Why is it that we can accept expressive/cartoonish looking characters but need to have the most realistic environmental rendering (light, physics effects)?
I challenge the studios to be imaginative and equally expressive on the latter. Give us the miyazaki equivalent in 3d animated films.
Don't take fthe easy way out by emulating reality. Put true art into it
My guess is the uncanny valley[0] is still too big for "realistic" human characters. As for the goofy-looking chicken, it's convenient to make an animal goofy-looking for comic relief. (And in the case of Jiminy Cricket, I think Disney would rather draw, and people would rather look at, a humanoid with a weird head than an actual insect.)
[0] "the uncanny valley is the hypothesis that human replicas that appear almost, but not exactly, like real human beings elicit feelings of eeriness and revulsion among some observers" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
I challenge the studios to be imaginative and equally expressive on the latter. Give us the miyazaki equivalent in 3d animated films.
Don't take fthe easy way out by emulating reality. Put true art into it