Top 10 Worst Animated Movie Protagonists

Some animated movies give you heroes to cheer for. Others hand you a lead character who makes you check the runtime, question the script, and wonder how the side characters lost the job.

This list is for the animated protagonists who drag their own movies down. Maybe they are annoying. Maybe they are bland. Maybe they learn a lesson so obvious it could have been written on a cereal box and still somehow take ninety minutes to get there.

You are here to judge the characters who were meant to carry the story but ended up being the reason the story needed a support group. Cast your vote for the animated movie protagonists you think failed hardest at being worth following.

The Top Ten

Gene - The Emoji Movie

As far as movie protagonists go, Gene is a bland, boring, unoriginal, and forgettable character, just like the main human character whose name I can't remember nor care about.

This is why they didn't make The Smiley Central Movie.
Dex Dogtective - Foodfight!

Dex looks like Ace Hart from Dog City. He's yet another boring and bland character who can't stop blurting out bad puns.

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a spam."
That has got to be one of the worst movie quotes of all time.
Norm - Norm of the North

Norm is the protagonist of the 2016 animated film Norm of the North. He is a polar bear who travels from the Arctic to New York City in an effort to stop a real estate developer from building luxury condos on his native ice. Norm uses his ability to speak human language and his charm to win public support... read more

He looks a little bit like Noah from Noah's Island, if you remember that, but it would be as if Noah's Island was rebooted and became CGI.

I would like to share something about this movie, but... I don't want you guys to hear it.

My friend almost bought tickets and brought me to watch this terrible movie.
Davey Stone - Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights

I've already talked about this character before. Here's a recap:
Davey is a selfish jerk who's mean to everyone for no real reason. He's placed under the watchful guidance of a super annoying old man who attempts to reform him with no success. Even after we get a flashback of him learning his parents died (which turned him into the person he is today), he's still too unlikable for anyone to sympathize with.

How is he not number one? Gene might be a bland and boring character, but Davey is just plain rude and learns no lesson by the end of the movie. It doesn't matter how tragic his backstory is, the way he treats everyone is just cruel. At least Gene is trying to grow as a character, whereas Davey openly and actively pushes others away, and yet we're supposed to sympathize with him and understand the emotions he's going through.
Surly - The Nut Job

An unlikable character who's only out for himself and cares nothing about helping the animals in the park gather food.

This guy deserves to have his soul crushed more than that one redheaded squirrel from The Sword in the Stone.

The mere existence of this terrible movie makes me appreciate Over the Hedge so much more.
Oscar - Shark Tale

Nothing about Oscar is redeemable. He's a horrible friend and a horrible employee who constantly borrows money from his boss for his crazy schemes, which never work and only get him further into debt. He literally sells his friend Angie's pearl, which she gave to him to repay his debt to Sykes, and he gambles it away on a horse race and loses.

He is the worst Will Smith role ever!
Mater - Cars 2

Tow Mater, or simply Mater, is a character in Cars and its sequels Cars 2 and Cars 3, as well as Cars Toons. He is voiced by Larry the Cable Guy and is inspired by a 1951 International Harvester tow truck. Mater is known for his humorous personality and strong friendship with Lightning McQueen.

Why do movies do this? Make the annoying side character the main character?
I liked his role in Cars 3 better, and he was only in the movie for like 5 minutes!

I always hated Mater just by the fact that he's voiced by Larry The Cable Guy, who just plays himself. It's even more confusing that they would make him the main protagonist in the sequel Cars 2.
Pico the Woodworm - The Magic Voyage

I agree that he is one of the worst animated protagonists, next to Simba and Kion from The Lion King and The Lion Guard, respectively. Pico is annoying and needs to be squished and stepped on.

If you took Jiminy Cricket and made him as annoying as the Minions, you would end up with this guy.
Taran - The Black Cauldron

I liked The Black Cauldron. However, I really hated the main character Taran. He just comes off as that typical character who's cocky, arrogant, and thinks of himself as a hero who's not afraid of anything until he comes face to face with the Horned King. Later, he becomes overconfident after finding a magical sword and suddenly thinks he's a warrior.
Stanley - A Troll in Central Park

This guy is an even bigger and more useless waste of oxygen than Buck Cluck from Chicken Little.

Even a tick is more likable than this chubby, toddler-brained waste of fictional beast cells.

The Newcomers

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Asha - Wish
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Marmaduke - Marmaduke

The Contenders

Spark - Spark: A Space Tail
Doogal - Doogal

It's Dougal who was better, and in the original Magic Roundabout, he liked sugar cubes.
Elsa - Frozen

Queen Elsa of Arendelle is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen (2013) and its sequel Frozen II (2019). She is voiced by Idina Menzel, and her innate ability to create and manipulate ice and snow is central to the films' narratives. Elsa's signature song Let It Go... read more
Boss Baby - The Boss Baby

If Donald Trump were a DreamWorks character. Actually, I take that back since this character still has a lot more likability than Trump will ever have.
Ariel - The Little Mermaid

Princess Ariel is a fictional character and the title character of Walt Disney Pictures' 28th animated feature film The Little Mermaid (1989). She is voiced by actress Jodi Benson and is the adventurous, headstrong mermaid princess of Atlantica. Ariel's story helped launch the Disney Renaissance era... read more

I always hated this chick. Her moral is, "If you're attracted to a guy you never spoke to, make terrible and selfish decisions. But don't worry, your love interest and daddy will save you with no real lasting consequences, and you will get everything you want." Bull. Crap.
Aurora - Sleeping Beauty

Aurora is a fictional character who first appears in Disney's 1959 animated feature film Sleeping Beauty and is based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale of the same name. She also appears in the 2014 live-action film Maleficent, where she is portrayed by Elle Fanning. Aurora has just 18 minutes of screen... read more
Pips - FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue

The guy who was barely in the first movie is put in charge of rescuing a bunch of baby animals who were captured by poachers. Pip, along with his bug gang, has to go rescue them.
The only problem is they're too easily distracted. They end up at a carnival and are too busy having fun to remember why they even went out in the first place. Not only that, but Batty Koda literally tells him straight up that he's supposed to be saving the baby animals. However, he completely remains oblivious.
Next time you need someone to rescue your baby animals, don't ask this guy.
Maggie - Home on the Range

The fact that she's voiced by Roseanne Barr makes this an even worse movie than Chicken Little.
Vanellope von Schweetz - Wreck-It Ralph

Not in her original movie. The recent sequel where she went all selfish psycho radfem.

She was okay in the first movie, but she became such a selfish little brat in Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Frank - Sausage Party
Timmy Brisby - The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue

Timmy did absolutely nothing. He's not a hero. His mother had to take so many risks to save him and her children, but Timmy did nothing at all, yet he was still honored as a hero. He's a disgrace to his family, Thorn Valley, the Rats of NIMH, his friends, and most importantly, his father. Timmy should have been the villain, like Don Bluth said he'd make him, instead of Martin. I wish Rasco from the second book would have been the hero instead of him.

He has done absolutely nothing to earn all the fame and fortune that he apparently got throughout the entire movie. Even Aurora from Sleeping Beauty has performed more acts of true heroism than he ever has!
Anna - Frozen

Princess Anna of Arendelle is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen (2013) and its sequel Frozen II (2019). She is voiced by Kristen Bell as an adult, with Livvy Stubenrauch and Katie Lopez providing her childhood speaking and singing voices, respectively. Anna is... read more
Felix - Felix the Cat: The Movie
Oh - Home

I hate this character! He is a liar, a coward, and a bad protagonist!
Kevin - Minions