More seriously, and to be fair, I don’t think he’s been given much of a *chance* since Enchanted to do anything remarkable. Everything has pretty much been remakes and redos, or an odd song here or there. I know you’re not a fan of the film (which still puzzles me!) but Tangled is his last great score: beautiful songs and some really good ones in there. I’ll agree that after *that* he’s kind of been treading water — though again through no fault of his own — but do allow him that one good one after Enchanted.
As for lyricists, no-one comes close to Ashman, particularly for Menken's writing. If you also know their outside Disney stuff, which never gets the due credit, they were truly a fantastic team. Rice can be too literal and laconic, often throwing in a lyric that is not as clever as it thinks it is, while Zippel certainly has the comedy chops and often has that Ashman wordplay, but still falls a bit short of that insanely brilliant spike of "acerbic-ness" that Ashman's best words did. Schwartz comes closest in Enchanted, and it’s clear that having another songwriter in the team ups both their games when working together.
)
