The book is not bad, but not really as good as I expected. After having read the extraordinary book "The illussion of life", I wanted more from the same drawer. I picked the villains book.
In the beginning Frank'n'Ollie explain why they did the book, and apparently it was made on command, I couldn't help thinking about that when I read it. The chapters in the book are very short, and there is too little information about how they decided to make their characters as they turned out. Each chapter begins with an (Too long) introduction of the characters role in the film. Of course you can not expect everybody to have seen every disney film that exists, but too much space in the book is used to explain things you already know if you've seen the films.
I would have prefered to know more about how the animators felt about their characters and how they developed the personalities, for instance the thin line of making the beast in "Beauty and the Beast" looking like a beast that you could still end up having feelings for. I would like to have seen more development drawings and sketches and even some animation continuity with some good examples of change in expression of the villains as well.
Some times you read about villains that actually ain't villains. The bear in "Fox and a hound" is actually no villain because it is just following natural instincts, but how about Chief, the big old dog in the movie, nothing about him? A book that is not deep enough. but still not bad. Guess I still shouldn't have read it after just finishing "Illussion of life".

Anything by these two wonderful authors and amazing animators should be a must in anyone's collection. Yet, I am baffled that all of their books are currently out of print. I am sure one will not have trouble looking at a used bookstore for a copy of this. This book deals precisely with what the title says: The Disney Villians. In their usual classic and lucid style, the authors discuss the troubles they ran while devising a villian. One that is wicked, yet appealing to the audience. Going through their catalog of movies from Snow White to Aladdin, they discuss in detail what a villian is all about, and how the villian relates to the story, style and main character of each film. Whether one should be more realistic, or have harder edges, or what kind of mannerisms will this villian have. Highly reccomended for the animator and artist, as well as the Disney book lover as these are presented so well. For the enthuseist, which I also own, there is also a more expensive version of this book, hardcover with a slipcase, signed by each of the authors and a print of the filmstrip from Snow White.

Why did they do it? Frank and Ollie wanted to give a thorough insight into the making of believable, memorable animated characters. For all to learn from... and they did just that! Another MUST-HAVE from the makers of some of this worlds most entertaining animation.

As the title suggests this is a book about Grace. There is not a simple definition of what grace is, rather these essays as a whole seek, through a variety of topics and disciplines, to define Grace in an expansive way, realizing this to be a term so loaded with meaning and importance that simple definitions will not suffice. Specifically, however, these essays are coming primarily from a distinct Wesleyan perspective, in honor of a man who has spent his life and career developing and pondering such a perspective, Thomas Langford. In his own book, Practical Divinity: Theology in the Wesleyan Perspective, Dr. Langford sought to show how deep thought, academic engagement, and varieties of methods and traditions are important only insomuch as they reach out to the common person, and result in transformed thoughts and lives. In the same way, the collection of essays before us seek to show how wide, deep, and meaningful Grace truly is. The book is divided in to four sections, each devoted to essays from a specific discipline or focus.
The first part focuses on Biblical essays, that is writings which seek to discover how grace is seen within the Biblical narratives and letters. The second part focuses on grace seen in history, the third on grace seen in theology, and the fourth studies grace from the perspective of culture.
All in all a very good, and valuable, text.