Recommendations for Alternative Children's Movies and Discussion of Mainstream Movies

I am always an advocate for kids being outside in the natural world, playing as much as possible! But sometimes when the weather is hard and bodies are tired, it is always great to sit down and watch a movie - we all love that once in a while, right!
So I wanted to share some reccomendations for some children's movies I have seen with my son recently that touched me. And I also want to just discuss some general themes and mainstream movies like Disney.

I hear many mothers saying they "boycott Disney" and looking for alternatives. I am not one of those. Though I always look for alternatives and love them, I think there are really a lot of qualities in Disney's movies! And I think the direction that newer movies are taking is extremely interesting!
Actually one of the movies I wanted to reccommend is Moana, and I'll come to why.

First I want to discuss what I feel is the main "problem" in the narratives of mainstream movies, not only in Disney or movies for Children but allmost all stories of our society. It is what mirrors the story of our people and times. The story of separation. Of good and evil. In almost all older mainstream movies we see the good guys fighting the, usually just one, bad guy, and first when that evil is destroyed can everyone be happy.
For example, as much as I still love older Disney movies like Aristocats with it's music, it's vagabond cats and dogs and so on, there is still Edgar, the evil butler who has to be send away in a chest for Good to happen. Yes his evil is vaguely expressed by his feeling left out of the heritage, but it's not so deep and it could have been solved better.
This narrative of separation and good and evil is a thing we find all over our society - in agriculture, problem: weeds, solution: kill the weeds. In medicine; problem: bacteria, solution: kill the bacteria. Problem: terrorism, solution: kill the terrorists and so on (examples borrowed from the writings of Charles Eisenstein).
If we could just get rid of all the evil, then all would be good.
As we see from the results of this approach, it's not really getting any better, is it? The general answer we still see in the world is still "we just have to try harder", but there are also many other solutions coming up (to the societal problems answers like permaculture, probiotics and so on) AND I am also starting to see a very different narratives in newer Disney movies. And that is why it is all so exciting. If the narratives of the stories we tell our children are moving from a story of Separation to a story of Interbeing, what will that mean for the new generations?
Let me give you some examples.
In Moana for example, the story is about nature being out of balance because the heart of the Goddess Te Fiti has been stolen by the demigod Maui. But there are no inherent evil here. It turns out Maui only stole the heart with good intentions to give it as a present to humanity and my favorite is in the end, when Moana faces the demon that she has to pass, and which is the symbol of all the impurity and imbalance, she wins by facing the demon, looking into it's eyes and saying "this is not who you are!" and then the demon realizes that she IS the goddess Te Fiti herself and with her heart restored returns to her true nature.

I think this is super beautiful and a key way to approach the problems we face in the world. I have heard stories about victims turning to their violators, really seen them for who they are, and in that way made the violator see his/her true nature and being, which is never violence or evil.
I believe that what we see as violence or evil is the symptoms of unmet needs and souls mistreated and misunderstood, in deep unbalance. If we can help them get back to their balance instead of punishing and trying to eliminate, then I think we can really make some progress in the world.

Other examples of newer Disney movies without a pure Good vs Bad narrative is Inside Out which is all about the voices and feelings inside us, the problem being that Joy and Sadness are missing from Head Quarters where Fear, Disgust and Anger is trying to manage, showing in the end that all feelings are important for a balanced life.
I also found Frozen interesting with the main hero and villain being the very same person in some respects.

Another older example is Lion King - which my son is crazy about, but which I realized is a bit of a story about the elite rightly ruling. The hyenas can be seen as the outcasts and Scar in some ways are actually trying to make justice letting the hyenas into the kingdom too. But that ends bad and all is just good when the elite is back in the top.. Pretty shitty narrative.. But then come Lion King 2, which is not a great movie, a cheap number 2, but the message is beautiful. Here we see all the problems made by neglecting and keeping out the outcasts and Simbas daughter Kiara comes and connects everybody with the beautiful statement We Are One.

Oh I didn't even mean to write this much, just a short introduction, haha, I don't even know if I managed to say what I wanted to say.. But what are your views on this subject?

And as I promised I wanted to recommend a few other films for kids - alternatives to Disney, because in spite of what I just said I still prefer alternative and smaller productions! Here we go:

Kaguyahime no monogatari/The Tale of Princess Kaguya Japan 2013

picture belongs to Studio Ghibli
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2576852/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Really beautiful story of a girl born from a bamboo shoot, trying to find her purpose on this Earth. It has a really beautiful connection to nature and life.
In general I find many Japanese, especially Miyazaki to have a narrative of interbeing rather than separation, where the Bad Guy/Woman always turns out good in the end

O Menino e o Mundo/ Boy and the World (Brazil 2013)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3183630/?ref_=nv_sr_1
picture by Ale Abreu

Brazilian film with no dialogue. Really nice, though a bit sad story about a boy going to look for his father. A search that turns out to be a discovery of his own life, country and environment. Showing the industrial revolution and it's impact on people and nature.

Avril e le Monde Truqué/April and The Extrordinary World *(France 2015)

This film didn't touch me as much as the others but i just LOVED to see a animated movie with a steempunk world secretly being ruled by lizards in the center of the Earth! Just brilliant!

Teach Me to be Wild (USA)
https://teachmetobewild.com/

Lastly I want to share this short film with is more about children than for children. It is about a Wildlife Sanctuary in California that let's troubled kids connect with the wild animals. I was really touched to see how much they could learn from them and how beautifully they connected. Really great work.
You can watch the film here: http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=8051

Thank you for reading! I will post now before I kill someone XD (frustrating connection, sorry for missing picture)