Raya vs. Encanto - How One Message Failed and Another Succeeded

What Encanto did properly is how Mirabel didn't say "I forgive you" after Alma's apology. She says that "nothing could ever be broken that we cannot fix" which is beautiful because it means she doesn't instantly forgive Alma, however she will work towards full forgiveness while also fixing the broken relationship the family has.

Mirabel's Dad response of "I was thinking of my daughter" is such a G move

Raya in a nutshell: "Don't be so hasty to judge children, maybe the creepy stranger really does have candy in his windowless van."

my literal younger cousin got so confused about the message of trust in Raya and the Last dragon. Like she legit asked "But were supposed to not trust some people? What if they are bad?"

The message for Raya is "trust everyone even if they stabbed you in the back over n over"

appreciate how you pointed out that Alma was the antagonist but not the villain.

So Sisu was that one person who believed everything they read on the internet

Namari is basically like “I wanna bring everyone back, but I want the credit.”

Another aspect that makes Alma's redemption feel valid is the fact that she seemed to honestly believe that she was doing right by everyone. She thought she was honoring her husband's sacrifice by using her family to take care of the whole town, and that she was doing what was best for all involved. She was completely wrong, of course, but she learned and acknowledged it.

A detail I really really liked in Encanto is how Mirabel did get the candle when the house crumbled, but when the others rush back in when it’s safe, when her mother runs to her asking worriedly if she’s okay, checking her for injuries, she doesn’t even think to look for or ask about the candle

It's like Raya was written by a narcissist who thinks, "Why don't people just unconditionally trust me?"

The most infuriating thing about raya is that sisu is constantly beating the moral of trusting others to raya's head when trusting naamari was what caused their society to collapse to begin with. I am surprised the writers didn't catch this.

Raya’s theme of trust is honestly hilarious considering the fact that most of the movie spends its time trying to hammer in the fact that some people can’t be trusted

I'm so glad to see someone giving Raya the dragging it deserves tbh. "Sisu died because you didn't trust her" No she died because you fucking shot her. And even the intended message if you ignore how reductive it is fails because, like, Sisu has been demonstrably naive to the point of self endangerment several times already?

Raya’s story is sadly how many people live, others denying abuse. My grandmother still denies to this day that my father ever abused me, and i felt so alone for a long time, but Encanto is incredible man.. beautifully animated, and Alma has an amazing redemption arc

Will never forget my godawful experience watching Raya. I was in a social skills group, and the teacher decided to put on a movie. 7 of us voted for Tinkerbell, 1 person voted for a Nic Cage movie. Teacher didn't want that one person to be unhappy, so she put on Raya as a compromise. Literally all of us hated it. We were shittalking the movie the entire time, multiple people just straight up left partway through, and we asked the teacher not to show the movie to her kids bc it had such terrible values. The kicker? I looked over partway through the movie to the Nic Cage guy and he was watching a different movie on his phone. We got put through all of that for nothing. I wanted to strangle him.

People who have hurt you can be forgiven... Encanto: If they are willing to change. Raya: Under all circumstances, no matter what.

Mirabel’s parents are the most underrated characters in the family. They’re the only ones that don’t treat her like less than a person because of her powers and actually acknowledge that others treat her that way.

I think that there is an even better scene with Zuko redemption. In the western air temple where all four members of team avatar all had different acceptance levels of Zuko. Toph was fine with it because the only other experiences she had of Zuko were Iroh talking about him and when they teamed up against Azula, so she didn't mind Zuko. Aang who was reluctant still was accepting because he needed a fire bending teacher and he has had a few positive interactions with Zuko before. Which the next episode showed that they became a good team. Then Sokka who didn't trust Zuko that much was ok with it because Aang was. During the boiling rock, they worked together and ended up making a good team causing Sokka to be fine with Zuko. Then Katara who was hurt the most hated the idea of Zuko working with them and was mad at Zuko until the Southern raiders. Then Katara finally decided to forgive Zuko after the episode. This shows great multiple levels of trust that Raya didn't even try to do.

Mirabel’s dad saying, “I was thinking about my daughter!“ Is such a G move.