Board Thread:Clean up Concerns/@comment-1705775-20160507231933/@comment-366087-20160508020053

IMO the main distinction should be Anthropomorphization. That does not mean it has to be cartoony human-ish forms. It means that the animals are given human-like motivations and even societal structures. 101 Dalmatians were presented as dogs indistinguishable from normal real world canines, except they talked among themselves.

Tom and Jerry actually flipped back and forth between full animals and standing upright with opposable thumbs and using tools such as bow and arrow, etc.

So non-anthro'd animals acting like real life animals should not qualify as villains.

However there are even non-anthro'd animals presented by their settings and narrative as having human-recognizable motivations. One of the prime examples I bring up is Orca (Orca). IN the opening scenes Orca's mate and early-born child were killed. The camera. with music, closed up on the animal's eye as it watched that happen, then focused on the faces of the crew.

Orca then targeted them for revenge. That made him a Tragic Villain (although argument can be made the true villains were the human whaling crew).