‘Stranger Things’ Is Still Finding Fun in the Familiar

When Disney released the teaser for a live-action Moana movie this month, it took the wind out of my sails. The House of Mouse is no stranger to reviving animated properties—Lilo & Stitch, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, and so on—but we’re less than 10 years removed from the original Moana, and the only material differences in the new film are a flesh-and-blood lead and some shoddy-looking CGI. It’s my biggest hang-up with modern pop culture in a nutshell: The powers that be recycle ideas way more often than they innovate on them. That’s also why, despite not being a flawless work of art, Stranger Things’ massive cultural footprint has felt like a breath of fresh air.