I'd also add to this with: it's unapolagetically SOFT. The people love and care for each other and they love and care for the world around them. They show it constantly and openly; the ultimate motivation for this tale of heroism is just straight up personal caring on display. https://twitter.com/AbeGoldfarb/status/1350121947334586369

Lots of hero media whiffs on this because they want their hero to care about something big and abstract: saving the world, justice, etc.

But this soft, personal, 1-on-1 level "I care about SAM" or "I care about THE NIGHT OF THE FIREWORKS IN THE SHIRE" is so much more impactful.

Also, hero media tends to allow the only emotion the hero displays be shock or anger: "Gasp! My hometown was demolished, HOW DARE YOU"

They don't show a) the hero attaching to the place (a good life comfortably lived there) or b) the hero's grief and sorrow at the loss.

The LOTR movies do both to excess. Huge amounts of showing WHAT is at stake, not in the abstract, but in the concrete- this tree. This garden. These walls. These farmers.

And then they show the heroes' broad emotional response to the threat those things face.

oops this isn’t screaming about the downfall of american democracy sorry i’m sorry i’m trying to delete it