Like many children my age who grew up in that specific gray area before the domination of iPhones and other electronics, I was raised on cartoons. A strange mix of PBS Kids, 3D animated movies and old Disney cartoons were staples of my youth. Given my childish love of fairy tales and short stories (and given that 3D animation was still a work in progress that often yielded clunky characters and badly rendered backgrounds), I almost instantly fell in love with hand-drawn animation. A personal favorite was Chip ‘N’ Dale cartoons, which followed the adventures of two chipmunks and often included interactions with other Disney icons like Pluto and Donald Duck. The cartoons, most of which had been produced during the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, sported the classic hand-drawn two-dimensional animation. I won’t claim that I am unbiased on this subject, and it is entirely possible that I am romanticizing elements of my childhood, but at the risk of sounding like a boomer, they don’t make movies and cartoons like they used to. 

The technology of the 3D animation that currently dominates animated productions is impressive and gives depth – both figuratively and literally – to the media it’s used to produce. The process is impressive and takes a great deal of skill, time and money. The technology is incredible but as the quality of the animation has improved, character designs have suffered, often becoming predictable and hyperbolic. Nearly every major studio has their animation quirks, some have become so pronounced they near caricatures. For example, Disney has a clear preference for soft, slightly confused-looking characters, whereas Dreamworks is very fond of over the top character designs with exaggerated features that never fail to make the same lopsided grin with one eyebrow lifted. 

The stories that accompany the animation have been similarly impacted; less and less effort is put into the plots. This phenomenon is not unique to animated movies: many films that have been put out recently have been adaptations or sequels of already existing movies and those that don’t bear an uncanny resemblance to other stand-alone productions. An especially noticeable trend of recent years has been live action (or in the case of The Lion King, CGI) remakes of older movies or shows. From the controversial Mulan to Cruella to the upcoming Clifford The Big Red Dog, all with varying degrees of success and a common vein of brutal criticism, the new movies coming out are far from unique. There seems to be a general lack of new ideas in the film industry. 

I will be the first to acknowledge my lack of expertise when it comes to the industry of animation. I’m just someone with an interest in art and a love of 2D animation but I find many newer movies and animations to be lacking the whimsy and creative spark that I see in their older counterparts. This isn’t to say that there aren’t good animations produced in recent years: I just find there to be an underwhelming trend for new productions overall. From repetitive character designs to cookie-cutter plots, many newer animations simply lack the charm of the classics.