my opinion:

cute is a watered-down version of wholesome. there is nothing 'wrong' with it per se.

it is the urge for 'the good' gone shy.

i include healthy erotic love in this concept of 'the good.'

wholesome, including wholesome healthy sex,  is a real thing. it is a bourgeois value, and I use that word with pride, not derision.

anyone holding wholesome values and stating them without guile or hypocrisy, such as Walt Disney, is accustomed to being laughed at, spit at, mocked. More so now than previously; Disney was sincerely and genuinely loved.

thus, cute