It's Halloween but I'm talking about Disney Princess movies!
Disney has some of the best girl dads. There's not many dads in Disney, but they're there!
King Stefan absolutely tanked his kingdom's spinning industry by ordering the destruction of all the spinning wheels around, in an extra attempt to thwart a literal curse on his baby. Didn't work, but dang!
On the day that he's waiting for Aurora to come back, all he can really think about is how worried he is since he doesn't know if she's okay. Then, when his best budy King Hubert brings up the betrothal thing (that HE even agreed on), he's like "wait, I'm just now getting my daughter back, and you're taking her away from me" and he's so worried about just springing the betrothal on Aurora and scaring her, and so accidentally offends his best friend about it.
(Shoutout to King Hubert, getting offended over his son. "A shock?! My Phillip, a shock?! What's wrong with my Phillip?!" and tries to actually fight King Stefan, throwing out insults and declaring war, before they both calm down. And then when he finds out that Phillip wants to break the royal engagement over a peasant girl, he's not even so much mad at him as he is worried about how he's gonna break the news to King Stefan that Phillip's doing this [which he is apparently allowing, though it distresses him]).
Like he genuinely wants her to be happy, and also he wants so badly for her to be safe and sound.
King Triton is very ironically such a supportive dad. You see, unlike most dads in movies and fiction and stuff, Triton worries about being too hard on his daughter, even when he genuinely believes that she's putting her life at stake. Heck, he is just SO excited and happy when he finds out that Ariel's in love with someone (he just didn't think it would be a human). When was the last time you saw that in a fictional work? In real life?? And then he lets her go be with the man she loves! After all of that, he loves her so much, he does his best to prioritize her happiness, even though he struggles with accepting her interests.
"My daughter? Odd? Where would you get an idea like that?" Maurice loves Belle so much. She's perfect in his eyes.
He's incredibly unique in the fact that most Beauty's fathers in BatB retellings either just go ahead and hand over their daughters to the Beast, some of them sadder than others.
Maurice is happy to see Belle once he's locked in the tower, but insists that she leave. When the Beast appears, all Maurice does is yell "Run, Belle!" When she trades her life for his, he begs her not to do it. "No, Belle, listen to me, I'm old, I've lived my life." The Beast literally has to drag him away, and he continues to beg the beast to let his daughter go. Once back at the village, he immediately rushes to get help, but no one believes him, mocking him as they through him out into the snow. He ultimately decides to try and rescue Belle by himself, with no horse, and no clear way back to the castle; and though he was unsuccessful, he tried.
And even after all that mess, when Belle wants to go back to the castle to save the Beast from the mob, Maurice. Goes. With. Her. She insisted that the Beast had changed, letting her go on her own, and now she's determined to save him. And he supports her.
The Princess and the Frog
We don't get to see much of Tiana's father, but he's so important that he specifically is singled out to show Tiana the importance of love, by both her mother Eudora, Mama Odie, and even the villain Dr. Facilier. He loved his family so much, and he worked so hard, and yet he dreamed, and he shared those dreams with her. He would've named their restaurant after her. He cherished and valued her, taking the time to instill good values while still encouraging her to believe in things. "Our little girl's got a gift!" and they share the gumbo Tiana made with the whole neighborhood. Teaching her not only the importance of community, but also about how proud of her he is, and how he believes she can make others' lives better just by sharing her gift.
