I'm Gen Z, not Gen X, so take that for what it is - but most of my Gen X friends, their Gen Z kids, including the women of those groups, pretty universally like the same Disney movies I do. At no point do we even think about heroes or heroism, macho men or strong women, etc - we want to see a fun movie, an action movie, a well crafted animated movie, have a good story, and a good ending. Toy Story, Bugs Life, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Up, Moana, Pirates of the Caribbean (1), and Disney had a great run of live-action sports movies: Invincible, Miracle, McFarland USA, Remember the Titans...all examples of movies that my friends and relatives of both sexes all enjoy.
Two of the biggest problems I have with Disney's movies of late are Sequel-itis, and inauthentic or forced social messaging. Way too many sequels, many of which are just mailed in. On the social messaging front, the problem in my opinion isn't trying to incorporate stronger female characters, show more racial inclusion, represent more LGBT characters, etc - it's that it feels like they tried too hard to make that a point of the movies. If you want those messages to get across, make them feel authentic and real, not forced by some mandate, aka A primary character who just happens to be black or gay or female or Asian, without that aspect of their identity being a driving part of the plot. Too many more recent efforts feel inauthentic or forced and make something that shouldn't even be an issue FEEL like an issue. There was such outrage over Lightyear from some conservatives, and yet a gay couple in Zootopia seemed to not draw any outrage at all.
I think I get the comments about strong female characters at the expense of male characters - I can't see too many people having any issue with strong female characters or even male characters being helped or saved by female characters...but I do see a few examples where the female characters are significantly smarter, stronger, and more in control while male characters are clumsy, stupid, or oafish - in those situations, it's not bringing up female characters to be EQUALLY capable to men, but making them clearly superior to men, which could make it a less likeable movie for younger men. Strong female leads are in some of the biggest hits and favorite movies of a vast majority of male audiences for decades - think Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, just to name a few. Most men I know love those films and have no problem with the strong female lead.
