Tim Hauser, aka Merlin Jones, has written an eloquent editorial piece at SaveDisney.com examining the abstract qualities of story that the Walt Disney Company has shown so well in the past, and which now belong to Pixar more than any other. He believes that, among other things, the Disney of today has tried too hard to be “hip” and “appealing” to the younger generations, abandoning the company’s roots of whimsical, artist-nurtured stories. At Animation Nation, he argues that, “any theme, no matter how serious, can be used in a cartoon, fairy tale or any type of storytelling… but in the broad-market Disney cartoon genre that has translated best through the allegorical, fanciful… the whimsical… anything but literal.”

His article’s conclusion sums it up the best. “[My] prediction: These films will be ’emotional.’ They will be ‘relevant,’ They will imitate Shrek’s sarcasm. They will have wall-to-wall smartass dialogue. They will be loudly marketed. They will be sequels and remakes and franchise extensions. They will be ‘3-D.’ But they won’t be Pixar. They won’t be cartoons. They won’t be Disney. And the audience will know.”