Even if you haven’t personally seen it, you’ve probably heard about K-Pop Demon Hunters from friends or social media. I personally was reluctant to watch the movie as the hype around it seemed over the top; despite this, I found myself pleasantly surprised when I watched the movie. The fun characters and cute art style inspired me to watch more animated movies produced recently, hoping they’d live up to K-Pop Demon Hunters.

I was very disappointed. Initially, I wasn’t sure why because movies like Elio and Wish seemed to have so much potential. In my humble opinion, they are nothing films. They strive for nothing and achieve nothing. 

First, the recent Disney movies have such bare bones characters that don’t mean anything to the audience. They don’t evoke emotion or interest because they possess one or two identifying traits, and Rumi is very complex in comparison. Connecting with her feels easy because she has flaws and struggles to identify with.

I feel sad when I watch Rumi fail and happy when she succeeds, not because I’m told to feel that way, but because I care about her journey as a character. It’s easy to empathize when you aren’t being forced to feel bad for a character.

I’ll admit it, K-Pop Demon Hunters made me cry. But the only emotions I remember feeling while watching the other two movies was hunger and boredom. Rumi struggled to become a better person in the end, and I doubt the protagonists from Elio and Wish could say the same.

The perfectionism Rumi struggles with when it comes to her identity is something an audience member can connect to, and the plot revolves around her growing as a person. That’s original and interesting. 

You know what isn’t original and interesting? The same “quirky” main character Disney has been writing for the past four years. Elio? A kid who struggles to fit in. Inside Out 2? A kid who struggles to fit in. Luca? Kids who struggle to fit in. Wish? Take a guess. This reheated generational trauma storyline is like cold nachos. Unappetizing.  

The character archetype of the social outcast nerd is so overdone, which prompts the question as to why? Disney as of late has been all about the money, harvesting profits from the husks of old movies with live action remakes and part twos. If something worked for them in the past, they make it the narrative of the next five movies.

On the other hand, K-Pop Demon Hunters has such a fun concept that is relevant to people’s interests today. Whether that be the music, the dialogue, or the realistic fan culture, it’s easy to like the movie’s unique topics that many audiences can still connect with.

Not to mention, the recent Disney movies only target young kids and teens with stakes that wouldn’t interest most adults. The worst outcome for these storylines in Disney movies is characters being sad, whilst in K-Pop Demon Hunters, people will get hurt without the main characters intervention. The characters mean something to the plot and vice versa.

The K-Pop Demon Hunters production team has put a lot of effort into writing the plot, and as an audience member myself, it’s easy to notice when something is made with passion and when it isn’t. I’m looking at you, Disney.