While he acknowledges that Disney stories carry messages showing good triumphing over evil, he argues this is part of a ploy to persuade people that they should buy Disney products in order to be "a good and happy family".
He cites films such as Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians that feature moral battles, but get into children's imaginations and make them greedy for the merchandise that goes with them.
"The message behind every movie and book, behind every theme park and T-shirt is that our children's world needs Disney," he says.
"So they absolutely must go to see the next Disney movie, which we'll also want to give them on DVD as a birthday present.
"They will be happier if they live the full Disney experience; and thousands of families around the world buy into this deeper message as they flock to Disneyland."
He continues: "This is the new pilgrimage that children desire, a rite of passage into the meaning of life according to Disney.
Christopher Jamison, the Abbot of Worth in West Sussex makes some good points. Disney is nothing if not a marketing juggernaut. The problem is not Disney per se (and the Abbot go on to say this, to his credit), but rather undisciplined wallets and appetites. You can take away the trough, but that only stops the barnyard animals from feeding. It doesn't stop them from wanting to eat.
"...Protestants showed ‘a special tendency to develop economic rationalism’; that is, a particular approach to creating wealth that was less focused on the gain of comfort than on the pursuit of profit itself. The particular satisfaction was not in the money extracted to buy things (which had always driven money making in the past), but in wealth creation based on increased productivity and better use of resources."
- Book review: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, by Max Weber
I can honestly say, that all I have in my head are the Disney characters from when I watched them as kid, I took away no "moral of the story". I'm speaking for myself of course; credit should be given to Disney senior, from what I understand he had good intention when starting out.
That seems to me to be a legitimate end, as long as it is not hedonistic.
.."the pursuit of profit itself."
That would seem to tend toward idolatry.