When Lasseter came into control, I had high hopes that he and Iger would usher in a major comeback for WDAS. And at first, they seemed to be succeeding. Pixar reached its pinnacle shortly after being acquired by Disney; Meet the Robinsons was a step in the right direction for WDAS; Bolt was surprisingly good; and even though I personally found The Princess and the Frog to be underwhelming, I at least appreciated the return to the traditionally-animated musical. At first, Tangled had me really worried with its name change and marketing, but the actual film turned out to be excellent. Even Winnie the Pooh was really good for what it was.
Everything started falling apart for me though, from Cars 2 onward. I doubt that I have to explain why that film was a disappointment. However, honestly, Brave was an even bigger disappointment for me (which isn't to say that it was a worse film; just that it had a lot more potential). I know that it got a pretty good review on this site. It certainly did have some redeeming elements. But as a whole, I just didn't enjoy it. And I know that I'm far from the only one.
Wreck-It Ralph was solid, as was Monsters University. I left both films feeling satisfied. Still, I would stop short of calling either of them great.
Aaaaaaaaaaand now we get to Frozen. I have no idea how everyone here feels about the film, but the general public consensus seems to be that it's an absolute triumph for Disney. I'll readily admit, I adored the first third of the film or so. But it peaked for me during the "Let it Go" sequence and fell steeply downhill from there. Anna and Kristoff's adventures through the kingdom seemed overly reminiscent of Rapunzel and Flynn's, while Sven was a direct rip-off of Maximus - I mean seriously, how lazy must Disney have been to go with that idea? Even had Tangled never happened, I still would have preferred the film without Kristoff or Sven. They just distracted from the relationship between Anna and Elsa, which is what made the film's first act so fascinating to me. Also, I have to say, (and I may be alone in this but), I wish that they had made Elsa a tragic, deeply sympathetic villain, rather than a slightly flawed protagonist. The film would have been a lot more complex that way.
Anyways, I'm sure that I'm in a small minority when I say that Tangled (or to a lesser extent Winnie the Pooh) was the last film by either Disney or Pixar that really won me over. Still, I'd love to hear how people feel the recent string of films compare to say, those of the 90s. And how has Lasseter's performance compared so far to your early expectations for him? I have to wonder whether he's faced much opposition from Iger and other execs, or if he's just grown complacent in the wake of huge financial/critical successes....or maybe my taste is just radically different from the mainstream. I don't know. I do know that I'd love to read a tell-all book someday, about these past several years at the Mouse House.