and the growing affections of the local Lois Lane character Megamind finds himself drawn to the side of good, especially after Hal, her former cameraman, turns out to be a much bigger threat than he was.
• The Missing Lynx has Noah do this after he made a deal with a sinister hunter.
• Moana:
  • This trope is mixed with Good All Along when Moana and Maui realize that the monster they have to defeat to save Te Fiti is Te Fiti, and once she receives the stone back, she immediately becomes a gentle goddess again.
  • Maui's own Character Arc has elements of this. When Moana meets him he's pretty much a self-centered Jerkass, but after Moana saves his life and then helps him regain his powers, he commits fully to aiding her in her mission to restore the heart of Te Fiti.
• My Little Pony:
  • My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): Tempest Shadow, after being betrayed by the Storm King and rescued by Twilight Sparkle, ends up siding with the Mane Six, even saving them from the Storm King's final attack.
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:
    • The first movie has Sunset Shimmer, whose quest for power is defeated by Twilight and her new human friends. After the battle, Sunset accepts Twilight's hand in friendship and starts working on becoming a better person; it takes a while before others believe and trust her, but she eventually earns her redemption and becomes the de facto protagonist of the Equestria Girls franchise in the process.
    • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games: The Crystal Prep's Shadowbolts undergo one after their obsession with winning causes Twilight's human counterpart to turn into Midnight Sparkle and almost destroy the human world.
    • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree: Gloriosa Daisy has this after turning into a demon and try to trap everyone inside Camp Everfree in an insane attempt to avoid losing it to Filth Rich.
    • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Magical Movie Night: Juniper Montage has one after, yes, turning into a monster and being calmed down by a visiting Starlight Glimmer.
    • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Forgotten Friendship: After watching Sunset let all of her memories erased to protect her friends', Wallflower Blush undergoes one. And this time, with no monstrous tranformation required.
  • My Little Pony: A New Generation: Phyllis is the initial representative of racist earth ponies, but she has a change of heart after seeing the destruction Sprout wreaks in the name of those values, even putting herself in front of Sprout and his war machine in a desperate attempt to stop his son's madness. Together with the other two leader figures of the pony tribes, she eventually accepts Sunny's message of choosing friendship and unity over fear and division, an act which finally activates the three pony crystals and brings magic back to Equestria.
• The Nut Job and The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature. first Surly (inadvertently destroying the tree), then nearly every other hero at the Park (sans Andie and Buddy) (not realizing that Raccoon should be the one to get what he deserves), then Mr. Feng throughout the sequel.
• Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf Film Series: The Bitter Gourd King, in the third movie, is transformed out of his evil state after his battle with the goats and wolves. For that matter, every Big Bad and his henchmen in the movies ultimately switch to the good guys' side.
• Ratatouille: Anton Ego rediscovers his love of food after tasting Remy's cooking, and goes from vindictive food critic to Alfredo and Remy's financial backer.
• Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town: Winter Warlock changes from bad to good after Kris gives him a present. The entire song "Put One Foot In Front of the Other" is about how changing from bad to good is as easy as taking your first step.
• Shrek 2: After seeing how much Fiona hates Prince Charming and only has eyes for Shrek, King Harold feels guilty for not taking his daughter's feelings into consideration and decides to go back on his promise to the Fairy Godmother.
• Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. The Titular Arabian Knight himself.
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: Satan turns when he kills Saddam Hussein and returns his legions of demons back to Hell in favor of Kenny for giving self-confidence of standing up against Saddam.
• In The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge Out Of Water, Bubbles goes from trying to kill Spongebob and Plankton to helping them stop Burger-Beard.
• Rufus & Thaddeous from The Star.
• Speaking of Fairies, There's one in Strange Magic. Bog King once believed Love is a disease until Marianne saw good in him and they fell in love. Also there's the Fairy King after he chose an unworthy and pompous suitor, Roland for Marianne
• Super Kid: Maoi, a henchman of the main antagonist Judowgi, redeems himself after seeing Gokdari and how he reminds him of his lost son.
• Maximus from Tangled. Starts off as a horse that is too persistent and smart to capture Flynn Rider and bring him to justice. After being forced to stick together by Rapunzel, he started to grudgingly befriend Flynn, and when Flynn was in trouble by his superior and Rapunzel might be in danger, Maximus betrays his human superiors by calling forth the ruffians he helped arrest before to save Flynn and eventually take him to Rapunzel for the climax.
• Ken from Toy Story 3 starts out as one of the toys trying to keep the gang imprisoned, but he changes sides after he falls in love with Barbie.
  • Subverted definitely with Lotso. Played straight with the rest of the Sunnyside toys.
• In Turning Red, Ming spends most of the movie as the main antagonist. However, after her Heel Realization she's clearly stunned and humbled by the fact that both her daughter and her mother are willing to forgive her for her attacks on them while in her red-panda form. Their love and support help her break away from the control-freak attitude that caused so much trouble for the whole family, and become a better person and a better mother in the ending.
• Up: The credits show all of the villain's dogs, including Alpha, assisting the infirm.
• Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph attempts to pull this off. The entire idea of "Face" and "Heel" and what it really means to be either is examined and played around with during the story.
• Gideon from Zootopia, though not onscreen. He was a pretty vicious intimidator as a child, and was the reason why Judy developed some racism against foxes. However when Judy meets him again as an adult, he had grown into a much kinder person, and he owes her an apology for how he used to be.

---