Making animated hair, water, light and shadow look photo-realistic is cool and all, but I’m not sure that’s pushing the medium of animation forward and in exciting new directions in the same way Spider-Verse or Klaus did with their animation styles and techniques.
It’s not that Moana and Toy Story 4 aren’t great or that Frozen II and Onward aren’t stunning, because of course they are.
Disney keeps pumping out fantastic theatrical animation via Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, but I do think there is a bit of sameness and safeness to it.