Looking at the upcoming Disney movies expected to release in the next few years, I am severely disappointed. To list a few: Moana 2, Snow White (live action), Lilo and Stitch (live action), Zootopia 2, Toy Story 5, Moana (live action), Tangled (live action), and many more. And looking at their most recent movie releases: Inside Out 2, The Little Mermaid (live action), Peter Pan and Wendy, Hocus Pocus 2, Pinocchio (live action), and Lightyear; we begin to see a theme.
I think Disney holds a special place in most of our hearts. We grew up watching their movies, visiting Disneyland and DisneyWorld, riding the roller coasters, and meeting all of the characters we loved. I was always so excited whenever a new Disney movie came out to see what other stories and characters they created. Now, all I can do is sigh and prepare myself for another boring movie with practically the same plots and same characters.
It seems like Disney has lost its magic and now they’re just in it for the money. Their movies used to be something everyone could enjoy, no matter the age, but now they just seem like color on a screen to distract children. Disney movies used to be far more nuanced and talked about a theme or struggle that people could relate to. That’s what made them family-friendly movies—they had fun characters and upbeat songs for kids, but relatable themes for the adults.
Now, Disney movies are so basic they all seem the same. The bubbly, clumsy, female main character goes on an adventure to figure out she’s perfect just the way she is! This isn’t a bad theme, but when done over and over again with a boring plot, it gets annoying. Moana and Tangled were good movies even though they followed this theme, but they were new and had interesting characters and interesting plots and setting. Now there’s barely any character development or worldbuilding.
They don’t try anything new anymore. They stick with what’s safe and easy for them and never step out of their comfort zone. They try so hard not to get canceled and appeal to as wide an audience as they can get, but this only serves to water down the original ideas.
Nearly a year ago, Disney released their 100th year anniversary movie, Wish. They hoped to bring back the magic of their earlier princess movies. It lost them 131 million dollars instead and is widely hated on by everyone. The original idea of Wish in the concept art was much more intriguing than what happened in the movie, but the company decided to make changes that ruined it.
With most of their films doing about as well as Wish did, Disney is pumping out mediocre remakes and sequels hoping to get people to the theater on name alone.
Old Disney movies said something, they were different and new and exciting, and they told the story they wanted to tell, not the story they thought most people would buy tickets for. I will probably watch most of the aforementioned sequels and live actions that will be coming out in the future, but I hope Disney can learn to take risks again and capture the whimsical storytelling they had before.
