Unintentionally Unsympathetic in Animated Films.
- American Pop: Tony who showed some promise as a songwriter before he got blindsided by a drug addiction. He is such an over the top whiner that it's damn near impossible to feel bad for him at all.
- Ballerina: Félicie crosses into Designated Hero territory for some viewers due to the fact that she only is able to enter ballet school through identity fraud, is somehow not expelled once this fact gets exposed (though she does have a close brush with it later on, albeit due to the standard elimination process more than anything), and ultimately is the one who gets to perform in The Nutcracker despite all the other girls in the school having actually gotten accepted into the school on merit and having likely worked longer and harder than Félicie did.
- Barbie as the Island Princess: Ro's friend Tika the elephant comes off this way. She's supposed to be sympathetic due to being the youngest of Ro's animal companions, and the fact she feels out of place in Antonio's kingdom; this pretty much boils down to her complaining about wanting to go back to the island, and she goes out of her way to sabotage Ro and Antonio's relationship by stealing a letter he wrote for her.
- Beauty and the Beast: Belle is meant to be sympathetic in her Small Town Boredom and in feeling out of place as a bookworm and a dreamer among her small-minded neighbors. Some viewers see her as a snob, however, who looks down on her neighbors for the simple fact that, as poor, hardworking peasants, they have no time for books or dreams of adventure. The fact that Belle is literate at all, that she has plenty of time to read rather than working, and that her father is an inventor with no apparent "real job," has convinced many viewers that she and Maurice must be much wealthier than their neighbors (although the film never says so), which make her "snobbery" seem even worse.
- Beowulf (2007) tries to portray Grendel as a tragic and childish monster who only attacks Heorot because its noise causes him great pain due to cranial deformities giving him a grotesquely oversized and completely exposed eardrum. However, he obviously enjoys killing, to the point where he falls asleep while obsessively mumbling the word. He is also clearly capable of communicating with humans, as he speaks intelligibly to Beowulf at the end of their fight (it's just that, by that point, Beowulf is so fired up that he isn't interested in talking), yet his only way of dealing with the problem from the beginning is wreaking havoc and butchering people. He even defies the warnings from his mother, a much more pragmatic villain than himself, that his raids aren't just morally wrong (which she doesn't care about) but stupid, since humans are incredibly dangerous. At the end of the day, he is still what many monsters in stories are: a big bully who loves violence.
- One of the bigger complaints about Chicken Little is that the dad, Buck, is supposed to be a guy who just wants his son to be accepted, but his actual behavior proves him to be a dreadful father. Buck does nothing when his son is bullied and ostracized by his community and only shows the slightest bit of interest when his son wins a baseball game, which brings him some fame among the other parents. However, when his son needs him, Buck turns his back again and actively goes out of his way to have nothing to do with him in public. It takes the literal apocalypse to get Buck to try to actually reconcile, and even then, it comes off as insincere due to how entitled and horrible he is.
- Eight Crazy Nights:
- Davey is meant to be a Jerkass Woobie but comes off more as an outright Jerkass with little to no woobiness. Yes, he eventually learns to be a better person, but he also never faces any consequences for his nasty behavior or selfish attitude. It doesn't help that even after he comes to terms with the death of his parents and finally grieves for them properly, his first instinct is to assault the officers who try to take him in and then attempt to skip town in order to avoid any negative consequences. It takes a "Hanukkah miracle" for him to actually go back and help Whitey. The worst punishment he gets is a self-inflicted wedgie. Worst of all, his bad attitude is said to have come entirely from his parents' deaths when he was a child, but his parents don't even come up until their deaths are mentioned, which doesn't really communicate a deep, profound love for them so much as a decades-long tantrum that his nice things got taken away.
- For that matter, we are clearly supposed to sympathize with Whitey when Davey snaps on him because he brought up Davey's parents' deaths. The problem is that Davey had beforehand asked Whitey not to bring it up in a firm but respectful way, but Whitey did it anyway. Even if Davey went over the line with his comments and Whitey meant well, Whitey had no place to continue talking about an obvious touchy subject that Davey clearly was not willing to talk about. At the very least, it was completely understandable why Davey was pissed at Whitey and snapped at him.
- The Emoji Movie is littered with them.
- We're meant to sorry for the protagonist Gene since he is ostracized by his emoji community for his ability to feel several other emotions instead of just one. However, he later freaks out at his first day of work for just having to hold one single face, which clearly isn't too hard, causes several apps to be deleted and even leaves the Just Dance girl, Akiko Glitter, to die in the trash along with the trolls while rescuing Hi-5, which is even worse considering the fact that he's the reason she's there in the first place.
- Jailbreak. We're supposed to feel sorry for her because, as a former princess emoji, she feels sidelined and overlooked, as princess emojis are simply meant to be pretty. However, she rarely does anything to prove how smart and independent she is, instead falling back on rudimentary feminist talking points about how "men are always taking credit for women's ideas". Not helping matters is that some of her complaints are objectively incorrect; she claims that all female emoji are princesses and brides, even though we see multiple female emoji (such as Mary Meh [Gene's mother] and Smiler) who are obviously neither. On top of it all, her grating, flat, and ultimately cold personality just made it seem like the writers confused "strong female character" with "obnoxious shrew", driving many who watched the movie to hate her.
- At one point in Injustice (2021), an adaptation of Injustice: Gods Among Us, Superman, who has gone off the deep end and become a tyrant, has discovered a group of rebellious teens who are rebelling against him using the Joker, Superman's first kill, as their face and idol. Superman then incinerates everyone assembled. The characters (up to and including Wonder Woman, who was encouraging Superman's descent up to this point, and later Superman himself) treat this as a horrific atrocity that shows how much of a monster Superman has devolved into, but here's the thing: Joker is the one who took everything from Superman with the exact intention of corrupting him in the first place. That isn't rebellious, that's an utterly despicable desecration of the memory of the innocent citizens of Metropolis Joker murdered with no remorse. And the animated version of High Chancellor Superman is significantly less heinous than his book counterpart, making the teens look even shittier in comparison.
- Ricardo of The Jungle King. The story tries to present him as a funny sidekick and outright gives him a happy ending, even though he clearly helped with Chancellor Hyena's treason plan and doesn't show any signals of remorse or willingness to be good. Even if he is mistreated by Hyena, his lack of actual redeeming qualities make him unsympathetic.
- The Jungle Book: We're supposed to root for and relate to Mowgli, but he comes off as less heroic and more bratty, selfish, and self-absorbed than the filmmakers probably intended. He doesn't seem too upset with leaving behind his wolf family and initially gives no good reason for wanting to stay in the jungle (despite the massive danger that entails) besides "it's more fun". The only guardian he seems to listen to is Baloo, and that's only because Baloo appeals to his more playful side, unlike the strict Bagheera. And finally, he leaves his two guardians without even a care just because a pretty girl flirted with him. It also does not help that Mowgli is also a Pinball Protagonist who gets easily and quickly overshadowed by any animal character he's sharing the spotlight with, so doesn't get much time for development beyond his original protests before getting shunted off to the next scene.
- Klaus: Klaus and Alva pull a What the Hell, Hero? when it's revealed by Ms. Krum that Jesper was only delivering presents and encouraging the villagers to be nice to each other so he could go home, acting as he betrayed them and turning their backs on him when his father shows up to take him away. But while Jesper did have selfish motivations, it's hard to blame him for wanting to get the hell out of Smeerensburg when all the villagers were constantly attacking and trying to kill each other, he was treated with hostility and suspicion merely for trying to do his job, and it's perpetually freezing cold and snowy there. Not even Klaus and Alva were all that nice to him when he first showed up, so Jesper had every right to want to leave. True, Jesper wasn't initially acting out of the goodness of his heart, but he did come to genuinely care for them and the village after discovering Good Feels Good, so the whole thing feels incredibly disingenuous.
- The king of Atlantis in The Legend of the Titanic sequel Tentacolino. He's intended to be a good guy, but he imprisons the main characters without telling them, makes them immortal without their knowledge or consent, and forces them to stay in Atlantis forever despite them having friends and family on the surface. While he does seem to have something of a justification for the latter in not wanting surface dwellers to know about Atlantis, it's later revealed that he has the ability to erase memories, making his decision to keep them in Atlantis all the more unnecessary and cruel. One tends to side with the rat emperor more than the king of Atlantis. Giving the king such a dark and foreboding appearance doesn't help matters either.
- Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas: Daisy in "Donald's Gift" is supposedly a victim of Donald's selfishness. Donald doesn't want to go to the mall with her, and when she makes him join her anyway, he embarrasses her by destroying a Christmas display. However, Daisy herself ends up coming across as selfish and unlikable for making Donald go to the mall against his will even though he just wanted to relax after a stressful day and taking no responsibility when he finally snapped under pressure. The whole fiasco could have been avoided if she had simply listened to him when he said he'd rather stay at home.
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Sunset Shimmer's transformation into Big Red Devil and brainwashing Canterlot High were supposed to be corrupted into worse than she, who previously refused to harm Spike, would willfully act, leading to her remorse and Heel–Face Turn. However, her cruel and manipulative actions throughout the movie, including her origin-story comic, make it seem like she was this way. The sequel, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, pulled a Salvaged Story, making the school unforgiving and distrustful of Sunset, making her redemption feel earned. Despite her improvement, Sunset's hostile treatment by other students may still be difficult for some to sympathize with.
- My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Forgotten Friendship: Wallflower Blush is supposed to be sympathetic due to years of resenting being ignored and forgotten boiling over when Sunset Shimmer's disregard made them think Sunset was undeserving of her redemption and popularity. But aside from her introduction where it's unclear how hard she tried, Wallflower was never shown trying to get noticed, and admitted to erasing embarrassing memories of herself making their problems seem self-inflicted. Sunset was never any more guilty of disregarding them than rest of the school, causing some to go so far as to compare singling out Sunset, then her friends, out for random revenge with a dangerous item to a school shooting.
- My Little Pony: The Movie (2017):
- Tempest Shadow was supposed to be a Tragic Villain who's ostracization over losing her horn and thus control of her magic since childhood led her to join and lead the Storm King's army in desperation for his promised fix. But she was shown to enjoy subjugating others and attacked and enslaved her homeland whose approval was her reason for wanting her horn fixed. Tempest's intended justification was a Freudian Excuse causing her to resent the notion of relying on others, but she was unironically relying on the Storm King to honor their bargain to the point of being surprised when he betrayed her instead. This caused several to see her redemption as undercut since she seemingly turned due to not getting the promised reward for all of her ill-thought-out evildoing and Twilight Sparkle saving her as opposed to any moral epiphany or remorse over the nations worth of beings she'd hurt. It's only in the semi-canon Expanded Universe comics released after the fact where she undergoes self-reflection and shown to become The Atoner for it.
- Queen Novo was the least popular new main character
◊ despite being the Big Good. She initially refused to fight the Storm King, fearing her people's safety or her powerful Pearl of Transformation. However, due to Twilight's attempt to steal the Pearl, she was quickly distrusted. The Storm King's defeat led to a lack of trust in Novo, who was initially seen as an ally. Despite her actions, some argue that Novo's lack of positive contribution left her and her people feeling unworthy of their happy ending.
- Open Season: Elliot is supposed to be seen as a foolish but well-meaning character who just wants to befriend Boog since he is regularly bullied by Ian and hunted by Shaw. That said, he gets Boog in trouble with the law, relocated from his loving owner, and humiliated in the forest. He twists the knife by revealing he never even tried to get Boog home and just wanted his company. Accordingly, he instead comes off as a self-centered and remorseless jerk.
- Ralph Breaks the Internet: Vanellope. While Ralph is justifiably criticized for being overprotective and clingy towards her, Vanellope's own misdeeds are not condemned (even by those who suffer from them). She is seemingly unappreciative of Ralph's enormously impressive effort to save Sugar Rush, which she broke in the first place, and abandons her game for Slaughter Race, not discussing the move with others. It doesn't help that game-jumping was associated with the Big Bad and even Ralph in the previous film; Ralph's actions were not intended to be permanent, not to mention having a much worse situation there than Vanellope does in this film.
- The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue:
- Everybody in Thorn Valley is pressuring Timmy into being like his late father because of the alleged prophecy, even his own family. They spent the better part of several years building up Timothy as the one who would follow in his father's footsteps as the Valley's next great protector before he'd done anything to win such praise. This quickly comes back to bite them all in the butt when he's an adult and eager to prove his worth in this role, only to prove extremely irrational and reckless, with his friends having to remind him that "he wasn't ready" for the still-obscure task that lay ahead of him. That said, their earlier praise of him when he was young probably magnified a lot of his bad attitude later in life, remarking that he now acted as if "he knew better than everyone else". It nearly proves fatal not just for Timmy but to the entirety of Thorn Valley, as it is this misguided upbringing that causes them to fall into Evil Martin's clutches.
- What really stands out about their treatment of Timmy is that, in spite of literally singing his praises, nobody in Thorn Valley is ever seen actually mentoring him or helping to realize the potential they all say he has. The most we get is a brief scene with Justin, where they basically are just goofing around; heck, when he comes up with a clever way of getting rid of a snake that would have most certainly posed a danger to the inhabitants, he gets scolded for taking the initiative. And, as time goes by, we see Tim doing nothing more than manual labor around the town, like shoveling snow or washing the cobblestones. No physical training, no higher education, nothing; he's literally been relegated to the role of handyman. Taking that into consideration, it's no wonder Tim turned out the way he did.
- Shark Tale seems to have been shooting for "lovable underdog jerk who learns to not be a jerk" with its protagonist, Oscar. Unfortunately, between Oscar's repellent and annoying personality, his extreme selfishness and insincerity, his total incompetence, his lack of real hardship that isn't directly his fault, and his failure to experience any real consequences, he's neither lovable nor an underdog. As a result, he just comes across as a regular old jerk who does a total of one not-selfish thing at the eleventh hour and is immediately showered with accolades.
- The Wild: Samson rips into Ryan for causing a stampede of gazelles that supposedly "endangered everyone in the zoo". However, the preceding scene mostly consists of the gazelles (who are nowhere near numerous enough to really threaten all the animals) slipping around on the ice, so Samson comes off as over-dramatic and far too harsh on his son.
