I think we agreed already that a good movie is a good movie, sequel or not, remake or not. And I have no problem with good movies that are adaptations of previous source material (fairy tales, novels, or not).
And I also agree that this not just a problem with Disney. The bean-counters who wanted to play it safe and re-make or continue a known story have been driving decisions for years in Hollywood.
But first, that does not make the criticism invalid for Disney, just because it fits all other studios. "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it, too?" The topic at hand was Disney doing remakes, so I answered it with respect to Disney.
Second, I do in fact think that Disney should be held to a higher creative standard, mostly because it, unlike the other studios and entertainment companies, trades on creativity and its own history of that, far and away more than any other studio does. It reminds us of it constanntly, from the theme parks to TV. Since they promote their history so much, we can expect them to be aware of it and the expectations of creativity that it inspires.
So, while I understand that "everyone's doing it," I still think it is worthy of criticism, and that Disney especially could be expected to see the value of good new material. And, yes, some of that good material (like Empire Strikes Back and Toy Story II as I previously mentioned) is good and worthy of being produced. I just don't want them to do it the lazy, cheap way, nor rely too much on it, to the detriment of new stories.
