Thread:Love Robin/@comment-30079834-20170128051815/@comment-366087-20170128110430

When it comes to animals qualifying as Villains, they must have some measure of Anthropomorphization. What this means is in either form or narrative they are given Human-like Motivations. It does not have to be cartoonish human-like forms, but a measure of human-like thought or society, something which makes them relatable to the human audience of the story.

The Benji franchise does not imbue him or any of the animals with anthropomorphic aspects, unlike the Land Before Time franchise where nearly all of the animals are given a human-like society and speech the audience can understand, and thus by extension, Sharptooth. While he does not speak in the same fashion, his coming from the same "world" as the others grant him a measure of anthropomorphization.

Another example is the Great White Shark (Jaws) in the original movie, although in subsequent sequels in the franchise the sharks are given human-like motivations, most notably when one of them cross the ocean to specifically target one individual.

Another is Orca (Orca). While he does not speak, the way the film is shot gives him a human-relatable motivation of Revenge by the close-up shot of his eye as he watched his mate and unborn child die on the whaling boat. It puts the audience in his "shoes" enough to understand his targeted attacks of the crew.

The Benji Timber Wolf exhibits none of that, thus he is simply "an animal being an animal"; in his case being a predator after easy prey.