Earlier this year, Leslie Iwerks’ Disneyland Handcrafted left me wanting more in the best way. My only issue is that it wasn’t longer. That is also true in her newest Mouse House release Disney Worldbuilders. It spotlights some of Disney’s best storytellers as they share their own personal history, what brought them to the company, and what it meant for them to see their work go from the screen to the parks. Those parts of the film—which makes up the majority of the 58 minute runtime—are what makes it a must-watch for Disney fans. However, this doc is just way too short. There so much untapped potential that it should have been a series, like Iwerks’ superb The Imagineering Story show.
And somehow, Disney Worldbuilders will also leave you wanting less. Because while the good outweighs the bad, too often it feels like a commercial that’s selling us on Bob Iger’s legacy.
Disney Worldbuilders primarily consists of a series of shorts segments. Each focuses on a different writer, director, or movie executive. Each saw their on-screen work become part of Disney’s theme parks. Those portions are genuinely fascinating. At times they are even genuinely emotional. They pull back the curtain by combining each person’s personal and professional histories. They also show how their own past and love for Disney contributed to their creative process and success before showing the feeling of having their projects manifest in ways they never expected. Disney Worldbuilders isn’t about the creation of theme park lands or rides. It’s about what it’s like to have your idea literally come to life in the real world.
That’s also why there’s so much more untapped potential here. There’s very little to nothing about the actual work WDI did in turning onscreen worlds into actual places. Imagineers aren’t part of this documentary, not even as a part of the titular worldbuilders’ experience. So while what we do get from the creative side is fantastic, it’s impossible not to wish we got a full series of entire episodes of each instead.
That frustration is fully on display during the James Cameron portion. Hearing him talk about how a vivid dream became Avatar decades later is enthralling for anyone who cares about making something. But then hearing him mention in passing how he walked through the construction of Animal Kingdom’s Pandora ten times, and that he worked with Imagineer legend Joe Rohde, without then learning exactly how Cameron influenced the area’s construction is frustrating. I could have watched a 90-minute documentary on his involvement alone instead of the nine minutes we do get.
The same is true of the segment with Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter. He’s written and directed some of the studio’s best, most beloved, and most popular films. I loved his segment and wanted to spend way more time with him. I’m not even sure how much, if any, influence he had on the many Pixar rides and lands you’ll find in Disney parks around the world. I felt the same way with every creative person who gets their own segment. That includes The Mandalorian‘s Jon Favreau (whose involvement is the most tenuous, though still fascinating). I couldn’t get enough of Frozen‘s Jennifer Lee, who provides the most emotional moment of the doc. And seeing Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige inside DCA’s Avengers Land was worthy of its own hour.
These abridged segments create the feeling that this documentary is a highlight reel cut together from a TV show. It’s good and worth watching if you love Disney movies and/or the theme parks. But there’s so much more I wish had been included.
What I wish I could cut entirely are the segments about former Disney CEO Bob Iger, especially the two that bookend the documentary. One of the things that has made Iwerks’ previous Disney+ releases so good is that, despite being made on conjunction with Disney, they never felt like promotional pieces. Unfortunately that’s exactly what the overly glazing portions highlighting Iger’s legacy come across as. The same is true when he appears as a talking head during the doc, reflecting on his own successes multiple times.
The Iger sections, which mainly point out his acquisition of popular IPs, feel like they’re there to promote him rather than entertain viewers. They feel like the kind of video a sports team would make hyping up their player to MVP voters. Sure, maybe that player deserves to win the award. But there’s a difference between a journalist saying so and his own team. Disneyland Handcrafted and The Imagineering Story never came close to crossing the line between documentary and advertisement. Being able to pull that off so deftly before makes it even more jarring when Iwerks fails to do that now.
Fortunately, it’s not enough to invalidate the great parts of Disney Worldbuilders. I enjoyed hearing from Disney’s best storytellers way more than I disliked watching the Bob Iger legacy commercials that kept getting in the way.
Disney Worldbuilders premieres on Disney+ on August 20, 2026.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You might even say he’s a Nerdist Worldbuilder. (But you don’t have to.) You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.