By At Disney, John Musker is an animation filmmaking legend who, alongside collaborator Ron Clements, penned and directed several of the studio’s biggest animated hits of the past four decades – “Aladdin,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Hercules” and “Moana”.
That’s not all though as his other work for the studio has included “The Princess and the Frog,” “The Great Mouse Detective” and “Treasure Planet”. In short, the man knows his Walt Disney Company.
In a new interview with Spanish outlet El País (via Variety) at this year’s Animayo International Summit in Spain, Musker called out the studio for prioritizing political messaging over story in its more recent fare:
“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.
You don’t have to exclude agendas, but you have to first create characters who you sympathize with and who are compelling.”
When asked about the mixed reception and the complaints of ‘going woke’ his film “The Princess and the Frog” received, a film which included Disney’s first Black princess, he responded: “We weren’t trying to be woke, although I understand the criticism.”
On the topic of Disney’s live-action remakes, he understands the reasoning as the company sees it as a reduced form of risk. But he does take issue with the approach last year’s live-action adaptation of his “The Little Mermaid” took:
“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.”
Both his “Hercules” and “Moana” films have live-action adaptations in the works. In 2021, Musker and Clements’ name were linked to a DC animated “Metal Men” film for Warner Bros. Pictures Animation but whether it’s still active under the Gunn-Safran regime is not clear.
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