Fear for Pixar

I saw Tangled today; entertaining, but perhaps only the fourth-best animated film of the year.

John Lasseter of Pixar fame was listed as executive producer; anything Lasseter touches should be better, but this was fairly standard Disney fare.

What concerns me more was the trailer for Cars 2 that preceded it. I admittedly wasn't a big fan of Cars, but the sequel looks like a disaster.

I think everyone hoped that Pixar would infect Disney with their creativity and risk-taking, but for a company averse to sequels, it's worth noting that of their four films for 2010 and beyond, three are sequels (Monsters Inc 2 is planned for release in late 2012).

Steve Jobs, are you paying attention? In another quarter or three, you could buy Disney outright with the cash Apple has in the bank; maybe it's time to shake things up a bit.