Seasoned Disney director recommends focusing on character and narrative, rather than ‘the message

Veteran Disney director John Musker has suggested that the Walt Disney Company undergo some “course correction” in its film production, advising the company to focus on stories and characters before a film’s message.

Musker, whose directing credits include iconic Disney films such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Moana, explained that the classic Disney films did not start out with a message, and instead began production by brainstorming the characters of the film and the world they inhabit. He added that he believes that both of these, as well as the film’s story, are still “the heart” of the classic movies, and encouraged Disney to look to this model with their new films.

“You don’t have to exclude agendas, but you have to first create characters who you sympathize with and who are compelling,” Musker said in an interview with El Pais. “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.”

Musker also criticized Disney, as well as other companies, for taking older films and reselling them to audiences “in a different form,” referencing the live-action remakes of various Disney movies. One element of these remakes that Musker criticized is translating the various animated animals to live action, arguing that animals at a zoo “have more expression” than the computer-generated animals in remakes such as 2023’s The Little Mermaid or 2019’s The Lion King.

The most recently released animated film from Musker, 2016’s Moana, is also getting the live action treatment, with the remake scheduled to release July 10, 2026. Musker, however, has already distanced himself from it, wishing that the remake is done well but clarifying he has “nothing to do with it.”

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The Walt Disney Company, the king of the box office for multiple years, underwent a very lackluster year at movie theaters in 2023, with most of its released movies either underperforming or outright flopping. The underperformance of these films contributed to Disney losing its 8-year streak as the highest-grossing studio, which instead went to Universal Pictures last year.

Last week, Pixar Animation Studios, which Disney acquired in 2006, announced that it would be letting go of 175 employees, around 14% of its workforce. Less than a year earlier, Pixar said it would be letting go of 75 employees.