Disney princesses have arrived in our house, despite all my best attempts to protect my daughter from them. It’s impossible- Disney is an inescapable beast. Even her pull-ups have Disney princesses on them. Living in this house, when she pretends to be a princess, she’s a “giant princess who scares the dragon”, which is awesome.

But as Disney movies have crept into our house I’ve noticed something I didn’t focus on in pre-princess days, and that is that Disney movies can be seriously scary. As in “hiding under the blanket” scary. My son has been talking about the shadows from the Frog Princess movie for a good six months now! And the villians- Cinderella’s stepmother is incredibly vicious and horrifying without any supernatural help at all. Gaston is a dangerous , cruel bully. And once you go supernatural… well, there’s the terrifying Chernobog from Fantasia’s “Night on Bald Mountain”, evil personified. I always forget how scary children’s movies and television can really be. But Disney respects that, although there’s a place for princesses, and a lucrative one, there’s one for villiany too. Who’s your favorite? Cruella de Vil? Maleficent? Ursula the Sea Witch? Jafar? Someone, or something, else?

Let me know so I can decide which movie I should expose my kids to next.