One aspect which has hurt Disney films is their 
new attitude of less music in their films. Well, 
that's fine if the script can hold up. Disney had 
an unprcedented string of hits in the early 90's 
with Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, 
Aladdin, and Lion King. However, the films 
following those started to bomb. It wasn't 
because of maturing audiences or a downcycle in 
2D animation, but that the movies were just plain 
awful. I really thought they were on the right 
track with Lilo and Stitch in terms of reviving 
their 2D animation empire, but then they went and 
made Atlantis and Treasure Planet. They can blame 
3D technology all they want, but I'll take Lilo 
and Stitch over Ice Age any day. If distributing 
Ghibli films has taught them anything, it is that 
a beautifully scored, written, and drawn work 
like Spirited Away is worth its weight in gold. 
Too bad they refuse to back these films in 
American theatres.