I get what you mean, but I really feel like the quality of original stuff is not up to the standard that they were putting out 30 years ago. I just rewatched Lion King the other day and I couldn’t believe how well it holds up. Every performance ranges from great to fantastic, every song is really good, the score is fucking phenomenal, the animation truly pushed the boundaries for the time, and the story and dialogue are straight up Shakespeare. Encanto and Onward are good, but they’re not Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast good.

At the end of the day, Disney is not in the business of making art this century; they’re in the money making business. They make a product, not art. It’s more profitable to make something that’s just good enough to get people’s money, and that’s all they actually care about. Remember that with every culture war stance they take. They don’t actually give a shit about LGBTQ rights or representation, they just know that they can get extra attention and sales from barely doing anything, and it’s not far enough to alienate the Chinese market. Win-win. When they fight that dorky Florida meatball, understand that they’re not on your side; they’re on their side. If they could have it their way, they would own all media and distribution, and you’d never see another movie or TV show again without first forking over everything they can get out of you.