Summary:
- Disney animator and director John Musker isn’t happy with the direction Disney is going with, claiming that the studio tries to push the “woke” and political agendas too much instead of focusing on the creative aspect.
- Musker also criticized the remake of The Little Mermaid movie, and explained how it didn’t live up to the original animated version.
- Musker’s previous animated film in Disney, The Princess and the Frog, also met criticism for changing the race of the character.
Disney has been consistently receiving flak in recent years, as most fans believe that the classic studio tries to implement several “woke” and political elements into their movies, thus ruining them. The heavy backlash for the live-action versions of The Little Mermaid, Snow White, and Peter Pan and Wendy are some of the latest examples, criticizing the House of Mouse’s white-washing agenda, lack of creative efforts, and forced political messages.
Renowned Disney animator and director John Musker, whose directorial credits include The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules, has voiced similar concerns. Speaking to the Spanish media outlet El País at the Animayo International Summit in Gran Canaria, Spain, Musker expressed his views on what he perceives as Disney’s misplaced priorities.
“I think they need to do a course correction a bit in terms of putting the message secondary, behind entertainment and compelling story and engaging characters. The classic Disney films didn’t start out trying to have a message. They wanted you to get involved in the characters and the story and the world, and I think that’s still the heart of it,” said Musker.
The director then suggested that while incorporating messages is not inherently problematic, they should not overshadow the essence of storytelling. “You don’t have to exclude agendas, but you have to first create characters who you sympathize with and who are compelling.”
He pointed out recent missteps, particularly with the 2023 live-action version of The Little Mermaid, a not-very-welcomed iteration of his 1989 masterpiece. “They didn’t play up the father-daughter story, and that was the heart of the movie, in a way. And the crab — you could look at live animals in a zoo and they have more expression, like with ‘The Lion King.’”
“That’s one of the basic things about Disney, is the appeal. That’s what animation does best,” Musker summed it up.
Musker, alongside his frequent collaborator Ron Clements, has been a staple in Disney’s animation success with films such as The Great Mouse Detective, Treasure Planet, and Moana. Their venture also includes The Princess and the Frog in 2009. The animated movie introducing Disney’s first Black princess, and initially received a mixed response for race-swapping the original character, which Musker acknowledges.
“We weren’t trying to be woke, although I understand the criticism,” Musker admitted.
In his interview, Musker also shared his skepticism about Disney’s push towards live-action remakes, viewing it as a safe business strategy rather than a creative endeavor. “Companies are always like, ‘How do we reduce our risk? They like this, right? We’ll just do it again and sell it to them in a different form. Or they think, ‘Well, we could make it better.’”
Interestingly, this is also a sentiment shared by many Disney fans. Instead of retelling an old story, they always prefer an original one with a refreshing take.
However, it seems that Disney isn’t going to give up their plan to remake classic movies any time soon. Besides the upcoming live-action Snow White with Rachel Zegler‘s controversy, Dwayne Johnson recently teased the upcoming live-action adaptation of Moana, another Musker co-directorial project.
