When you look at the classics of children's literature, the quality that caused them to endure is that they don't flinch from the truth. You could even argue that this is the whole purpose of storytelling, especially storytelling to children. This makes you just more fierce in protecting what it is that you're trying to do. If the best screenwriting is distilled poetry, then animation would be haiku. The length of the film has to be shorter, and some poor animator has to sit there and draw every blink, every hand gesture, so you really do have to make sure you're efficient.
Animated films tend to be producer-driven.
The writer really can't fight the process and have it be in their complete control. You certainly can't judge our work that way. I think we're highly regarded for our screenplays but not necessarily for our movies. In particular, he offers some perspective on animated features. Some of the big animated movies would benefit more from a unity of vision that comes from being more writer-driven, but I don't necessarily see that there's a way to do that.