SPOILER WARNING: The nature of this trope means that spoilers abound. Tread carefully.
Then Let Me Be Evil moments in Animated Films.
- In The Bad Guys, the gang consists of predatory animals that were villainized their whole lives, and chose to fit the mold society saw them as, becoming a crew of highly successful criminals. Their struggle to reform is coupled with wondering if anyone would believe their change is legitimate. Diane is a former example, as having been the Crimson Paw, she gave in to fox stereotypes of being thieving tricksters and was the world's most successful thief until she got sick of the lifestyle.
- Frozen:
- In the final version, Elsa is a completely different character from she was during development, but this was originally going to be a major part of her character. Late into development she was written as being an Aloof Big Sister to Anna with a temper. In her childhood others didn't trust her due to Elsa being similar to an old prophecy. This lead to Elsa being ostracized by most besides her family. Interestingly enough, they sort of had this in mind when they wrote "Let it Go", but its failure to convey this trope very well and its unexpectedly positive feel inspired them to rewrite her character as a troubled Classical Anti-Hero who never really turned evil at any point. Her unused Villain Song "Cool With Me", though, more strongly shows off this aspect.Elsa: Elsa's dead, now instead, you'll address me as the Snow Queen.
Anna: [spoken] Nah, no way!
Elsa: I got a gift, I'm a superstar.
Anna: [spoken] And your point is?
Elsa: That people should revere me!
Anna: Yes, you're really quite the showman with these mean and mutant snowmen—
Elsa: Hey, if no-one wants to love me, they can FEAR me! - This trope does seem to briefly come up in the final film, where Elsa snaps after two henchmen attempt to murder her and begins actively trying to maim/kill them (though she is initially acting in self-defence). However, Hans bursts in and says "Don't be the monster they fear you are!" which stops her in her tracks.
- In the final version, Elsa is a completely different character from she was during development, but this was originally going to be a major part of her character. Late into development she was written as being an Aloof Big Sister to Anna with a temper. In her childhood others didn't trust her due to Elsa being similar to an old prophecy. This lead to Elsa being ostracized by most besides her family. Interestingly enough, they sort of had this in mind when they wrote "Let it Go", but its failure to convey this trope very well and its unexpectedly positive feel inspired them to rewrite her character as a troubled Classical Anti-Hero who never really turned evil at any point. Her unused Villain Song "Cool With Me", though, more strongly shows off this aspect.
- The Bowler Hat Guy from Meet the Robinsons tries to use this as his Freudian Excuse. However, the flashbacks that accompany this prove that he's an Unreliable Narrator who refuses to see that his isolation was self-inflicted.
- Megamind's reason for being a villain. As his inventions in childhood always caused trouble in school by accident leading to him getting punished, while the young Metro Man received constant praise for stopping them. After multiple instances of this, Megamind realizes that he is good at causing trouble, and so embraces supervillainy as Metro Man's rival.Megamind: "No matter how hard I tried, I was always the odd man out. The last one picked. [...] The bad boy. Was this my destiny? Wait. Maybe it was! Being bad was the one thing I'm good at! Then it hit me. If I was the "bad boy", then I was going to be the baddest boy of them all!"
- He gets another one two-thirds in. He's this close to reforming and calling off his plan to fight a hero of his own making thanks to the budding relationship with Roxanne he has disguised as Bernard. But when she learns the truth and rejects him, he goes right back to preparing for his fight the next day.
- In The Prince of Egypt, Rameses is portrayed more as a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds than anything, but grows more bitter towards his former brother as the plagues
destroy his kingdom. Also a Shout-Out to The Bible, to which the movie in general sticks pretty closely: the Book of Exodus states somewhere around the sixth plague that "Pharaoh's heart was hardened," causing him to stick to his guns and let the plagues continue. Passages like Exodus 4: 21, 10: 1, 11: 10, 14:18 cast further a Forced-into-villainy vibe to the deity, who is forcing the pharaoh to be the villain in-universe.Then let my heart be hardened,
And never mind how high the cost may grow
This will still be so:
I will never let your people go! - Shrek provides a variation: the eponymous ogre is, gruff personality aside, a fairly decent guy. Unfortunately, everyone judges him on the fact that he's an ogre, and consequently treat him like dirt. He decides that as long as people are going to view him as a disgusting, horrifying, swamp-dwelling monster, he may as well bank on it. So, he sets up intimidating signs around his home and scares trespassers away, and in fact, he seems to get a bit of a kick out of it if the intro sequence is any indication. He gets better, though.Shrek: (to Donkey, remorsefully) They judge me before they even know me. That's why I'm better off alone.
- Discussed but ultimately averted in Tangled. After Rapunzel calls her out, Gothel finally decides once and for all to forgo the pretense of being a good mother (which she was never really good at anyway) and shows her real face:"You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy."
- The Tale of Despereaux: After meeting Despereaux, Roscuro the Rat resolves to meet with Princess Pea and apologize for when he accidentally frightened her mother into a fatal heart attack when he fell into her soup. However, the incident has given the princess a paralyzing phobia of rats and after chasing him away and nearly getting killed by the guards, Roscuro (between her rejection of his efforts to atone and the guilt for causing not only the queen's death but the King's banishment of both soup and rats from the kingdom) hardens his heart into joining the other rats into seeking revenge against the king for their banishment.Narrator: What would you do if your own name was a bad word? If John, or Beth, or Bill was an insult? Well, that's how Roscuro came to feel about who he was. When your heart breaks, it can grow back crooked. It grows back twisted and gnarled and hard. Even as he changed, Roscuro still had longing. But now he just longed for someone whose heart was as hardened as his was.
- The opening cutscene of the Fictional Video Game Fix-it Felix Jr. seen at the beginning of Wreckit Ralph shows the Nicelanders destroying Ralph's own home and building their apartment building over it, resulting in Ralph becoming the villain of the game who plots to destroy said apartment, which only ends up being repaired by Felix.Ralph: Hey! You moved my stump!
- Zootopia: Nick is a non-villainous example. He initially wanted to be a good and honorable member of the scouts, but after he was ostracized for being a fox, with everyone having a preconceived notion that all foxes are sneaky and cannot be trusted, he decided that he can't really fight it, and just rolls with the shifty stereotype in order to survive. Judy helps him get better over time.
