Modern Disney stinks

[LittleBuford]

Doing some more thinking about this, and the aspect of story and whether or not they are declining or not over the years. Break it down this way. In the early years of Disney animation you had films such as...

Snow White
Achieved her happily ever after because a prince fell in love with her beauty.

Pinocchio and Dumbo
Achieved their happily ever afters because a little sidekick saved them from literally every scrape they found themselves in.

Cinderella
Achieved her happily ever after because a prince fell in love with her beauty.

Sleeping Beauty
Achieved her happily ever after because a prince fell in love with her beauty.

The trend I am seeing in lessons taught in the earlier films... You are born with beauty or lucky to have a smart sidekick.

Moving forward to the Disney Renaissance, which is a favorite era of cinema for many.

Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King.
All achieve their happily ever afters because they are either born into royalty, or marry into royalty.

These are very reductive readings, particularly of the Disney Renaissance films.

 

[Afterthought]

These are very reductive readings, particularly of the Disney Renaissance films.

Am I wrong though? Name one main character in those movies whose luck of royal connection didn't play exclusively or heavily into their eventual happy ending?
Not saying those are bad movies by any means. I love all of them. Sometimes we need those types of escapism. Princes, princesses, heroes above the normal individual.

I was talking about simple lessons being taught throughout the years in movies, and how we are certainly not in decline in family values, etc in recent years. If people think Disney is slying away from that, they need to rewatch movies like Coco and Encanto and pay attention to what's being taught...

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I think a heavy dose of nostalgia is also at play in this thread. It’s unreasonable to expect a Disney film made today—even a very good one—to resonate as much as a movie you grew up watching as a kid; childhood breeds a particular kind of attachment that is almost impossible to replicate in later years. We as adults really can’t speak for, or project our own feelings onto, the current generation of children, who seem very pleased with what Disney is giving them.

I agree entirely. It's also impossible to know what the current generation of children will form an attachment to, even going by box office or streaming success. For example, there seem to be a lot of people who formed a strong attachment to Hocus Pocus which I don't think anyone would have predicted and Hercules also seems to have more nostalgia attached to it (including an upcoming live action remake) than the initial suggestion would have suggested. Dinosaur, on the other hand, did quite well at the box office and is almost entirely forgotten.

The only thing we can say is that current generations of kids and families do seem to be connecting to plenty of Disney & Pixar movies.

 

[LittleBuford]

Am I wrong though? Name one main character in those movies whose luck of royal connection didn't play exclusively or heavily into their eventual happy ending?

I think what I take issue with is your framing, which implies that royalty is the central theme or motivation of the films. To take Ariel as an example, her aim is to be with the man (and in the world) she loves. Sure, her royal connections help her achieve that goal—her father gives her legs, after all—but royalty itself isn’t a major concern of the film. It’s much more a story about love, belonging, and acceptance.

 

[Consumer]

I'd be curious to know how many kids watch the Disney classics anymore. It seems like Disney does not market them nearly the same as they did when I was a kid.

 

[Afterthought]

I'd be curious to know how many kids watch the Disney classics anymore. It seems like Disney does not market them nearly the same as they did when I was a kid.

Yep. Classic, old school Disney Channel of the eighties and nineties did a great job with this. Even random holiday specials that would show brief snippets of different animated films, and introducing kids to the characters. I miss the old Disney Channel.