As of late, I'm just not that impressed with John Lasseter. When it was announced that he was going to be heading Disney animation, I think a number of fans cheered that he was going to save WDAS. Yet, instead it seems like most of what he has done so far is to turn these projects (i.e., Bolt and Reboot Ralph) into wannabe Pixar movies.
I love Pixar movies as much as the next guy, but to me they have a different vibe than the animated classics. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that they're different.
In my opinion, copying the Pixar formula isn't going to work. It's just going to leave the public with the impression that Disney is a copycat, and frankly, not a very good one.
I don't think that their problem is genre so much as it is relatability. When I was in high school, my best friend and I went to see
Oliver & Co. and people looked at us like we were losers. The following year,
The Little Mermaid came out and all of a sudden it was cool to like Disney movies. I think the difference was that
The Little Mermaid had something for everyone. Teenagers related to Ariel's frustration at an overbearing parent. Parents related to the cognitive dissonance of wanting to protect your children and then sometimes realizing you've gone too far. Grandparents related to their fond memories of seeing
Cinderella and
Sleeping Beauty. The soundtrack was fun because it had Calypso and Reggae influences.
As of late, Disney seems to make movies that are relatable to just one demographic, who usually aren't that interested in seeing the movie. The worst example was making Jim Hawkins a skater-type in
Treasure Planet. Skaters weren't interested, and most everyone else couldn't relate.
I was hoping that
Tangled might be able to capture some of what
The Little Mermaid did, in that teenagers could relate to the desire for freedom, parents could relate to propensity to try to manipulate their children to produce certain behaviors and those of us who fondly remember Disney animation from our youth would relate to the nostalgia/euphoria.