I actually liked very few characters in TPATF: Lottie and Ray. Though I liked Charlotte, Ray was the character I really loved, because he was sweeter, even. than Lottie. And then he has to die. Why? Flounder and Sebastian didn't have to die. Mushu and Cri-kee didn't have to die. Genie didn't have to die. Cogsworth, Lumiere, and Mrs. Potts and Chip didn't have to die. Meeko, Percy, and Flit didn't have to die. Screenwriters in many, many, past Disney Princesses movies didn't have to kill off the sidekicks, to make the movie poignant. (They only killed off one or both of the parents). So why kill off a major sidekick here? What was the point?

I don't really care about him but I liked the idea of him being with Evangeline at last, that was a sweet touch.

I wouldn't call it exactly necessary, but I found incredibly sweet how he finally got to be with his beloved Evangeline. I mean, he is obviously happy where he is and I didn't care about him that much so that I would be angry that they killed him off for no specific reason. He was a likable, charming sidekick that was unfortunately killed in order to save his friends, but at the end, we can say he got his happily ever after. And I loved all the PATF characters, so it's not like they killed the one character that I liked in the entire movie.

It completed Ray's story arc, which was all about him wanting to be with Evangeline. It was also a good way to show how close the four of them -- Ray,, Louis, Naveen, and Tiana -- had grown through their ordeal.

totally