@rjejr Nah man I think you write very well, I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on all this.

I like Frozen a lot, and I agree on approving of the underlying themes and overall "feel". I do feel narritively its occasionally weak, the trolls and snow monster are both very underused and could be completely written out without changing the plot... but it doesn't ruin the film by any stretch. The music is of course fantastic and the scope of the movie is vast and epic feeling, very much like the Lion King and Finding Nemo that you mentioned. I definitely approve of the "love" between the siblings being the most important thing, and the skewering of the "love at first sight lets get married without thinking" cliches if old. As you said, on the surface it appears more a "girls" film, its a shame if the princesses, castles and pretty dresses put off young boys, as its a great film.

If you haven't seen it yet I'd highly recommend Coco, weirdly it was being shown at a late night screening and myself and two drinking buddies ended up going in on a whim and all got way more emotionally affected by it than we were expecting. Certainly has the making of a true classic and the trailers do NOT at all do it justice.

The original Sesame Street is one of the greatest kids shows of all time and I hate the way it has been waterred down and over comercialised. Is it now only available on HBO and not PBS in the states? If so that is completely scandelous... you probably know, but it was primarily originally designed in the 70s to help kids from poor families and broken homes in mixed areas to learn the bare essentials, even if they weren't in school - hence teaching capital letters so they can read street signs, stop and go, and numbers 1 to 12 for clocks etc. And of course the overall message of tollerance understanding and acceptance of people of different races, backgrounds etc. again to try and help kids living in poorer, mixed urban areas, who are not exactly the target market for HBO. I love a lot of what Disney does, and I like that the characters are still out there and being used, but I feel like Sesame Street should have stayed with PBS as a non-profit show, and Disney should have just had the merchandising rights only. Fraggle Rock was another incredibly well thought out show with a deep social intention behi d it, that I feel Disney misunderstand and don't use to its full potential.

Its really nice that you have silly family traditions and in-jokes. My parents did similar things with me and we have done the same with our kids - its one shared thing you can always bond over even as time goes by and they become their own little (or big!) people. Scarily I've been a dad for 18 years now so it sounds like we have similar experiences