Even if you&#x27;re a staunch ally of safe, conservative family entertainment for its own sake, Disney was pretty damn crappy for a while. Look at their animated stuff in particular for plenty of mediocre storylines and bland animation (e.g. <i>The Aristocats</i>, <i>The Fox and the Hound</i>, <i>Robin Hood</i>). Children deserved better!<p>Eventually some meaningful competition from the likes of Don Bluth started to push them in the right direction (<i>Secret of NIMH</i>, <i>Land before Time</i>, <i>All Dogs Go to Heaven</i>, etc.) and not too long afterward they were doing things like <i>Little Mermaid</i>, <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>, <i>Aladdin</i>. Quite an improvement, though I dare say the storylines have never quite caught up. (Of course, all of Bluth&#x27;s stuff would later be undermined as it was sequel-ized to Hell and back, like <i>The Land Before Time XXIV: Teach Your Kids Roman Numerals Edition</i>...)<p>Right now, though, after seeing Pixar&#x27;s homages to Ghibli, I&#x27;m anticipating the impact of recent works like <i>Puella Magi Madoka Magica</i>, which really pushed some boundaries in Japan. (If you&#x27;re not familiar with it, I&#x27;ll just say... imagine if <i>Pan&#x27;s Labyrinth</i> had been actively marketed to little children as a happy family film and an homage to <i>Alice in Wonderland</i>... and then translate that willful deception and the profound darkness onto <i>Sailor Moon</i>.) If it does make a splash in the youth entertainment industry at large, that will be quite interesting indeed.