Disney: Land of Nostalgia and Sequels

So it's been about a month or so now since Disney released their latest live-action remake of a beloved animated classic (Little Mermaid this time). I started to really think about what Disney as a company has been doing the past decade with its movie releases and how it's using its well-known IP and history to try and make money. I think it's clear that Disney has reached a strange place in their history, one that feels like it relies too much on nostalgia and its past for its movie ideas. I just want to focus on Disney's long-running studio, so that doesn't include all the MCU, Star Wars, and Fox properties they have acquired the last decade-plus (though those have their own issues I could rant about too). I will be including Pixar though, as even before Disney acquired them, they had been working together for decades. 

In 2015, Disney released the live-action Cinderella remake, which was actually really good. This wasn't the first live-action remake they had made as movies like 101 Dalmations and Alice In Wonderland had come out before this one. The thing about Cinderella was that it was the movie that really kick-started Disney's obsession with remaking every animated classic they had into live-action. Ever since that movie's release Disney hasn't gone a single year without releasing at least one live-action remake, sometimes even releasing more like in 2019 when they released four remakes. The thing that makes this more annoying is how they've gotten progressively worse in quality as they keep coming out, reaching a new low with last year's awful Pinocchio remake. Even more embarrassing when another Piccochio movie comes out the same year on Netflix and wins an Oscar. Out of all the live-action remakes, there are only two I can say I truly liked and that's Cinderella and Jungle Book... the first two that came out pretty much. 

Okay, so Disney's live-action remake plan isn't going so well. Still, they plan on making 4-5 more in the next two years. But what about the Disney animation studio and Pixar? Well, those haven't been doing so hot either. When you look at the quality of movies released by Disney Animation in the last few years, it's been really hit or miss. When you look at the last 5-6 years of Walt Disney Animation movies, you don't really see a lot of movies you could see becoming classics outside of Encanto. Besides that one, you got mediocre sequels to Wreck-it-Ralph and Frozen, a big flop in Strange World, and an okay movie in Raya and the Last Dragon. Not the best lineup there especially when compared to the movies that came before those that included new classics like Frozen, Tangled, and Moana. Of course, they announced another Frozen movie is coming, big surprise there. I will say the upcoming movie "Wish" does look promising, and I hope it actually ends up doing well. 

As for Pixar, well they haven't been in the best form recently themselves. At one point in time, this was a studio that couldn't make a bad movie if they tried. Now its releases are very hit or miss and seem to have trouble really finding success. Looking at the releases they've had in the last 4 years you'll see a lot of decent movies that are nowhere near the quality they once were known for. Especially last year's Buzz Lightyear movie, which felt so unnecessary and ended up being a mediocre movie that didn't make much sense in the Toy Story saga. Wouldn't you know it, they recently announced another Toy Story movie is being made, because they can't just let the story end and the characters be happy. Just a few weeks ago the movie Elemental came out to a mostly good reception, but most people seem to think it's just fine. I think it's an okay movie too, some great visuals put into a very underwhelming story that's about as predictable as you'd expect in another Romeo and Juliet love story. It's still missing that Pixar storytelling that would get you all emotional and really connect you to the characters and their relationships with each other. I mean they could make me root for two Robots that can't talk falling in love at one point. 

I wouldn't even say all these problems are just on Disney, but a lot of the big studios are falling into a lot of these same business practices. Constantly throwing out sequels and remakes in the hopes that nostalgia will bring in the box office numbers, but it just doesn't seem to be working as well as it did anymore. So afraid to put out new ideas because of the fear that they will fail because people only like things they recognize is pretty lame honestly. It sucks that when Disney and Pixar do try new ideas they haven't been extremely successful recently. But again, I don't think it's because people don't want new things, but because the new things we're getting just aren't very good. Even Disney's most popular brand in the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be reaching a point where people might actually be starting to get a bit exhausted by how much they rely on it. Hell, even the video game industry is going through something kind of similar with its reliance on remakes and sequels.

There's actually been a sort of animation revival over at Netflix, a place where they actually let new ideas come to life and really seem to give those ideas the attention and time they deserve to become really good movies. Just the past few years they have released some amazing animated projects on Netflix, which I'll recommend some down below. All this to say that, the once untouchable Disney and Pixar studios are now floundering. An over-reliance on nostalgia remakes and sequels is really showing how much they prefer the money over actually coming up with new ideas and letting creators bring them to life. While other smaller studios are really shining and showing that there are still so many creators and writers out there with fantastic ideas just ready to come to life on the big screen. 

But here are some animated movies specifically that you can watch from the past few years that really show how many great ideas are still out there to be explored and creative new directions that animation can still take.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Theatres)

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (Showtime)

Puss In Boots the Last Wish (Peacock)

Wolfwalkers (Apple TV+)

The House (Netflix)

Nimona (Netflix) 

The Sea Beast (Netflix)

Entergalactic (Netflix)

A Whisker Away (Netflix)

With a studio as big and powerful as Disney, you would think a lot of these movies and ideas could be coming from them. Instead, they often turn down things like this and just go with the safe choice. We've seen recently a lot of other studios pushing the boundaries of animation as Disney and Pixar fall behind, which was unheard of before this time. You don't always need a ton of money to make a great movie, tons of great movies are made on a small budget and just a great team of visionaries. Disney needs to look for those voices to bring in a new fresh era of movies and stories that don't always rely on nostalgia to get over.