I admit I liked this but the way the Evil Queen died seemed lame to me. The rocks on the edge of the cliff just crumble beneath her and she falls to her death while trying to get away from the dwarves. At least with other Disney villains they were taken out by the hero but something about the Evil Queen just falling after the rock beneath her crumbles just feels wrong. Like they couldn't think of any other way for her to be defeated.
That's not true. Ursela was stabbed with a sharp object on the front end of a ship in Little Mermaid. Jafar was tricked into becoming a genie in Aladdin and in the sequel is killed by Iago pushing his lamp into the fiery pit he'd created. Hercules does kill Hades by pushing him into the pit of spirits below. Beast pushes Gaston off the roof of the castle. So yeah. They don't all just randomly fall to their deaths. And if I remember right in Lion King Simba kills Scar by pushing him into the stampede just like his father.
Gaston slipped and fell, Beastie didn't push him, in fact he spared the SOB and Gaston stabbed him in the back. And the villainess in "Tangled" fell too, there are probably others as well.
Hercules did not kill Hades. He punched him into the Styx and Hades was later dragged down to its depths. Hades is immortal so he can't die. Simba did not kill Scar either. He backflipped him over a ledge and Scar was ultimately eaten alive by his hyena henchmen.
Not to mention, Prince Philip does kill Maleficent with his sword at the end of Sleeping Beauty.
I did a five-second google search, and I was sort of right. Not ever Disney villain falls to their death, but it's really common. Because you can't have a Disney hero or heroine kill someone!
The Wicked Queen in Snow White. Mother Gothel in "Tangled". Gaston in "Beauty and the Beast". Frollo in "Hunchback of Notre Dame". Maleficent in "Sleeping Beauty". Scar in "Lion King", although it's not the fall that kills him, it's his former allies who find him where he lands. Cruella deVille. That guy in "Tarzan". There are more.
Okay, it's not every Disney villain, but it happens often enough in Disney films that it's an Official Disney Cliché!
You're right. Cruella doesn't die. Probably one of the only classic Disney villain who doesn't die. I can't remember. Does Sher Kahn die in the Jungle Book?