The Flames of Love and War/Tropes

Tropes for the film

 * Actor Allusion:
 * Aqua has a wolf-esque plush toy, referencing how her voice actress played Clawdeen Wolf in Monster High.
 * Upon learning of Aqua's crush on Phoenix, Amalia shows a level of Genre Saviness you'd expect from Luz Noceda. She also mentions having troubles with her girlfriend's mother after revealing their relationship, even througth she notes they weren't all that subtle. This exact scenario happened in The Owl House episode "Clouds on the Horizon".
 * During the climax, Aqua wears a flight suit that looks a lot like Goliath. Jonathan Frakes, who voices Basileus, previousky starred in Gargoyles. Thus also means its twice he's voiced a Disney animated villain who occasionally uses a powered armor.
 * The Alcoholic: Phoenix appears to be the film's equivalent of one.
 * An Aesop:
 * Prejudice is a destructive force that, if left unchecked, will result in the destruction of all parties involved.
 * Sometimes, love is all it takes to change the world.
 * There's nothing wrong with being curious and embracing what's new. In fact, learning new things can actually be helpful for both yourself and others.
 * War Is Hell and nothing good ever comes from it. The only way to preserve peace is to teach peace so that others do not seek conflict.
 * Awesome Art: The film's hand-drawn animation is a beautiful splash of art and color that feels reminiscent of the Disney Renaissance.
 * Awesome Music: Raphael Saadiq truly rocks it in this soundtrack.
 * Awesome Moments:
 * Phoenix rebelling against her father by pointing a gun towards one of his henchmen and ordering to take her to the Defiant or else she'll shoot. And when they arrive, she reveals the gun wasn't loaded.
 * Little dog-esque Amabilia manages to track down her owner with the mere use of her nose, and bites one of her captors' leg to help her escape. She's a good pup, indeed.
 * Amica and Sodalistas both get chances to prove they are more than just comic reliefs:
 * First, Sodalistas trues to lead the group into Basileus' ship, but is interrupted by a group of 4 drones. Terrified as he may be, Sodalistas still leads a surprisingly impresive chase for a civilian. Furthermore, he ends the chase and opens access for Aqua to enter via Awesomeness by Analisis: He deduces from how the drones mantain a certain minimal distance from each other they need to keep it, so he uses an artifact hos sister created to force the two drones from behind into joining each other, resulting in a short circuit that not only neutralizes them both, but also forve them to crash onto Basileus' ship, opening a hole for Aqua to enter and taking down the two leading drones thanks to their proximity.
 * Later, when Aqua confronts Basileus, Amica enters the ship discreetly and recoeds him confessing his sins. And when Basileus prepares to kill Aqua, Amica grabs an extintor and fails to launch it at Basileus... because he wasn't the target. Rather, a tube containing toxic material that, combined with extintor material, is highly volatile, resulting in an explosion that temporaly knocks Basileus out cold, whereas Amica and Aqua escaped as he pieced two-and-two together.
 * It all seems lost. Phoenix was taken diwn, Basileus is ready to execute her... and then Aqua blocks his attack with the Sword of Royalty, her abd Phoenix' letimof sounding in glory as fury flashing througth her eyes as she emits one sentence to her once-father that channels that rage tremendously: "Get the hell away from my girlfriend!". She then causes Basileus to briefly back down.
 * Basileus' reaction is a testament of what happened, as for once he seems to be actually afraid, if just for one moment. Afraid because the daughter he abused for years into submission has effectively not only rebelled against him but challenged him to a fight after nearly killing her girlfriend and is, thus, very, very angry, to not to mention the sheer atrocities he commited over the years that also enraged her on many levels. And if there's something a narcissistic tyrant both hates and fears, is that their victims stand up and fight them. Aqua is not his victim anymore. No, she is his reckoning.
 * The symbolism fuelling the scene is also noteworthy. Earlier, it was established that one may only wield the Sword of Royalty after becoming leader of the Water Kingdom. At the climax, Aqua uses it for the first time to sabe her Fire girlfriend and fight the madman piece of shit that she once called father. By defying Basileus and everything he stands for, Aqua became a Queen.
 * The sheer use of "hell" can aldo be one. Geniune swearing, even mild, is a rarity in Disnwy films. But what better moment to make an exception that when an abused snd meek orincess uses a sword that only her kingdom's leaders can wield to defy the lunatic that abused her all her life, murdered her mother himself, and manipulated his kingdom into going to war out of sheer prejudice abd narcisstic delusions, just to save her girlfriend's life?
 * Basileus' death. First, Phoenix stabs his armor to penetrate him, before electrocuting his skin, causing the armor to destebilaze. Taking the opening, Aqua grabs a blaster gun and shoots him repeteadly. The dying Basileus then slips off the ship they were standing in and is consumed by a black hole. Is it a little too grizzly for a Disney animated movie? Yes. Is Basileus vile enough to have it coming? Yes.
 * The two armies working together to escape a black hole by connecting their ships.
 * Casting Gag: John de Lance appears in a cameo as a Jean-Luc Picard-esque captain in a TV parody of Star Trek: The Next Generation wuth an art style reminiscent of Lower Decks; de Lance appeared in both shows as Q, who loves messing with Picard.
 * Central Theme:
 * War Is Hell. Emphasis is put on the physical and psychological consequences war had on many characters. And, at the end of the film, the war is revealed to be a senseless conflict started by prejudice.
 * Love and its power over hate. Aqua seeks love but fails because her father is an abusive a-hole that dosen't truly care for her. Phoenix starts prejudiced towards Water people abd holds them in contempt, but ultimately lets go of her hate by loving Aqua, that love also allowing her to come to terms with her PTSD. Meanwhile, the kings' inability to let go of their hatred for one another's species is what drives them to villany and madness. In the end, the princesses chose love and live to create a better world together, whereas the kings chose hate and die because of it.
 * Company Cross-References:
 * The skeleton in Basileus' room is that of the Beast.
 * Basileus' furst sceme has him sayimg "Good daughters don't squabble, dear", near word-for-word what Odalia Blight said to Amity during a flashback in an episide of director Dana Terrace's The Owl House.
 * To The Little Mermaid (1989):
 * Aqua's first scene has her recreating Ariel's iconic hair scene.
 * During the third act, Aqua and Basileus have a discussion about the Fire people that finishes with Aqua admitting her love for Phoenix by saying "Father, I love her!", homaging Ariel and King Triton's argument scene from The Little Mermaid.
 * Phoenix has tattooes of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and the name "Iwerks", referencing Mickey Mouse co-creator Bob Iwerks.
 * Fire people release more fire from their body when angered, much like Hades in Hercules.
 * When Phoenix asks Aqua what she knows about fighting, the latter makes the same moves as Mowgli did shile play-fighting with Baloo in The Jungle Book.
 * During their second meeting, Phoenix calls Aqua a "big palooka" and later shouts "Awww, phooey", two of Donald Duck's catchphrases. Doubles as a Production Throwback, since director Dana Terrace previously was an episode director on DuckTales (2017).
 * A snipet from Night at Bald Mountain can be heard as Aqua and Basileus argue.
 * Some of the shots of Amabilia attacking some guards were inspired by Pongo and Perdita saving their pups in One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Phoenix also plays some notes from the ending song "Dalmatian Plantation" at one point.
 * When Aqua finally fights Basileus, he asks her, "what do you think you are dping", tp wgich Aqua responds: Something I should've a long time ago. Standing up to you!!!!", in a clear nod to Amphibia. Their positions are also similar to Sasha and Anne's in the season one finale, "True Colors".
 * Additionally, Amica says"Time to apply everything I know about chemistry" as a Pre Ass-Kicking One Liner.
 * Corrupt Character Copy: Basileus is one to King Triton. Both are prejudiced fathers and kings who try to rein on their daughters' curiosity. However, that's were the similarities stop. Whereas Triton, while trying to discourage Ariel from learning about humans, generally lets his daughter have freedom in her life, Basileus takes active actions to derail Aqua's curiosity via lies and manipulation, leaving her afraid of her own curiosity. In fact, Triton quickly knew he made a mistake when he destroyed Ariel's grotto, yet Basileus has no problems taking his daughter's things on a regular basis and essentially denying her freedom. And, as prejudiced as King Triton was towards humans, he never engaged in any conflict with them and tried to avoid them at all costs. Basileus, on the other hand, engages in a war against the fire people out of each other's prejudice. Finally, Triton learned to let go of his hatred of humans and let his daughter live happily ever after, but Basileus never let his own prejudices go and ends up dying because of it.
 * Darker And Edgier: The film is one of Disney's darkest love stories in film animation, with War Is Hell being a promenient aspect in addition to its exploration of racism and psychological trauma. There are also two main villains who engage in attempts to murder their own daughters, and one of them having killed his wife in cold-blood. There's also a case of Curse Cut Short (a geniune curse, not like when Timon stopped Pumbaa from saying "farted" in The Lion King) and a geniune (if mild) swear at one point, which can be quite startling to see in a Disney animated film.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: After Aqua admits to her father her love for Phoenix, Basileus claims she was "corrupted" and that he will "cure" her after killing her species. Seeing as both are women, this feels eerily similar to coming out to an homophobic parent.
 * Elemental Embodiment: The film centers on people who embody water and fire elements, and even have them in some parts of their body, while the rest of the Fire people's body is made of rocks and the Water people's resembles the biology of marine creatures. Word of God is that they took this approach to further distance the film from Pixar's Elemental, another film with themes of prejudice about the romance between physical embodiments of water and fire, but otherwise different in tone and execution.
 * Elemental Personalities: Played with. The fire woman Phoenix holds a fiery temper, but otheriwse comes off as cold due to her PTSD. The Water woman Aqua, on the other hand, is ironically the warmer of the two.
 * Foreshadowing:
 * When Aqua suggests she and Basileus could play like they did with Aqua's mom before the war, only for Basileus to decline due to military issues, he says "I wou,d like to spend time together too, but the moment those red bastards appeared a learned that doing the right thing sometimes means doing sacrifices. Your mother... she could never understand what making sacrifices was about, and we all know how much of cost that had on her, don't we?". This line takes on a much darker context when is revealed that Basileus orchestrated the war from his side out of prejudice for the Fire people, and murdered his wife for refusing to follow his lead.
 * In an exanple only Trekkues would catch, at one points Basileus is mentioned to be working on "Project: Lues" with a group named "Sector 31", named after the organization from Star Trek that, at one point, attempted genocide against the Changelings. This hints at what Basileus truly plans to do to the Fire people.
 * At one point, Fire scientusrs discuss how a failure in their ships' core coukd result in an artificial black hole. Which pretty much spoils the film's climax.
 * Sodalistas is at one point playing with a magnet designed by his sister, Amica. He uses the same magnets to destroy Basileus' drones at the climax.
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * Three of the film's Star Trek Shout-Outs hold a much deeper meaning than at first glance.
 * One of Phoenix' tattoes says "Mariner". And just like Ensign Beckett Mariner from Star Trek: Lower Decks, Phoenix suffers from PTSD after losing people she cared for to war, leading to self-destructive behavior.
 * A Water Soldier can be heard telling to a Fire Person that "resistance is futile", the Borg's catchphrase. This symbolizes how, like the Borg, those soldiers have become mindless drones carrying the will of an evil royal who wants the world to be his way and his alone.
 * Tying to the above, Sodalistas watches a parody of The Next Generation episode "The Best of Both World – Part 2", which is when Picard is freed from the Borg, just like how the people of both kingdoms are freed from their kings' influences. Furthermore, the animation looks a lot like Star Trek: Lower Decks, whose lead character is well-known for being a rebel.
 * Jonathan Frakes voices an animated Disney villain who, at the end, wears a suit of armor. He also looks for revenge at the climax and gets himself killed. Apparently, Xanatos was right, revenge is a sucker's game.
 * The armor Basileus uses in the climax is named "Project Lues". "Lues" is latin for "plague" or "disease". While fittimg for a suit that can take over any technology, this name also fits for Basileus, who is essentially a plague for his kingdom due tp his narcissistic mindset, megalomania, and negative influence on the Water people.
 * Fridge Horror:
 * The way Phoenix looks at her hands after learning of the truth behind the war strongly implies she killed Water soldiers. This makes her backstory among the grimmer ones in the Disney Princess canon as, while she isn't the first Disney Princess to kill, Mulan at least did it in a good-guy/bad-guy war. Phoenix, on the other hand, probably killed at least a few soldiers who were good-but-indoctrinated by a lunatic.
 * Speaking of blood, keep in mind wars have claimed the lives not only of soldiers, but civilans who were in the crossfire. Basileys and Calidi are probably among the Disney Villains with higher body counts. And they. Don't. Care.
 * A God Am I: While Basileus never actually says this, the fact that he thinks the world works according to what he says and thinks to the point of thinking he's justified in killing a race he dosen't like clearly points to this mindset.
 * Heartwarming Moments:
 * Aqua and Phoenix' entire relationship is this. While Phoenix at first hates her and Aqua is indifferent towards Phoenix, the two develop a bond upon getting to know each other more deeply and discpver an emotional connection. They also help each other with their issues, with Phoenix helping Aqua embrace her curiosity and Aqua in turn helping her heal from her battle scars and subsequent guilt. That bond blossoms into a love that manages to end their people's war without bloodshed. By the end of the film, they even get married.
 * Of note is how they avert the Plot-Mandared Breakup so common in these stories. They never stop loving each other after realizing their feelings, nor do they deny them.
 * Upon realizing Phoenix is unwell, Aqua dedicates herself to research on PTSD to help her. And when Phoenix suffers another flashback, Aqua actually puts what she learned to use, helping her to heal.
 * When Amalia finds out Aqua loves the princess of the Fire kingdom, she has no problems with it, nor any of their friends. In fact, Amalia is worried more for Phoenix and her relationship with Aqua.
 * And when Phoenix shows up looking for Aqua, Amalia's first instinct is to help her.
 * As the navigate througth a river, Phoenix shows Aqua the local flora and fauna. She is marveled by the sights, while Phoenix begins to experience happiness for the first time in years. And when Aqua wants to run alongside some of the creatures, she impulsively grabs Phoenix hand. Instead of being repulsed as she would have been at the beginning, Phoenix is touched. The two soon realize their feelings for each other... and all it takes is a look to each other to make clear that, yes, they feel the same.
 * At the climax, as the battle between the Kings destroys everything, the girls make sure to save the other's people, both to further promote a peaceful co-existence and because it's the right thing to do.
 * The wedding and celebration. With their friends watching, Aqua and Phoenix not obly bring unity to two once warring kingdom, but also cement their love once met with many obstacles, and heal from their past wounds. Phoenix comes to terms with her PTSD and overcomes her racism, and Aqua embraces her curiosity and finds someone worthy of love who loves her back. The celebration being underscored by a cover of Florence + The Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" just further cements how thimgs will be better from now on.
 * The looks Aqua and Phoenix give each other as thry go to their honeymoon. Awwww.
 * Hidden Depths:
 * Phoenix is an adept pianist.
 * Aqua is apparently a fast learner, managing to know about PTSD after a night reading.
 * Inspiration for the Work: Dana Terrace cited The Little Mermaid (1989), Lady and the Tramp, and Fantasia 2000 as inspirarions for the film's animation.
 * Jerkass Woobie: Phoenix can be racist abd quite rude, but its hard to not to feel bad for her upon seeing she suffers from PTSD.
 * Narm Charm: Aqua's comeback to her father's assertion that she dosen't know how to use a sword is a simple "She taught me". This out-of-context seems like a Lame Comeback. However, since Basileus has been telling her to avoid learning anything new in her life, it instead comes off as her rejecting her evil father's teachings.
 * Nightmare Fuel: Disney is known for adding a bit of terror in their stories, and romantic ones aren't the exception. Nor is this one, which has the backdrop of war in its story and the showrunmer of one of their darkest shows yet at the helm.
 * The opening. After the Disney logos, we see a group of fire soldiers hiding in a trench, as they prepare themselves for an attack by enemy forces. And the water enemies do appear... in planes. We are then followed by a bombing. In a Disney movie. And its clear the fire soldiers are not only losing, but on the verge of death. We even see a few ones dying onscreen. The entire sequence effectively showcases this film will be darker than usual for a Disney love story.
 * The mere fact that two nations have been lead to war by leaders who only want the destruction of the other's race merely because of their own prejudices and feeling that the other should not exist. The worst part? It happened in real life.
 * Just how straight the War Is Hell trope is played througth the film. While Disney has tackled the theme before in Mulan, that film balanced it with some typical Disney humor and songs in its first half, where the characters are away from the war itself. In FireWater? The war is already where the main characters are, looming as an spectre that threatens them both. Also, both films showed the cost of war, but this film shows not just the emotional costs, but physical and psychological as well, one of the main characters having PTSD and lost an arm due to her time as a soldier. And, finally, Mulan potrayed the war as a black-and-white conflict, something this film does not.
 * Phoenix' literal nightmare. Or more accuretly, a flashback to her time in war. Since this is a Disney film, they can't show us soldiers being killed in a war. So what do the filmmakers do? They hide it. They use shadows or cut back to Phoenix reacting to the nightmare. Still, they leave the rest to the audiences imagination. The result? The closest thing Disney will get to making A Nightmare on Elmm Street. And an eerie showcase of what having PTSD is like.
 * The scars and arm loss Phoenix got during the war. Wasn't she a being of fire and stone, they would not have appeared in a Disney movie...
 * The first meeting between Aqua and Phoenix. For Phoenix, she's being hujted by what could be an enemy assasin. For Aqua, she's being pursued and later beimg held at gunpoint by a soldier from a race she was taught are remorseless killers and who is clearly willing to shoot her if she has to, all whioe having no idea on how to defend herself...
 * We see the remains of a Fire village destroyed by the war. Between its crumbked buildings and emptiness of the area, it almost seems as if Aqua and Phoenix wondered into the post-apocalypse. Even worse is that we never know exactly what happened! War Is Hell, indeed.
 * Basileus finds out Aqua's relationship with Phoenix via a recording from her phone... and promply smashes it while looking like he's ready to kill someone. The ominous music that plays in the scene is of no help, at all
 * The scene where Water soldiers take Aqua away is disturbing as shit. Not only are they silent, giving them the feel of a mindless horde, but we have to see poor Aqua being forcibly dragged as she pleads them to stop.
 * Aqua and Basileus' argument is arguably the film's creepiest moment. First, Basileys reveals with a straight face he's planning to commit genocide, as of it was nothing horrifying. And when Aqua reveals she loves Phoenix, Basileus takes on a creepier vibe as he begins to talk about his daughter being "corrupted" by "monsters" in a fanatical yet silent tone. In that moment it dawns you. She is Alone with a Psycho, and said psycho is her own father. The King. The scene is distressing enought that it makes you wonder what he will do to her. He then crosses the Moral Event Horizon by destroying his daughter's property (which is effectively parental abuse) and ordering his daughter to a dungeon.
 * Adding to the creepiness, a snipet of Night at Bald Mountain can be heard as Basileus calls his daughter "corrupted", implicitly comparing him to Chernabog.
 * When Aqya emphasizes the Fire people (outsode theor leader, whom she describes as "the evil exception") are friendly because of her experience with them, Basileus angrily shouts "NO! YOU LISTEN! I'M THE ONE IN CHARGE! SO IF I SAY THOSE THINGS DON'T BELONG IN THE SAME WORLD AS US THEN THAT'S IT!!!!!", exposing in the process his true personality: A narcissistic megalomaniac with no morals who believes the world is the way he thinks he is. Just like the villain of a certain other Disney property helmed by Dana Terrace...
 * Basileus ordering his daughter to be locked up until and if she listens to him, giving an Implicit Death Threat is scary enough, but then one of his men reveal the prision he'll lock her up to has a high mortality rate. Furthermore, his response is to insist that is the proper place for his daughter. This, along with the earlier threat, subtly implies he locks away and kills anyone who opposes him there.
 * While mostly a Moment of Awesome, a few shots of Amabilia as she helpsAmalia and Phoenix free Aqua are quite scary, showing how ferocious a dog (or this film's equivalent of a dog) can be when provoked.
 * Shortly before the climax, Basileus reveals the real reason behind his wife's death: She opposed to his ideals of killing the Fire people... so he killed her implicitly by beating her. He even brags about it to Aqua.
 * At the end of the film, both Basileus and Caladi attempt to murder their daughters. Their behavior as a whole is also incredibly terrifying. Caladi remains as cold and calculated as ever in his attempts to kill Phoenix, almost making him look like The Terminator in that aspect. And Basileus? He's become a vicious animal. And unlike Phoenix, Aqua is a civilian with little experience in conflict attempting to defend herself against a maniac.
 * As scary as the scene is, arguably the worst part comes when Basileus says: "You ungrateful brat! I gave you home, food, everything you ever needed! And this is how you repay me!". He expects Aqua to "repay" him for basic descency. A mindset shared by many Abusive Parents.
 * Basileus as a whole is terrifying. He's essentially the amalgamation of Emperor Belos and Odalia Blight's personalities and Batman's voice, a dangerous manpulator who gives the vibe of being a bit of a Karen, yet you have this... off-putting feeling about him that tells you he's not a good man even before he reveals himself as a monster. And when he loses it, is as if Jonathan Frakes was playing a deranged killer instead of a character in a Disney movie. An abusive piece of shit willing to kill anybody for his vision of the world, Basileus fully establishes himself as one of the most monstrous Disney Villains in recent film memory.
 * His theme is also spine-chilling. Even when it plays as he reprimands Aqua, the feeling it gives is more in-line with being trapped with a Serial Killer... which turns out isn't that far off.
 * To add to the horror that is him, every scene where he abuses Aqua is done with smaller bavkgroumds than the rest of the film's larher, more gigantic backgrounds, giving them a near-claustrophobic feel to them. This perfectly captures one of the scariest parts of growimg up in an abusive household: That you're trapped and can't escape.
 * Basileus' armor at the climax is the stuff of nightmares. Holding the appearance of a demonic beast and the Venom Symbiote's characteristic goo-like appearance plus giving him the Voice of a Legion, it almost certainly makes Basileus seem like a rotting demon from the depths of hell. And to make thimgs worse? Its purpose is to fuse with technology, allowing the user to manipulate it as they please. Something that, in the hands of someone like Basileus, is just as dangerous as a nuke.
 * At the climax, Basileus ends up losing his shit. He tries to sabotage a Fireship in order to kill everyone insude it, nevermind that includes his own troops and daughter (and her friends). And when Aqua tries to intervene, the resulting beatdown he gives her would look more like Wilson Fisk' handywork were they human. Furthermore, he does all this without caring that a black hole is threatening to suck them all inside to a horrendoys demise, himself included. His true self has come to shine fully at long last. All he cares about are his genocidal xenophobia and tiorst for revenge.
 * Througth the film, we see the kings using media and misinformation to manipukate their kingdoms into vontinuing the war. Tge idea of the media being manipukated so that the gpverment can cpbtinue with inmoral actions is not only petrifying and a good Paranoia Furl, but also utterly realistic.
 * Oh Crap!: Phoenix' reaction to duscovering Aqua, her only partner in their investigation, has no idea of how to fight is to utter: "Oh, core. We are going to die".
 * Production Posee: Dana Rerrace brought from The Owl House writers Rachael Vine and Molly Osterag and cast memvers Sarah-Nicole Robles, Wendie Malick, Alex Hirsch, Zeno Robinson, Matthew Rhys, and Bumper Robinson.
 * Production Throwback: While different enough to avoid being consodered an Expy, Basileus does share some (superficial) similarities with Emperor Belos, the main villain of director Dana Terrace's show The Owl House: Both are the oppresive leaders of nations who seek to destroy an species out of Fantastic Racism whose reaction to learning a family member has fallen in love with a member of said species is to assume they were enchanted, and later choose to kill them. While Basileus is far less successful than Belos while trying to kill his daughter, he is eventually revealed to have killed his wife.
 * Realism-Induced Horror: Arguably one of the scariest part of the film is how realistic both war and its psychological effects are potrayed.
 * Retraux: The film's animation is intended to replicate the Xerox animation style seen in films such as One Hundred and One Dalmatians and Robin Hood.
 * Rule of Symbolism: While watching the local fauna with Aqua, with whom she is already in love, Phoenix is forced to drop her armor outside of her water-proof suit. Metaphorically, she finally drops her façade and shell of a tough warrior and allows herself to feel again.
 * Salvaged Story:
 * The film having LGBTQ+ leads is a great relief following Disney's poor attempts in cinema to potray queer characters. The fact that most of the film's writers are queer certainly helped.
 * Some fans have criticized Disney for its perceived Lighter and Softer approach to their animated films in recent years. This film by contrast takes a much darker tone, more in line with that of the Renaissance period, thanks in part due to its realistoc examination of war and villains incredibly dark for what is supposed to be a family-friendly film, all while avoiding discarding the idealistic themes Disney is known for. Director Dana Terrace even said the film would "bring darkness back to the House of Mouse" and compared it to films of the 90s that balanced dark and light content, such as Tarzan.
 * A major criticism of Raya and the Last Dragon was how its insistence on sticking to the Disney formula hampered its storytelling. Director Dana Terrace would state that, for the film, the only elements of the Disney formula that would be included would be those that could help the story and, even then, being altered so that they could fit in with the film's tone and messages (such as the "animal sidekick" being depicted as a therapy pet and the "Everybody Dances Ending" being explicity a party much like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3).
 * Shout-Out:
 * Phoenix at one point describes Aqua as "the incredibly annoying girl in front of [her] with the staring problem", calling back to episode 2 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
 * Upon learning of her father's actions, Aqua calls him a "diseased maniac".
 * The shot of Phoenix walking througth the Kingdom of Fire is reminiscent of Bruce Wayne walking througth a crowd near the beginning of The Batman.
 * Phoenux' unit used to call themselves The Dirty Dozen.
 * The scenes of Aqua after briefly leavimg her kingdom were inspired by Princess Mononoke.
 * The opening is an homage to the Ohama Beach scene from Saving Private Ryan.
 * Amalia quotes the line "Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake" from Romeo and Juliet.
 * Phoenix and Aqua's first kiss was inspired by the kiss scene from Moonlight.
 * The reveal of Basileus having killed Aqua's mother was intended to reflect 1985-A Biff revealing to Marty McFly that he killed 1985-A George McFly in Back to the Future Part II.
 * Speaking of Back to the Future, when Aqua grabs her first word, she struggles to lift it and says "This is heavy", leading an annoyed Phoenix to say "Great Scott", referencing Marty McFly and Doc Brown's catchphrases from the trilogy.
 * The blades on Basileus' gauntlets during the climax resemble those worn by the Shredder in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. His suit as a whole, meanwhile, behaves more like the Venom symbiote as depicted in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
 * A number of these are done to the Star Trek franchise:
 * Two of Phoenix' tattoes says "Mariner" and "Elysian Kingdom", the latter of which is the name of an episode of the series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
 * Phoenix drinks of an implicitly-alcoholic (or alcoholic-esque) drink brand named "Quark".
 * One of the Water Soldiers holfing Fire People prisioner says "Resistance Is Futile!"
 * Phoenix' plane resembles the USS Cerritos from Star Trek: Lower Decks, througth its named "the Defiant". The shot of her plane escaping also resembles the warp speed effect from the franchise.
 * Basileus' room is visually inspired by the imterior of the Borg Cube as seen in Star Trek: Picard.
 * Basileus' death is caused by an artificial black hole created by a crash, which is pretty much how Nero died in Star Trek (2009).
 * Additionally, Basileus' plan to start the war was codenamed "Project Dukat", a reference to Gal Dukat from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Terrace once said on her Twitter account that she personally considered him "one of the best written villains of all time". The final confrontantion between Aqua and Basileus also homages the final battle between Benjamin Sisko and Dukat in the Deep Space Nine series finale.
 * Basileus is located at the climax in the coordinates "3-5-1-7 by 2-5-9-8"; the coordinates Spock was beamed to in order to face Benedict Cumbertbatch's Khan in Star Trek: Into Darkness.
 * As a Pre-Ass Kicking One-Limer, Phoenix quotes a line from Benjamin Sisko from the end of Deep Space Nine: "All right, people, what do you say we end this war?".
 * Also, one of the score's tracks is named "Live Long And Prosper With Love", named after the classic Vulkan salute.
 * According to the credits, all members of The Dirty Dozen are named after cast members from either Star Trek: The Original Series or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
 * At one point, Sodalistas watches a parody of Star Trek: The Next Generation, more precisely of the climax of the episode "The Best of Both Worlds – Part 2". Furthermore, the animation is reminiscent of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
 * One of Phoenix' gadgets resembles a Pokedex.
 * Aqua says "goobye" before shooting her father, whoch is meant to be a nod to tye climax of Chicken Run. Basileus' behavior in the climax is also reminiscent of Mrs. Tweedy's.
 * During the wedding dance, Phoenix does the Batusi while Aqua does the Mario. The dance itself was intended as an homage to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
 * Shown Their Work: Phoenix shows a lot of accurate symptoms of war-related PTSD, such as apathy, sleeping problems, and irritability.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: As dark asthe film gets with its themes of war and prejudice, and its depiction of PTSD, the film ultimateky sits on the Idealistic end of the scale, being ultimately a romantic story about how The Powerof Love can make the world better.
 * Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Not everyone will buy propaganda, as much as a nation's leader tries. Not only do Aqua's circle of friends and others are show to lack any racism towards the Fire people, but neither do some of the Fire people towarss the Water people whenever Aqua is spotted.
 * Tearjerker:
 * Near the staet of the film, Phoenix us wasting herself in a bar (or, as close as such scene is possible in a Disney film). She then mentions how people describe a battle you suevive as a victory, an opinion she disagrees with. She is obviiusly thinking about how she lost her friends in the battlefield, and her wording might even imply suicidal idealization.
 * Upon seeing the remains of a Fire village, Phoenix enters a panic attack, her time at war briefly flashing before her eyes.
 * After hearing Aqua being captured and learning that the war she fought and developed mental issues for was just two men letting out their prejudice on each other and millions of innocents, Phoenix can do nothing but unleashing her rage and cry.
 * Even worse when you remember her trauma comes from losing loved ones to the pains of what she just learned was a senselss war. ANd she just went througth that again.
 * She also briefly glimpses at her hands, imñlying that, on top of all of the above, she now also feels guilt over the fact that she possibly killed people who were in the end just indoctrined victims of a madman's delusions.
 * The mere fact that both of the film's leads are, in the end, people with severe mental health issues that want the love of approval of parental figures that ultimately aren't worth the trouble.
 * There Are No Therapists: Subverted. While Phienix has a strong PTSD, she is never seen attending therapy. However, she makes it clear is by choice, and is mentioned to be seeing one at the end of the film.
 * They Also Did:
 * Director Dana Terrace and co-writers Rachel Vine and Molly Ostertag were the showrunner and writers, respectively, for Disney's The Owl House.
 * ND Stevenson, showrunner of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power also co-wrote the script, in addition to voicing a character himself.
 * Melissa Ethridge previously wrote song for Disneytoon Studios' Brother Bear 2.
 * Througth the Eyes of Madness: Heavily downplayed, but when the film changes to Phoenix' perspective, it changes to a more aggresive art style. However, this is not to show how Phoenix sees the world, but instead how she perceives it as a product of her PTSD.
 * The World Is Just Awesome: This is Aqua's reaction after leaving her kingdom for the first time.
 * Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The film easily falls into one of the darkest Disney films in recent memory. And that can be mainly blamed on its villains: Basileus and Caladi. Aside from being each their kind of Abusive Parents, they are also corrupt kings that deliberatedly led their kingdoms into war simply because of their racism towards each other, and did they indoctrinated millions of people into following them and even to die in their senseless war, but are more than willing to personally murder their daughters if they oppose him even ideologically. As such, they are played straight whenever they appear.
 * War Is Hell: Surprisingly for a Disney animated movie, the film goes deep in exploring this. Phoenix even developed PTSD thanks to her experiences as a soldier.
 * Water is Blue: Played with. While the Water people themselves aren't blue, they are shown in blue colors while in their kingdom due to the blue lights in it. Outside it, they are transparent.
 * What Do You Mean Its For Kids?!: Being a love story by Disney may make people think this is good family-friendly fun. But its potrayal of war is eerily realistic, one of the lead characters explicitly suffers from PTSD, the villains are particularly unsavory, we have eerily realistic depictions of parental abuse, and nightmerish imagery to spare. Safe to say, this isn't one for little kids.

Tropes for the series

 * Company Cross-References:
 * In episode 1, Aqua and Phoenix watch a photo of them in front of a potrait of The Owl House. Aqua also mentions having met twins named Dipper and Mabel.
 * In episode 3, Aqua hums the song "Try Everything" as she returns home.
 * In a season 2 episode, Aqua narrates her and Phoenix' baby a tale about a beggar who tricks an evil sorcerer into becoming a genie and getting trapped in a lamp, before marrying a princess.
 * Descended Creator: Co-showrunner ND Stevenson voices a shop owner named Nate.
 * The Danza: ND Stevenson, real name Nate Stevenson, voices a character named Nate.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Aqua and Phoenix's relationship is seen with disdain by more conservative groups. Keep in mind both are women and of different races.
 * Sad Clown: While Aqua at first seems happier than she ever was, the truth us she suffers from depression after what happened in the film.
 * Shown Their Work: The showrunners deliberatedly sought to depuct depression more realisticly than most animated shows, so they brought in consultants to assist them.
 * Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
 * Even if the war ceased and people are willing to give other races a chance, that dosen't mean race relations magically healed overnight. Racism is still strong and discrimination is still common.
 * Even after the film's events, Phoenix still carries PTSD from her time in war. Because these things take months or even years to heal.
 * Aqua's father abused her for years, manipulated everyone into a war, and tried to kill her. As a result, Aqua develops her own mental health issues.
 * Tearjerker: Phoenix' reaction to camera flashlights is to experience a flashback. By the time she's done, she can barely speak.