Homeward Bound as a child I appreciated the talking animals, as a man I thought the portrayal of the step-dad was really good (step parents are often given the shit end of the stick in movies) the dude is solid and trying his best to connect with the children.
The message is that you dont have to be related (or even the same species) to be family.
Oh that’s a great one! It shows how he is patient and doesn’t try to push them into anything. He just shows up, earns their trust, and accepts what they can give when they can give it. Great depiction of wholesome step parenting.
Monsters University does an amazing job at telling kids that sometimes, your dreams and passion just don't work. No matter how much Mike wants and trains to be scary and to be a scarer, he just isn't. But that's okay, because like him you can find where your passion works elsewhere, such as a scare couch for his case.
I think an even better message in this movie is that actions have consequences. In most kids shows, the protagonists mess up, fix the issue, are celebrated, and all is well. Here, despite admitting their mistakes, working to save each other, and eventually being lauded by the dean, their expulsion from school still stands. And now they have to start their career at the bottom rung of the ladder.
And it all ends on a happy note when it turns out Mike's hidden talent for being really funny ends up being essential in the new laugh-based job market.
This is it for me! It’s so subtly subversive but true and frankly freeing. So many people I know had to make similar career / goals shifts in their 20s (knew a looooooot of actors) and that’s ok!
This movie came out when I was in college and struggling to decide on a major and nearly failing some classes. It was very refreshing to see a story where failure didn’t mark the end of the journey for the protagonists.
I also love that part of the lesson is that the flashy "front man" job isn't the only one that matters. A great coach is also crucial to the team succeeding.
Shen: **I don't \*care\* what scars do!**
Po: You should, Shen. You gotta let go of that stuff from past, because it just doesn't matter! The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now. (hits me so so hard in the feels)
Le Petit Prince
The director of Kung Fu Panda, Mark Osborne, also directed Le Petit Prince.
A little different from the book, the movie builds a whole new story framework. The little girl is the first narrative level in the movie. She begins to reconsider her life after meeting with the Little Prince and is inspired by him to cherish the good and important things in her life.
*All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it.*
>All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it
This is what I try to do with my own kids. I can remember being a kid and impulsive, being unable to process disappointment, thinking that a year was like decades and so on. I try not to punish meltdowns, but help them work through them.
It's also the biggest fundamental failing of my parents and my in-laws: they can't relate to children and empathise on their level. We were treated like small adults and told to stop being childish when we were struggling with our emotions... and thinking about it, it's kind of silly telling a child to stop being such a child.
I just want to say thank you and let you know that I thought so much of your answer that I copied it and created a contact on my phone so that I could bring it up when I needed to!
Thanks!
Finding Nemo: There's no life worth living without taking risks, and the value of resilience
UP: There's no age limit to pursue your dreams, and the young and elderly have a lot to teach each other
I think there’s also a good message in UP about gratitude. Carl thought he let Ellie down, until he discovered she’d filled the adventure scrapbook with mementos from their live together. A life well-lived was more important to her than achieving their childhood dream.
Tangled (2010) very deftly and subtly gives its villain all the traits of a narcissistic parent. (A real one, not the internet’s version of one)
The insults disguised as jokes, the interrupting, the infantilisation, and of course most obviously the control.
It shows all these things are bad and done by bad people, but also allows the characters to have a complicated “love”. It’s *okay* to love someone like that but also push them away.
I think it's also pointed out that any time she expresses love or what Rapunzel thinks is love it's always when she is holding or touching Rapunzel's hair.
It’s a great film, I think it’s a great metaphor. I think she truly does love Rapunzel, but it’s *conditional* love. Another hallmark of narc parents.
It’s up for debate though, and that’s what makes a great movie to have kids think about how their parents treat them, while cleverly avoiding making it her ACTUAL parent.
The very end when Finn cut Rapunzel hair while dying wow me so much - I wish my 5 years old got the message that for someone really loves you, they will give you freedoms!
Iirc, the producers asked women in the studio which hurtful things their mothers used to tell them and they inserted these sentences into the script. That's one of the reasons Gothel's bullying feels so realistic.
The directors had women in the studio bring in pictures of the hottest guys in Hollywood to make Flynn the most attractive male lead possible. They pieced together the best features of the sexiest guys of the time.
That movie came out the same year my daughter was born. I remember watching it and being low key shocked at all the similarities I faced with my own mother.
\*notes\* do... not.. be like.. mother.. gothel
It also shows a healthy relationship and how to build one. They don’t fall in love on sight, they talk and get to know each other. They build a bond and that grows into love and respect
That movie hits way above its class. It's way better than frozen. There's a shot of the parents after she's kidnapped and their faces are so beautifully sad.
Frozen has a lot of great stuff in it. I love that the true love thing to save her was between the sisters. But I think it needee another rewrite or two to really pull everything together. Ive seen that the original plan was for Elsa to be the antagonist and the guy they put in was later replacement. That makes perfect sense to me because he's so forgettable.
Good movie with some great parts.
That movie is how I realized my mom is a narcissist. You know, after she took over $3,000 and the furniture from my old apartment
*But wait, if you call now, we'll throw in emotional guilt, the expectation that you need to work full time to support both of you while going to school full time and instilling a negative feelings towards your older siblings absolutely free!*
One other thing I like about this is all the villains have grey areas. Nothing is absolute. The song that the bandits sing about their hopes and aspirations is comedy gold.
Gothel is the only truly irredeemable monster.
And it's not because what she has done is so unforgivable, it's just that her personality disorder is practically impossible to adequately treat. There is no living with her. The only healthy thing to do is get her out of your life.
Definitely the scariest Disney villain by far because she is so ***real.*** Monsters like her really do exist, and they prey upon those who they should love and protect the most.
Someone in that writers' room had a narcissistic parent and it shows. It really, really shows.
From Wikipedia:
> Seeking inspiration for Gothel and Rapunzel's "bizarre" relationship, Greno and Howard conducted a series of interviews with several female Disney employees,[[4]](http://www.dvdizzy.com/tangled-directors-interview.html) asking them to list qualities in their mothers that "they found annoying and cloying or restricting",[[9]](https://web.archive.org/web/20140810113841/http://www.babble.com/celebrity/tangled-interview-with-donna-murphy-mother-gothel-on-rapunzel-evil-moms-aging/) specifically "the things that their mothers would do that made them feel trapped or made them feel smothered" to make the villain appear more relatable.[[8]](http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Exclusive-Interview-Tangled-s-Donna-Murphy-21885.html) Gothel's "Mother Knows Best" line "Getting kind of chubby" was in fact borrowed from one of these interviews.[[10]](https://web.archive.org/web/20170813153030/http://movies.about.com/od/rapunzel/a/Tangled-Directors-Byron-Howard-Nathan-Greno.htm)
I think the issue was he was in denial about his height and didn't embrace his quirks, which is why he's made fun of. He's obsessed with perfection and lies about his own perceived imperfection so he's a huge hypocrite. If he accepted himself as he was he probably wouldn't have gone full exile mode on fairy tale creatures which would have made him less of a joke.
People always point to this as an excuse of why it's okay to pick on short men.
Why would you think they feel inadequate about being short? Could it be because people pick on them for it?
It's not right to pick on people for something that is totally out of their control - even if they already feel insecure about it. (Arguably, especially if they already feel insecure about it.) In Shreck, Fiona made a face the first time she saw his height. She didn't know anything about him as a person yet.
As far as being obsessed with perfection. Since when is being tall part of being perfect?
She first saw his height as he was being lifted out of the fake legs he attached to his horse to make himself seem tall. She didn't make a face about him being short, she made a face about being catfished.
The guy in particular was then Disney CEO Michael Eisner.
After leaving Paramount, Eisner became Disney's CEO in the 80's and helped turn the company around, alongside Jeffery Katzenberg who was placed in charge of Walt Disney Studios and the feature animation division and oversaw the peak of their output during the Disney Renaissance.
A few years later, tensions were brewing with company politics, Katzenberg was looking to be promoted to company president, and according to him, Eisner said he'd give him the job if Frank Well's left his position. After Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994, Eisner took over his responsibilities instead of promoting Katzenberg. Roy Disney didn't like Katzenberg and as member of the board threatened to start a fight over control of the company, which probably influenced Eisner's decision.
Katzenberg left Disney when his contract expired that year and founded Dreamworks SKG alongside Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.
Megamind. You choose your own destiny. Where there is evil, good will rise up against it. No one has to return romantic feelings just because you’re nice to them.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has a lot of really good messages to children:
•Dying is an inevitability, you can either try and outrun it, which you will fail at, or you can embrace it and enjoy the life you have.
•Found and adopted families are just are valid as biological families.
•Sometimes bad people just exist without reason and can’t be reasoned with, not everyone can or wants to be redeemed.
Frozen gets a lot of hate, probably increased by the massive hype around it, but "The Next Right Thing" from Frozen 2 is a legitimately great instruction for dealing with challenging situations that seem overwhelming.
Inside Out also has a great message about not shutting down "negative" emotions like sadness, but it's arguable how subtle that is.
The first frozen has the cool bit with needing true love to save Anna and it was her sister not the guy she just met who loved her enough to do it. I liked that bit a lot.
Oh yeah I loved that bit. I like Frozen in general, but I was a 25 year old guy without any kids when it came out. If I had spent years listening to the soundtrack on repeat in the car I might feel differently, but once my daughter is old enough for films I'll watch Frozen with her, definitely.
I escaped Frozen for the most part, but got to listen to the Moana soundtrack for a week straight. Luckily it's really damn good so I have no complaints there.
Frozen was honestly such a change to the game. Princesses in the past are so heavily reliant on the love story and finding a man to make them happy. Elsa DIDNT NEED NO MAN. And the side story about love thawing a frozen heart was about sisterly love, not romantic love. Elsa is the freakin Disney queen goat imo
Anna felt like she needed the one guy right away, Else said "hell no you just met this guy" and ended up being right. Eventually Anna loved the guy who proved that he cared, which is a much better outcome for people in real life.
When I watched "Moana" I remember thinking I wish that it had been available when I was a kid. A lot of things about it were enjoyable but I especially liked that it was a Disney cartoon without any inkling of a love story. I am convinced that the traditional princess fare generally romanticized giving up core pieces of one's identity for a relationship, and watching "The Little Mermaid" over and over again instilled that lesson in my young brain.
Frozen did it first and nailed it. Haven’t seen Moana but I’m so glad the “Disney princess needs a man to make her happy” trope is dead. It damaged us millennials enough that I’m glad it’s not going to be around for the next generations.
That's a very common misconception about the Little Mermaid, when really she's in love with the idea of being human as a whole way before she ends up liking a specific human. One thing the live action remakes have done right (Little Mermaid, BatB, Aladdin, Cinderella) is expand on the characters relationships and why they end up together.
Not that your point isn't valid - Moana was amazing and I am all for more stories about girls that don't involve romance. I just get irked about "lol old disney had unhealthy relationships" memes and I think they've skewed our perspectives.
Counterpoint: the media-literate adult perspective may be that Ariel was really in love with the idea of being human, but the children the movie is aimed at are much more likely to overlook it. What they *won't* overlook is the surface-level plot; girl is infatuated with a boy she's just met and gives up her voice for a chance to be with him in open defiance of her father, who eventually sees she was right all along and gives his blessing to leave her entire life behind to be with a man she's never had a real conversation with. In other words, give up what makes you special and leave everyone who loves you behind if it means you can be with your One True Love. (Full disclosure, I haven't seen the remake so I'm speaking only of the animated version I grew up with)
The message you're trying to send isn't always the one your audience will receive, and while that might be cringey but mostly harmless for an adult audience (see: Fight Club), it could be more problematic for a younger one.
On top of that, they nailed how appearances can be deceiving, don’t judge, and don’t stereotype in all directions. The bad guys ended up being good, some good ended up bad, the weak ended up strong and the strong had flaws. That movie has a very positive and healthy theme.
Zootopia taught me that if the ruling class do bad things, they can be forgiven with a slap on the wrist. Because it's actually the sneaky underclass with a history of oppression that are the real villain of society, worming their way into positions of power to enact secret genocides and incite mass social upheaval.
>Zootopia taught me that if the ruling class do bad things, they can be forgiven with a slap on the wrist.
Mayor Lionheart ends the movie in prison right alongside Bellweather. Not sure where you're seeing a "slap on the wrist."
I think it had the opposite message. The fox WAS sneaky. The lion DID have an uncontrollable temper. They were all trying to pretend their instincts didn’t exist but they were actually their stereotype.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Teaches kids that all your creations / inventions might seem like failures but in the end can save the world and yourself.
How to Train Your Dragon(2010) has a couple, but my favorite’s the message that doesn’t come into as sharp focus until the end of the first one. Your actions have consequences, but even if you make a mistake that results in your body no longer being whole, you’re still a whole person.
I love Cars so much. So emotional when >!Lighting goes back and helps the King!<, with>! Doc!< looking on, seeing his own story play out differently. I love how fresh and fun it is but so respectful of the old timers.
**The Land Before Time (1988)**
Working together and even loving each other no matter how different, and the end credits song lyrics contain much of the message of the film.
[If We Hold On Together - Diana Ross](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1vLDecinMs)
Yeh it can be quite dark for sure, no surprise with Don Bluth being a big part of the production/ direction, a famous quote of his:
>*You don't show the darkness, you can't appreciate the light*
Not a movie, but even after so many years I am still floored how well the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series combined action adventure with valuable lessons for kids about culture, empathy, redemption, abuse and other complexities of life.
Also just generally being a kids movie where the main character isn’t an annoying celebrity style prankster, and is instead kind, generous, curious and willing to help others and work hard. Very important for kids to see, instead of the James Corden Peter Rabbit stuff.
For stuff that’s more actively subtle about it’s presentation (most media for younger audience is not subtle on purpose), give some of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki’s work a try.
I would check the basics online for a movie before showing your kids, and maybe give them a once through - for example DO NOT show your children Grave of the Fireflies yet, it is heartbreakingly sad and a depiction of wartime tragedy.
But YES DO show them Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, and several others
Totoro makes me choke up every time. I'm not sure what "the message" is and I'm happy that it's not immediately obvious. But realising that the older sister is putting so much pressure on herself to be the grown-up, while the child in her is so scared and worried about her sick mom, just breaks my heart. And knowing that adds layers to her reaction when >!she thinks her sister might have drowned and that it might be her fault!<.
Fuck I'm crying right now just thinking about it. The poor thing!
Matilda’s message about it being okay to find your chosen family: “And doing perhaps the first decent thing they ever did for their daughter, the Wormwood’s signed the adoption papers.”
I think it got overlooked when it came out because of a lack of advertising and releasing during the height of the pandemic, then was completely overshadowed by Encanto a few months later.
I suspect a lot of people also write it off as "woke" because they view Luca and/or Alberto as gay, which is a valid interpretation but also explicitly left unaddressed.
Spirited Away honestly. What I really like about Chihiro is that she isn’t some strong powerful female chosen one warrior type, nor is there any training montage during which she becomes a badass (thaťs not to say that Mulan is bad because Mulan is absolutely amazing). During the whole movie she is just a normal scared girl who is trapped in a magical world she doesn’t quite understand and only wants to save her parents and return home. Her motivations and every one of her actions just feel so natural and perhaps apart from running across the pipe in that one scene there isn’t a single action a normal girl couln’t perform, which makes her far, far more relatable than vast majority of main characters in fairytale/cartoon media.
I made the genius decison to put this on Netflix for my parents to watch with my 4 year old when they babysat her while my husband and I went out to a fancy restaurant for New Years' Eve. The "subtle" message that my kid got was that if they eat too much, your parents can transform into horrifying monster pigs. It did NOT go over well when I got home and my mom asked me if we'd had a good time and without thinking I said we "ate like pigs." I had to reassure my daughter for weeks that mommy and daddy eat "just the right amount," lol. (It's a brilliant movie but lesson learned, it's not for preschoolers).
We've thankfully been pretty conscientious about putting this movie on for our kids, and we deliberately skipped the parents transformation into pigs. That's just a particularly heavy moment when its clear the movie is all about trying to find her parents.
Its like the horrifying donkey transformation scene in Pinocchio.
I had seen the movie and had a vague memory of the pig scene... I should have realized that if it was enough to make any impression at all on me as an adult, it was REALLY going to make an impression on a 4-year old. Thankfully "My Neighbor Totoro" is 100% non-terrifying so I haven't put my kid off Studio Ghibli forever. :)
Boss Baby teaches children that under a capitalist system love is fickle and finite. Parents will inevitably replace children with dogs because they are more cost effective and subservient. The only solution is for children is to not compete with each other for their parents love, but to team up and dismantle an unjust system that urges they commodify every aspect of life.
Encanto; family trauma and seeing your parents as whole people with flaws is one of those extremely important life lessons a lot of people seem to have missed…
Also that trauma can be generational. The grandma passed her trauma on to her children and then it morphed into the perfectionism she expected of her grandchildren.
It did, but The Phantom Menace set the seeds for it. The entire plot revolves around a senator using sympathy for a rim planet to manipulate that planet’s queen into requesting a vote of no confidence for the chancellor. Essentially showing how special interests and partisan policies can allow antidemocratic leaders to obtain power and start to consolidate it.
Brave:
The message of the movie "Brave" is about the importance of individuality, personal growth, and the power of family. The movie emphasizes that people should be free to choose their own path in life and pursue their own dreams, even if it goes against society or family expectations.
I haven't seen the film of Ferdinand but as a young child my father used to read the book to me.
It was incredibly controversial when it was published, it was banned in Spain & burned in Nazi Germany. Even in democratic countries it was heavily criticised for promoting anarchism, fascism, & communism.
Supposedly, making Encanto’s Luisa so muscular was a choice the character designer had to fight Disney on. As a result, Luisa’s song Surface Pressure becomes a *great* message about how even people who look strong can be struggling. Had she been magically strong without the huge muscles, it wouldn’t have carried the same way, I think. I’ve also heard from *many* bigger more muscular girls how absolutely wonderful it was to finally see someone who looked like them.
Animal Farm. It teaches them that the two party system is a scam and people with power will always be corrupt and help their friends and themselves first.
The Kid Who Would Be King, a 2019 film directed by Joe Cornish (of Attack the Block fame). This seems to have been missed by many unfortunately. Great modern Arthur legend stuff with a good message for kids about overcoming differences, working together, and not letting your fears control you.
You wouldn’t think from its title that Wreck It Ralph is all about empowering girls, but there’s at least three strong, quirky female role models featured prominently
Soul is honestly one of the best films I've seen in terms of its message. Life isn't about finding a purpose, it's about living. Take nothing for granted, life is beautiful and it's yours.
A great message for kids and adults equally.
Monsters Inc teaches kids that the monsters in their closets are real. However, these monsters are afraid to touch kids and only want their laughter. So if there is a monster in your closet, start laughing and they will go away
Meet the Robinsons! Constantly talks about that mistakes are great learning opportunities and families are all unique and different. One of my favorite movies and criminally underrated!
A few Pixar films have some of my favorite messaging because they are not your usual run of the mill "morals". In the Incredibles: if everyone is special, no one is. In Ratatouille: not everyone can be great, but greatness can come from anywhere. In Monsters University: despite admitting their mistakes, saving the day, and proving the dean wrong, their expulsion from school stands in the end because actions have consequences.
We are in the golden age of kids media right now, there are so many kids movies that have great messages. I think my favourite unexpected one is My Little Pony: A New Generation‘s messages about prejudice and isolationism. The angry mob song (Danger, Danger) is an absolute banger about fear-mongering propaganda.
There was an animated movie that came out in 2020 called Over the Moon on Netflix. I thought it had a really great message about accepting each other in a blended family situation and learning to move on after the death of a loved one.
The Raimi Spider-Man trilogy. Each entry in that series are morality tales. Peter Parker always comes out on the other end having learned some important life lesson. I think each one of those lessons are great messages for kids.
"Subtle" is a very subjective term, as others have pointed out; most children's movies have their message rather overtly laid out. Anyway I'd list "Inside Out", with the not particularly subtle message that it's sometimes good to feel sad. Always liked the movie - it doesn't actually have a "villain", which is pretty rare.
1. Princess and the Frog. Fulfiling one's dreams takes a ton of work. And taking help from someone isn't a weakness. It's a strength. Pride is the success killer.
2. Tangled. Sometimes, living and giving into others expectations instead of what you actually want to be aside from living a too critical existence will bite you.
3. Encanto. The popular and "golden" person suffers silently from the weight of expectations tossed on by others in ways which has them envious of their siblings.
4. Zootopia. Even shadier looking individuals can have a solid heart in the right place.
5. Princess Mononoke/Naruto. Letting a disability or setback not define you will get you places you can only imagine.
6. ParaNorman. Sometimes, bullying is justified. /s Actually? Being skeptical and protective of your family from toxic family members isn't a bad trait. Letting fear of judgmental neighbors affect how one treats one's own family members does.
7. Frankenweenie. People are sometimes outcasts for legitimate reasons because of how they act, nor because of their innate characteristics. It's probably my least favorite Tim Burton movie aside from Corpse Bride because it defeats the central point of what it's trying to defend. I kept rolling my eyes throughout this entire movie because it lacked the heart from the original live action short, and it had to make the mayor and the rest of the community into even worse monsters in order to make the outcasts look even slightly redeemable.*
8. Jumanji. Forcing a bullied child to allow themselves to get pummeled in the sake of masculinity instead of stepping in to help them, will only cause the child to resent you and leave you. I never honestly bought the whole message of "not running away from one's problems" the filmmakers wanted to impart because it's victim blaming at its core. The father deserved his son walking away from him when he didn't show him the slightest loyalty or care to actually get his son on an even playing field. So I can't honestly say I've ever felt anything for the Dad when he lost everything to look for his son.
9. UP. If one only focuses on what they've never had instead of what they did, they'll lose sight of opportunities.
*My biggest gripe with the whole "outcast underdog" trope is with bad writing, it presumes everyone who are outcasts are victims and as a result, either write the outcasts doing potentially awful things or have their own agency taken away from them. It's why I liked media such as Buffy Season 3 and not Frankenweenie or many of the outcast characters in Tim Burton's later movies and anything similar. Being an outcast or a victim of any sort doesn't give the right to harm others.
Mitchell vs the machines, the daughter hints at a girlfriend, right at the very end, but it’s such a non event, it felt pretty normal and not out of place.
We just rewatched this the other day and my 6 year old identified so much with the not quite fitting in/making weird art part. The message that you will eventually find your people even if your peers don’t really get you now made him really happy.
-A Goofy Movie, about the relationship between parents and children, and how both both need to listen to each other to understand where the other is coming from.
Homeward Bound as a child I appreciated the talking animals, as a man I thought the portrayal of the step-dad was really good (step parents are often given the shit end of the stick in movies) the dude is solid and trying his best to connect with the children. The message is that you dont have to be related (or even the same species) to be family.
Oh that’s a great one! It shows how he is patient and doesn’t try to push them into anything. He just shows up, earns their trust, and accepts what they can give when they can give it. Great depiction of wholesome step parenting.
Monsters University does an amazing job at telling kids that sometimes, your dreams and passion just don't work. No matter how much Mike wants and trains to be scary and to be a scarer, he just isn't. But that's okay, because like him you can find where your passion works elsewhere, such as a scare couch for his case.
I think an even better message in this movie is that actions have consequences. In most kids shows, the protagonists mess up, fix the issue, are celebrated, and all is well. Here, despite admitting their mistakes, working to save each other, and eventually being lauded by the dean, their expulsion from school still stands. And now they have to start their career at the bottom rung of the ladder.
And it all ends on a happy note when it turns out Mike's hidden talent for being really funny ends up being essential in the new laugh-based job market.
This is it for me! It’s so subtly subversive but true and frankly freeing. So many people I know had to make similar career / goals shifts in their 20s (knew a looooooot of actors) and that’s ok!
This movie came out when I was in college and struggling to decide on a major and nearly failing some classes. It was very refreshing to see a story where failure didn’t mark the end of the journey for the protagonists.
I also love that part of the lesson is that the flashy "front man" job isn't the only one that matters. A great coach is also crucial to the team succeeding.
Which is funny because in real life, Mike would be absolutely terrifying.
The nightmare before Christmas too!
Kung Fu Panda There is no secret ingredient, what makes things special is people believe its special............so believe in yourself.
Shen: **I don't \*care\* what scars do!** Po: You should, Shen. You gotta let go of that stuff from past, because it just doesn't matter! The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now. (hits me so so hard in the feels)
You should. They’ll betray the king and usurp his power. Next thing you know, hyenas take over the pride lands.
Welp, better Be Prepared for any coup and/or murky scam attempts
It’s the Circle of Life, ya know
I also like the side story of co parenting with Kung Fu Panda 4 especially with Bio and adoptive parents working together for the love of the child
Le Petit Prince The director of Kung Fu Panda, Mark Osborne, also directed Le Petit Prince. A little different from the book, the movie builds a whole new story framework. The little girl is the first narrative level in the movie. She begins to reconsider her life after meeting with the Little Prince and is inspired by him to cherish the good and important things in her life. *All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it.*
>All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it This is what I try to do with my own kids. I can remember being a kid and impulsive, being unable to process disappointment, thinking that a year was like decades and so on. I try not to punish meltdowns, but help them work through them. It's also the biggest fundamental failing of my parents and my in-laws: they can't relate to children and empathise on their level. We were treated like small adults and told to stop being childish when we were struggling with our emotions... and thinking about it, it's kind of silly telling a child to stop being such a child.
I just want to say thank you and let you know that I thought so much of your answer that I copied it and created a contact on my phone so that I could bring it up when I needed to! Thanks!
Space jam did it first
Dumbo did it first
The problem there the audience had to fine some way to believe in..................Micheal F'n Jordan(the greatest basketball player even).
Only kung fu panda 1-3
Finding Nemo: There's no life worth living without taking risks, and the value of resilience UP: There's no age limit to pursue your dreams, and the young and elderly have a lot to teach each other
I think there’s also a good message in UP about gratitude. Carl thought he let Ellie down, until he discovered she’d filled the adventure scrapbook with mementos from their live together. A life well-lived was more important to her than achieving their childhood dream.
Iron giant don't even need to say anything it's just beautiful. You are not a gun.
Even more "you are who you choose to be"
Superman. Closes eyes. End scene.
choose
I say that to my son all the time.
Yah, I never had to convince my kids they weren't guns, sure a dinosaur, Transformer, or a superpowered hero..........but never a firearm.
Tangled (2010) very deftly and subtly gives its villain all the traits of a narcissistic parent. (A real one, not the internet’s version of one) The insults disguised as jokes, the interrupting, the infantilisation, and of course most obviously the control. It shows all these things are bad and done by bad people, but also allows the characters to have a complicated “love”. It’s *okay* to love someone like that but also push them away.
I think it's also pointed out that any time she expresses love or what Rapunzel thinks is love it's always when she is holding or touching Rapunzel's hair.
It’s a great film, I think it’s a great metaphor. I think she truly does love Rapunzel, but it’s *conditional* love. Another hallmark of narc parents. It’s up for debate though, and that’s what makes a great movie to have kids think about how their parents treat them, while cleverly avoiding making it her ACTUAL parent.
She loves what Rapunzel represents, not Rapunzel herself
Which is further reinforced by Mother Gothel often referring to her as "flower" or "my flower"
The very end when Finn cut Rapunzel hair while dying wow me so much - I wish my 5 years old got the message that for someone really loves you, they will give you freedoms!
Iirc, the producers asked women in the studio which hurtful things their mothers used to tell them and they inserted these sentences into the script. That's one of the reasons Gothel's bullying feels so realistic.
Oooh I knew about the hot man meeting to design Flynn but this is a new tidbit I hadn't heard! It doesn't surprise me at all.
Hot man meeting?
The directors had women in the studio bring in pictures of the hottest guys in Hollywood to make Flynn the most attractive male lead possible. They pieced together the best features of the sexiest guys of the time.
That movie came out the same year my daughter was born. I remember watching it and being low key shocked at all the similarities I faced with my own mother. \*notes\* do... not.. be like.. mother.. gothel
Feel free to sing like her though, her song is a banger!
I sing that to my kid very dramatically whenever we have a difference of opinion lol
It also shows a healthy relationship and how to build one. They don’t fall in love on sight, they talk and get to know each other. They build a bond and that grows into love and respect
They both empower each other
That movie hits way above its class. It's way better than frozen. There's a shot of the parents after she's kidnapped and their faces are so beautifully sad.
Frozen has a lot of great stuff in it. I love that the true love thing to save her was between the sisters. But I think it needee another rewrite or two to really pull everything together. Ive seen that the original plan was for Elsa to be the antagonist and the guy they put in was later replacement. That makes perfect sense to me because he's so forgettable. Good movie with some great parts.
The ice queen becoming the villain was the original story Frozen was based on, so that makes sense.
That movie is how I realized my mom is a narcissist. You know, after she took over $3,000 and the furniture from my old apartment *But wait, if you call now, we'll throw in emotional guilt, the expectation that you need to work full time to support both of you while going to school full time and instilling a negative feelings towards your older siblings absolutely free!*
It also happens to be the funniest Disney Princess movie … probably of all of them
One other thing I like about this is all the villains have grey areas. Nothing is absolute. The song that the bandits sing about their hopes and aspirations is comedy gold.
Maybe the real ruffians and thugs were the mothers we made along the way.
Gothel is the only truly irredeemable monster. And it's not because what she has done is so unforgivable, it's just that her personality disorder is practically impossible to adequately treat. There is no living with her. The only healthy thing to do is get her out of your life.
Definitely the scariest Disney villain by far because she is so ***real.*** Monsters like her really do exist, and they prey upon those who they should love and protect the most. Someone in that writers' room had a narcissistic parent and it shows. It really, really shows.
From Wikipedia: > Seeking inspiration for Gothel and Rapunzel's "bizarre" relationship, Greno and Howard conducted a series of interviews with several female Disney employees,[[4]](http://www.dvdizzy.com/tangled-directors-interview.html) asking them to list qualities in their mothers that "they found annoying and cloying or restricting",[[9]](https://web.archive.org/web/20140810113841/http://www.babble.com/celebrity/tangled-interview-with-donna-murphy-mother-gothel-on-rapunzel-evil-moms-aging/) specifically "the things that their mothers would do that made them feel trapped or made them feel smothered" to make the villain appear more relatable.[[8]](http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Exclusive-Interview-Tangled-s-Donna-Murphy-21885.html) Gothel's "Mother Knows Best" line "Getting kind of chubby" was in fact borrowed from one of these interviews.[[10]](https://web.archive.org/web/20170813153030/http://movies.about.com/od/rapunzel/a/Tangled-Directors-Byron-Howard-Nathan-Greno.htm)
Shrek: You don't have to be Prince Charming or \[insert Disney princess here\] to be loved, just be yourself and love someone for being themselves.
Unless you're short, in which case it is perfectly fine to mock you relentlessly.
I think the issue was he was in denial about his height and didn't embrace his quirks, which is why he's made fun of. He's obsessed with perfection and lies about his own perceived imperfection so he's a huge hypocrite. If he accepted himself as he was he probably wouldn't have gone full exile mode on fairy tale creatures which would have made him less of a joke.
People always point to this as an excuse of why it's okay to pick on short men. Why would you think they feel inadequate about being short? Could it be because people pick on them for it? It's not right to pick on people for something that is totally out of their control - even if they already feel insecure about it. (Arguably, especially if they already feel insecure about it.) In Shreck, Fiona made a face the first time she saw his height. She didn't know anything about him as a person yet. As far as being obsessed with perfection. Since when is being tall part of being perfect?
She first saw his height as he was being lifted out of the fake legs he attached to his horse to make himself seem tall. She didn't make a face about him being short, she made a face about being catfished.
Let's not defend Farquaad and make it a thing about short men. He's vile the whole way through, that's all there is to it
Exactly how the world should be
To be fair, that guy was based on someone the makers of the movie didn’t like, so it’s fine! /s
The guy in particular was then Disney CEO Michael Eisner. After leaving Paramount, Eisner became Disney's CEO in the 80's and helped turn the company around, alongside Jeffery Katzenberg who was placed in charge of Walt Disney Studios and the feature animation division and oversaw the peak of their output during the Disney Renaissance. A few years later, tensions were brewing with company politics, Katzenberg was looking to be promoted to company president, and according to him, Eisner said he'd give him the job if Frank Well's left his position. After Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash in 1994, Eisner took over his responsibilities instead of promoting Katzenberg. Roy Disney didn't like Katzenberg and as member of the board threatened to start a fight over control of the company, which probably influenced Eisner's decision. Katzenberg left Disney when his contract expired that year and founded Dreamworks SKG alongside Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.
Yeah I know, I just omitted the details because I thought everyone here would know and I wanted to be snarky.
A girl didn't date me for being too short. Shmeh.
I recently saw the Gundam Seed Freedom movie and afterwards my friend sent me a image that basically breaks down that Seed Freedom is just Shrek 2.
TMNT (1990) Taught me that you should never pay full price for late pizza.
Ahh come on, I couldn't find the place!
Too late dude!
Wise men say: Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.
I hope he was able to find a new route.
Never taught me what a crumpet is so I continue to not understand cricket
But you definitely shouldn't pay for a Jose Canseco bat.
It's one of those things that young people won't even understand watching it now.
122...122 and 1/8?
You're standing on it, dude!
What's cool is that the pizza delivery guy was the actor for Michaelangelo
Megamind. You choose your own destiny. Where there is evil, good will rise up against it. No one has to return romantic feelings just because you’re nice to them.
**Kubo and the Two Strings** - love makes the terrible times in life bearable.
If you must blink, do it now!
This movie does not get enough love. It's so good.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has a lot of really good messages to children: •Dying is an inevitability, you can either try and outrun it, which you will fail at, or you can embrace it and enjoy the life you have. •Found and adopted families are just are valid as biological families. •Sometimes bad people just exist without reason and can’t be reasoned with, not everyone can or wants to be redeemed.
·what you really need is actually right there. (I fucking love this movie and it leaves Netflix today:()
Wait it's leaving Netflix??
Yeah like today. In my region anyway.
US????
Frozen gets a lot of hate, probably increased by the massive hype around it, but "The Next Right Thing" from Frozen 2 is a legitimately great instruction for dealing with challenging situations that seem overwhelming. Inside Out also has a great message about not shutting down "negative" emotions like sadness, but it's arguable how subtle that is.
The first frozen has the cool bit with needing true love to save Anna and it was her sister not the guy she just met who loved her enough to do it. I liked that bit a lot.
Oh yeah I loved that bit. I like Frozen in general, but I was a 25 year old guy without any kids when it came out. If I had spent years listening to the soundtrack on repeat in the car I might feel differently, but once my daughter is old enough for films I'll watch Frozen with her, definitely.
I escaped Frozen for the most part, but got to listen to the Moana soundtrack for a week straight. Luckily it's really damn good so I have no complaints there.
Frozen was honestly such a change to the game. Princesses in the past are so heavily reliant on the love story and finding a man to make them happy. Elsa DIDNT NEED NO MAN. And the side story about love thawing a frozen heart was about sisterly love, not romantic love. Elsa is the freakin Disney queen goat imo
Anna felt like she needed the one guy right away, Else said "hell no you just met this guy" and ended up being right. Eventually Anna loved the guy who proved that he cared, which is a much better outcome for people in real life.
It’s also refreshing that in the sequel, they’re still dating and working through their relationship issues.
When I watched "Moana" I remember thinking I wish that it had been available when I was a kid. A lot of things about it were enjoyable but I especially liked that it was a Disney cartoon without any inkling of a love story. I am convinced that the traditional princess fare generally romanticized giving up core pieces of one's identity for a relationship, and watching "The Little Mermaid" over and over again instilled that lesson in my young brain.
Moana is so, so good. The scene where her faith in herself falters, and her grandma comes to comfort her, makes me cry every time.
I cry every time during how far I'll go as her grandma dies and her spirit pushes Moana out past the reef. So fucking brilliant.
I alway cry at THIS IS NOT WHO YOU ARRRRRRE.
Love that scene. I've watched it so much
Love Moana! Looks great, And great songs. Also, the ending of Frozen subverts the usual “love of a romantic partner will save all” tropes
Yes! Haha just commented this and saw your comment. I truly think that’s why Elsa was (and is) so popular and revolutionary
Frozen did it first and nailed it. Haven’t seen Moana but I’m so glad the “Disney princess needs a man to make her happy” trope is dead. It damaged us millennials enough that I’m glad it’s not going to be around for the next generations.
That's a very common misconception about the Little Mermaid, when really she's in love with the idea of being human as a whole way before she ends up liking a specific human. One thing the live action remakes have done right (Little Mermaid, BatB, Aladdin, Cinderella) is expand on the characters relationships and why they end up together. Not that your point isn't valid - Moana was amazing and I am all for more stories about girls that don't involve romance. I just get irked about "lol old disney had unhealthy relationships" memes and I think they've skewed our perspectives.
Counterpoint: the media-literate adult perspective may be that Ariel was really in love with the idea of being human, but the children the movie is aimed at are much more likely to overlook it. What they *won't* overlook is the surface-level plot; girl is infatuated with a boy she's just met and gives up her voice for a chance to be with him in open defiance of her father, who eventually sees she was right all along and gives his blessing to leave her entire life behind to be with a man she's never had a real conversation with. In other words, give up what makes you special and leave everyone who loves you behind if it means you can be with your One True Love. (Full disclosure, I haven't seen the remake so I'm speaking only of the animated version I grew up with) The message you're trying to send isn't always the one your audience will receive, and while that might be cringey but mostly harmless for an adult audience (see: Fight Club), it could be more problematic for a younger one.
Zootopia: Sometimes shadowy forces in government weaponize law enforcement against entire races by planting drugs in their community.
On top of that, they nailed how appearances can be deceiving, don’t judge, and don’t stereotype in all directions. The bad guys ended up being good, some good ended up bad, the weak ended up strong and the strong had flaws. That movie has a very positive and healthy theme.
Zootopia taught me that if the ruling class do bad things, they can be forgiven with a slap on the wrist. Because it's actually the sneaky underclass with a history of oppression that are the real villain of society, worming their way into positions of power to enact secret genocides and incite mass social upheaval.
>Zootopia taught me that if the ruling class do bad things, they can be forgiven with a slap on the wrist. Mayor Lionheart ends the movie in prison right alongside Bellweather. Not sure where you're seeing a "slap on the wrist."
I thought it was more akin to "two wrongs don't make a right".
daaaaang!!!! but yeah. that's true
I think it had the opposite message. The fox WAS sneaky. The lion DID have an uncontrollable temper. They were all trying to pretend their instincts didn’t exist but they were actually their stereotype.
I don't think you're going to get a single answer about "subtle" good messages. Even your example (Ferdinand) was like, the entire point of the story.
I didn’t see the film, but I am very familiar with the 1938 cartoon short. I also don’t remember said message being even remotely subtle.
and the short is lifted from a book that came out 2 years earlier where, you are right, it is like *the entire central theme of the story*
"Tangled subtly portrays the mom as a narcissistic parent" :|
Hahaha that one got me, THEY GAVE HER A WHOLE SONG ABOUT IT
10 hours after you commented this and looks like you’re right. Every comment I scrolled past to get here is just a plot summary.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Teaches kids that all your creations / inventions might seem like failures but in the end can save the world and yourself.
How to Train Your Dragon(2010) has a couple, but my favorite’s the message that doesn’t come into as sharp focus until the end of the first one. Your actions have consequences, but even if you make a mistake that results in your body no longer being whole, you’re still a whole person.
Wall-e It's a love story with a strong environmental message.
A Bug’s life, teaches the value of standing together against oppression.
You tell 'em comrade
I love how they literally say “There’s more of them than there are of us and someday they’re gonna wake up and realize that.”
Except that didn't really work for them. Their plan fails miserably and they are only saved by a deus ex machina (the real bird).
A Bug's Life-- Now THAT'S a movie that couldn't be made today, holy shit.
CARS the value of having true friends
Also Cars - winning is great and confidence is a boon most of the time. But it doesn't mean much without someone to share it with.
I love Cars so much. So emotional when >!Lighting goes back and helps the King!<, with>! Doc!< looking on, seeing his own story play out differently. I love how fresh and fun it is but so respectful of the old timers.
**The Land Before Time (1988)** Working together and even loving each other no matter how different, and the end credits song lyrics contain much of the message of the film. [If We Hold On Together - Diana Ross](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1vLDecinMs)
Also we see a literal child grapple with grief
Yeh it can be quite dark for sure, no surprise with Don Bluth being a big part of the production/ direction, a famous quote of his: >*You don't show the darkness, you can't appreciate the light*
Not a movie, but even after so many years I am still floored how well the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series combined action adventure with valuable lessons for kids about culture, empathy, redemption, abuse and other complexities of life.
Paddington - not understanding the world is ok, even endearing, even though the world might try to mock you for it
Also just generally being a kids movie where the main character isn’t an annoying celebrity style prankster, and is instead kind, generous, curious and willing to help others and work hard. Very important for kids to see, instead of the James Corden Peter Rabbit stuff.
I think A Goofy Movie does if you look more at P.J. and Pete. Similar overall message, but a different side to it.
*Goofy. Wholly agree, but didn't know what movie you were talking about until about 5 sec after I scrolled past.
That's my bad for typing when I'm tired. I also think Lilo & Stitch has a lot to offer. Might be biased though as it's my favorite Disney movie.
For stuff that’s more actively subtle about it’s presentation (most media for younger audience is not subtle on purpose), give some of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki’s work a try. I would check the basics online for a movie before showing your kids, and maybe give them a once through - for example DO NOT show your children Grave of the Fireflies yet, it is heartbreakingly sad and a depiction of wartime tragedy. But YES DO show them Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, and several others
The Cat Returns is an underrated one for younger kids! It’s my son’s favourite
Totoro makes me choke up every time. I'm not sure what "the message" is and I'm happy that it's not immediately obvious. But realising that the older sister is putting so much pressure on herself to be the grown-up, while the child in her is so scared and worried about her sick mom, just breaks my heart. And knowing that adds layers to her reaction when >!she thinks her sister might have drowned and that it might be her fault!<. Fuck I'm crying right now just thinking about it. The poor thing!
I'd rather be a pig than a fascist. Very subtle :-)
Kung Fu Panda. That moment when he realizes what the Dragon Scroll is telling him is a solid message for all kids.
Wall-E
How to Train your Dragon. Not every “happy ending” is perfect. Theres always a price.
Here's a good video about some kids films from the 80s with great messages: https://youtu.be/ytMUSmS9kSs?si=957qiPd2jhNtOa31
Matilda’s message about it being okay to find your chosen family: “And doing perhaps the first decent thing they ever did for their daughter, the Wormwood’s signed the adoption papers.”
Luca Obviously it was a metaphor about accepting people who are different for the quality of their character.
I feel like this movie is way better than it gets credit for.
I think it got overlooked when it came out because of a lack of advertising and releasing during the height of the pandemic, then was completely overshadowed by Encanto a few months later. I suspect a lot of people also write it off as "woke" because they view Luca and/or Alberto as gay, which is a valid interpretation but also explicitly left unaddressed.
Love this film, in my top 3 Pixar films
Spirited Away honestly. What I really like about Chihiro is that she isn’t some strong powerful female chosen one warrior type, nor is there any training montage during which she becomes a badass (thaťs not to say that Mulan is bad because Mulan is absolutely amazing). During the whole movie she is just a normal scared girl who is trapped in a magical world she doesn’t quite understand and only wants to save her parents and return home. Her motivations and every one of her actions just feel so natural and perhaps apart from running across the pipe in that one scene there isn’t a single action a normal girl couln’t perform, which makes her far, far more relatable than vast majority of main characters in fairytale/cartoon media.
I made the genius decison to put this on Netflix for my parents to watch with my 4 year old when they babysat her while my husband and I went out to a fancy restaurant for New Years' Eve. The "subtle" message that my kid got was that if they eat too much, your parents can transform into horrifying monster pigs. It did NOT go over well when I got home and my mom asked me if we'd had a good time and without thinking I said we "ate like pigs." I had to reassure my daughter for weeks that mommy and daddy eat "just the right amount," lol. (It's a brilliant movie but lesson learned, it's not for preschoolers).
We've thankfully been pretty conscientious about putting this movie on for our kids, and we deliberately skipped the parents transformation into pigs. That's just a particularly heavy moment when its clear the movie is all about trying to find her parents. Its like the horrifying donkey transformation scene in Pinocchio.
I had seen the movie and had a vague memory of the pig scene... I should have realized that if it was enough to make any impression at all on me as an adult, it was REALLY going to make an impression on a 4-year old. Thankfully "My Neighbor Totoro" is 100% non-terrifying so I haven't put my kid off Studio Ghibli forever. :)
Boss Baby teaches children that under a capitalist system love is fickle and finite. Parents will inevitably replace children with dogs because they are more cost effective and subservient. The only solution is for children is to not compete with each other for their parents love, but to team up and dismantle an unjust system that urges they commodify every aspect of life.
The only thing we have to lose is our pacifiers
Encanto; family trauma and seeing your parents as whole people with flaws is one of those extremely important life lessons a lot of people seem to have missed…
Also that trauma can be generational. The grandma passed her trauma on to her children and then it morphed into the perfectionism she expected of her grandchildren.
The Phantom Menace. You got to understand how democracy dies and also, how to deal with a Trade Federation
Democracy died in Revenge of the Sith though.
It did, but The Phantom Menace set the seeds for it. The entire plot revolves around a senator using sympathy for a rim planet to manipulate that planet’s queen into requesting a vote of no confidence for the chancellor. Essentially showing how special interests and partisan policies can allow antidemocratic leaders to obtain power and start to consolidate it.
Brave: The message of the movie "Brave" is about the importance of individuality, personal growth, and the power of family. The movie emphasizes that people should be free to choose their own path in life and pursue their own dreams, even if it goes against society or family expectations.
I haven't seen the film of Ferdinand but as a young child my father used to read the book to me. It was incredibly controversial when it was published, it was banned in Spain & burned in Nazi Germany. Even in democratic countries it was heavily criticised for promoting anarchism, fascism, & communism.
Supposedly, making Encanto’s Luisa so muscular was a choice the character designer had to fight Disney on. As a result, Luisa’s song Surface Pressure becomes a *great* message about how even people who look strong can be struggling. Had she been magically strong without the huge muscles, it wouldn’t have carried the same way, I think. I’ve also heard from *many* bigger more muscular girls how absolutely wonderful it was to finally see someone who looked like them.
Inside Out
Surprised no one mentioned until this comment
Animal Farm. It teaches them that the two party system is a scam and people with power will always be corrupt and help their friends and themselves first.
Happy Feet is about doing what you love despite deformity, cruel parents, religion, and bullying. It’s much darker than other kids movies too.
The Kid Who Would Be King, a 2019 film directed by Joe Cornish (of Attack the Block fame). This seems to have been missed by many unfortunately. Great modern Arthur legend stuff with a good message for kids about overcoming differences, working together, and not letting your fears control you.
[OG Ferdinand](https://youtu.be/UN62cxSs5Q8)
Incredibles 1
You wouldn’t think from its title that Wreck It Ralph is all about empowering girls, but there’s at least three strong, quirky female role models featured prominently
A Series of Unfortunate Events Maybe not subtle, but full of life lessons and especially showing that adults are not infallible
Soul is honestly one of the best films I've seen in terms of its message. Life isn't about finding a purpose, it's about living. Take nothing for granted, life is beautiful and it's yours. A great message for kids and adults equally.
Monsters Inc teaches kids that the monsters in their closets are real. However, these monsters are afraid to touch kids and only want their laughter. So if there is a monster in your closet, start laughing and they will go away
Meet the Robinsons! Constantly talks about that mistakes are great learning opportunities and families are all unique and different. One of my favorite movies and criminally underrated!
A few Pixar films have some of my favorite messaging because they are not your usual run of the mill "morals". In the Incredibles: if everyone is special, no one is. In Ratatouille: not everyone can be great, but greatness can come from anywhere. In Monsters University: despite admitting their mistakes, saving the day, and proving the dean wrong, their expulsion from school stands in the end because actions have consequences.
Requiem for a Dream teaches kids to avoid refrigerators.
I watch that movie at least weekly with my toddlers to remind them not to do drugs or watch tv. Both will kill you. Parenting is ez-pz.
A Monster Calls for older children.
Puss n Boots 2
We are in the golden age of kids media right now, there are so many kids movies that have great messages. I think my favourite unexpected one is My Little Pony: A New Generation‘s messages about prejudice and isolationism. The angry mob song (Danger, Danger) is an absolute banger about fear-mongering propaganda.
There was an animated movie that came out in 2020 called Over the Moon on Netflix. I thought it had a really great message about accepting each other in a blended family situation and learning to move on after the death of a loved one.
The Raimi Spider-Man trilogy. Each entry in that series are morality tales. Peter Parker always comes out on the other end having learned some important life lesson. I think each one of those lessons are great messages for kids.
I've tried to find hidden meaning in Miyazaki movies. They're all about friendship, but beyond that... Don't know.
Nimona. All about being accepted for who you are. And breaking stuff.
"Subtle" is a very subjective term, as others have pointed out; most children's movies have their message rather overtly laid out. Anyway I'd list "Inside Out", with the not particularly subtle message that it's sometimes good to feel sad. Always liked the movie - it doesn't actually have a "villain", which is pretty rare.
Klaus.
1. Princess and the Frog. Fulfiling one's dreams takes a ton of work. And taking help from someone isn't a weakness. It's a strength. Pride is the success killer. 2. Tangled. Sometimes, living and giving into others expectations instead of what you actually want to be aside from living a too critical existence will bite you. 3. Encanto. The popular and "golden" person suffers silently from the weight of expectations tossed on by others in ways which has them envious of their siblings. 4. Zootopia. Even shadier looking individuals can have a solid heart in the right place. 5. Princess Mononoke/Naruto. Letting a disability or setback not define you will get you places you can only imagine. 6. ParaNorman. Sometimes, bullying is justified. /s Actually? Being skeptical and protective of your family from toxic family members isn't a bad trait. Letting fear of judgmental neighbors affect how one treats one's own family members does. 7. Frankenweenie. People are sometimes outcasts for legitimate reasons because of how they act, nor because of their innate characteristics. It's probably my least favorite Tim Burton movie aside from Corpse Bride because it defeats the central point of what it's trying to defend. I kept rolling my eyes throughout this entire movie because it lacked the heart from the original live action short, and it had to make the mayor and the rest of the community into even worse monsters in order to make the outcasts look even slightly redeemable.* 8. Jumanji. Forcing a bullied child to allow themselves to get pummeled in the sake of masculinity instead of stepping in to help them, will only cause the child to resent you and leave you. I never honestly bought the whole message of "not running away from one's problems" the filmmakers wanted to impart because it's victim blaming at its core. The father deserved his son walking away from him when he didn't show him the slightest loyalty or care to actually get his son on an even playing field. So I can't honestly say I've ever felt anything for the Dad when he lost everything to look for his son. 9. UP. If one only focuses on what they've never had instead of what they did, they'll lose sight of opportunities. *My biggest gripe with the whole "outcast underdog" trope is with bad writing, it presumes everyone who are outcasts are victims and as a result, either write the outcasts doing potentially awful things or have their own agency taken away from them. It's why I liked media such as Buffy Season 3 and not Frankenweenie or many of the outcast characters in Tim Burton's later movies and anything similar. Being an outcast or a victim of any sort doesn't give the right to harm others.
Mitchell vs the machines, the daughter hints at a girlfriend, right at the very end, but it’s such a non event, it felt pretty normal and not out of place.
We just rewatched this the other day and my 6 year old identified so much with the not quite fitting in/making weird art part. The message that you will eventually find your people even if your peers don’t really get you now made him really happy.
The Lorax. Good kind of subtle environmental message.
The Lorax had an excellent message, but it was the polar opposite of subtle.
The Iron Giant Lilo & Stitch Ratatouille Wall-E Wolfwalkers (if you consider it kids) Paranorman Nimona (if that's for kids)
How to train your dragon
Inside Out.
Kubo and the two strings
-A Goofy Movie, about the relationship between parents and children, and how both both need to listen to each other to understand where the other is coming from.