re: .

Disney made a lot of bad decisions in the 70s and 80s, but their biggest mistake was simply devaluing their feature films. They started to make assembly line films with pretty mediocre animation. Still better than TV, but nowhere near as great as their classics. I like a lot of those films, but Sword and the Stone, Robin Hood, etc. are slight films compared to the lush Sleeping Beauty.

Also, they really mistreated their animators, who left in droves and set up competing studios in the 80s. You look at the best children's animated films in the 80s, and they aren't Disney: Land Before Time, An American Tale, Secret of NIMH. Disney let that happen.

But y'all are right about our generation's attitude toward animation. I think three things happened when I was in high school so even though I wanted to "age out" of animation, I didn't:

1) The Little Mermaid. The film was huge and it made it ok for even self-conscious high school kids see the film. No one was gonna think you were uncool for watching a kiddie movie, because EVERYONE saw it. The Disney Renaissance is built on this rock. Beauty and the Best would get an Oscar nom, for godsakes.

2) The Simpsons. Adult oriented animation in prime time telling adult stories. It also showed that animation was a device that could free filmmakers to have hundreds of characters and literally any set or special effect possible.

3) Animaniacs. Right as I stopped watching afternoon cartoons, perhaps the best cartoon since Bugs Bunny came out. It sucked me back in as a high school and even college kid.

Because of that, I never moved past animation and put it in the children's ghetto.