As a kid one of my favorite movies was Ratatouille (and it still is!), And one of the reasons for that is because the stakes are so low. The worst outcome is that Remy doesn't get to realize his dream of being a chef, or maybe that he's killed but that doesn't seem likely for the movie. Contrast that with something like WALL-E, where basically the continued existence of the human race and the planet Earth hang in the balance, or the scene in the Garfield Movie where he almost causes several passenger trains to crash and potentially kill dozens.
As a kid, I remember thinking that having such extreme life or death or even apocalyptic stakes for kids movies was unnecessary, it just made me feel stressed out and upset rather than excited lol
you'd think as a lifelong LA resident with an interest in the city's history, and a communist, that I'd have read at least something he's written. Probably oughta start...