For decades, Walt Disney Studios has been making movies and soundtracks that shape the identities of much of its audience. Many childhoods were spent sitting in front of the TV watching popular Disney princesses or creatures go on an adventure. From Cinderella losing her shoe on the steps of the palace, to Simba being raised above Pride Rock, discovering magic in Walt Disney Studios’ films formed a big part of lots of kids’ early development. But kids nowadays are being left with fewer life-changing, impactful movies, leaving viewers to think Disney is getting lazy.
Disney Studios most recent release, “Wish,” was released this past Thanksgiving. This movie was met with backlash before it even hit theaters. Soon after the trailer and soundtrack were released, audiences critiqued the boring lyrics and unfinished looking animation. Social media posts went viral of people “fixing” the songs by rewriting them, and making in-depth explanations as to why the movie was doomed.
The animation style that Disney revealed in the most recent movie was an attempt to compromise with audiences. Fans of old Disney movies have been wishing they would go back to the hand-drawn animation since the studio switched to 3D in 2005 with “Chicken Little,” but Disney opted to stick with 3D animation to allow more creative freedom. Using 3D animation in movies gives viewers access to different camera movements that can’t happen in 2D animation. Certain shots look better and keep films entertaining with the use of unique camera angles. This is heavily shown in the Pixar film, “Ratatouille.” Regardless to all of these improvements Disney has made over the years, Disney’s “Wish” does nothing special. The combination of 3D and 2D animation was meant to have the sense of character that fans missed about old films, but still allow for unique camera shots. However, the movie didn’t include any notable or unique camera shots, and even when the camera moved, the animation style made it look blurry or like viewers needed 3D glasses.
On top of poor animation, the latest Disney film also let fans down with the soundtrack. The villains in past feature films were able to scare the little kids watching, while keeping adults entertained with their enthralling lyrics like Frollo singing “Hellfire” or Mother Gothel singing “Mother Knows Best.” The villain in “Wish,” King Magnifico, was heard singing a very passionless song that didn’t make him sound scary or intimidating. Popular song-writer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, has written and sang in many recent Disney projects, such as Encanto and Moana, but this most recent movie tried to emulate his sound and writing, but failed. The musical movies of the past few years have sounded less theatrical than iconic songs, such as “Friends on the Other Side” in “The Princess and the Frog,” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls” in “The Little Mermaid.” Two of the songwriters for “Wish,” Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice, were known for writing pop music, which is an explanation as to why the songs sound like they belong on an album, not a soundtrack.
Another commonly heard complaint about recent Disney princesses is that they have repetitive and one-dimensional personalities, and most princesses since Rapunzel have had the same immature, quirky personality with little character development by the resolution of the story. Fans saw Rapunzel as the blueprint for this personality type and therefore her personality didn’t seem overused at the time. In “Frozen”, Anna’s quirky personality is contrasted with Elsa, whose personality was more reserved and poised, but when every female main character has lines like, “I’m so nervous, I might explode,” it’s hard to relate to them. Tiana, the main character in “The Princess and the Frog,” was the last Disney princess to show a sense of maturity and a down-to-earth personality. Showing different kinds of personalities is an important form of characterization, but when the personality of all your characters is the same it starts to feel lazy and repetitive.
Disney princess personalities are often foiled by a good love interest, but with the repetitive female leads, came a lack of love interests. Disney wanted to prove that women could be strong without the help of a man in “Wish” and others like “Brave” or “Moana,” but some of the best Disney movies proved women could be strong and pursue romance. A good romance makes any magical movie even more magical, and Disney’s shortage of well-written romance is starting to make their movies feel dull. The last romance to come from Disney was Anna and Kristoff in the 2013 film, “Frozen.” This relationship felt rushed, seeing as the point of Anna’s character development was her learning to not rush into relationships, but by the end of the film she considered Kristoff as her one true love, even though she got herself into this mess by wanting to marry a man the night she met him. The most recent mature and fun relationship Disney gave us was even earlier in the movie, “Tangled,” released in 2010 between Flynn and Rapunzel. As cool as it is to show female characters not needing a man by their side, it would be even cooler if they could make another princess that is strong and also wants to find love.
As much as “Wish” disappointed long-term fans of the studio, it is sad that Disney does not have many original movies in the works. With films in progress like a live action remake of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” titled “Snow White,” set to release in March 2025, as well as “Toy Story 5”, “Frozen 3”, and “Zootopia 2”, it seems like audiences might go a while without original content. However, a Disney movie titled “Elio” is said to release mid-2025. Until then, fans will be stuck with remakes and sequels. And Disney sequels often seem rushed due to repetitive plots. For example, “Frozen 2” recycles the plot and character development of the first movie so the movie just feels unoriginal and pointless. Many people like to argue that these remakes are cheap, money-grabs from Disney, and that they are trying to make a quick buck off of some of their iconic movies. These movies do often feel cheap and inferiorly directed, making viewers wonder where the $300 million budget for live actions, such as “The Little Mermaid”, went. These movies often look inexpensive because they use the fastest or easiest camera shots instead of using a little extra money to get aerial shots or rig real accidents in their live action films. It is better to take more time and money to get people working on creative, original content, than to release weak movies every few months.
Disney has felt like a home for generations of people. They make movies that are always exciting to watch no matter how many times you’ve seen them before, but with Disney being more focused on making money than bringing happiness like they’ve done for so many families before, fans’ excitement about new films is dwindling. It’s starting to feel like an imposter is imitating Disney, rather than the Disney we know and love. It is time for Disney to listen to their fans, and make movies with heart and soul put into them.
The official “Wish” trailer was filled with comments such as, “Her personality down to the way she speaks and her expressions are identical to every Disney protagonist we’ve had since ‘Tangled.’”
The official “Wish” trailer was met with comments like,“I really miss the old days of romance in a movie. That was fun, especially if done right.”
