Skip to main content

Raya and The Last Dragon: An Unexpected Gem

 

 Alright so, ever since this film got announced and I saw character designs and all, I don’t know why but it felt like it was a dlc (extra downloadable content for a video game) but for a movie. It felt like a dlc for Moana, and I’m not like the biggest fan of Moana but, I love animation and so I try my best to always see animated films and that’s why I’m here today after quite the hiatus to tell you, that Raya and The Last Dragon is pretty damn great!

  Okay so one of my favorite things about this film was how they used a good chunk of its opening to set up what goes on later. I know that’s meant to be a norm but most animated films don’t get to do that cause their runtime is usually about an hour and a half (including credits). The film clearly explains the lore and history of the land, shows us Raya’s personality and her motivations for the future and I have to hand it to Kelly Marrie Tran (Rose Tico from the Star Wars Sequels) because she’s absolutely brilliant as Raya and cements her as one of my favorite Disney heroines thus far. Awkwafina is also great as Sisu balancing humor with a shocking amount of heart. 

 This film is obviously inspired by Asian culture and it shows it beautifully through the gorgeous scenery of different lands, beautiful costume designs and the masterful fight choreography. Speaking of fight choreography, for an animated feature film I don’t know why they went this hard but I honestly admire the people who worked on it because it was so freaking awesome. I found myself getting so excited every time a fight scene came up because each one kicked ass, no pun intended.

 Another thing this films excels in is portraying characters as humans first and foremost rather than good or bad. I really appreciated Raya, Sisu, her companions, Boun (who I loved so so much), Tong, Noi, the adorable pets as well as the extremely badass Namaari. I think they are all so well written  and I really appreciated how they explored how humans capable of great bad and great good without it coming out as corny or lackluster. 

 There’s no musical number in this film but I think the score for the film really hits especially during the more emotional scenes. There’s a great level of consistency that showers through out the film, it feels like a real world with real people who live in it and while that’s usually the goal for fantasy films, it’s not usually achieved with the exception of films like the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchise. 

 The last act of this film surprised me the most, there’s a scene where a certain person does something and it’s so totally out of the usual Disney formula we’re used to and I feel like it elevated an already good film to a really really good film. To explain it more simply, this film feels like a Pixar venture rather than just Disney. 

 To sum things up, Raya and the Last Dragon is a very good film with a good message, an amazing protagonist, talented voice cast, beautiful animation and a run time that doesn’t slow down or rush things. I highly recommend seeing it if you’re looking for something cool to check out! 

 

Written By

Comments

  1. A. Hugh. G. Dick4 July 2021 at 01:36

    My God I loved this movie. It was one of the best animation I've seen if not the best.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

The Popular Posts

BUMBLEBEE: A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

Written By
    Bumblebee is the first ever live action prequel/reboot film that has been released from the transformers franchise and it is set during the 1980s. In all honesty,i'm not sure if this film is just a prequel or also a reboot because, by the end of the film you can see that this is definitely a happens before the first film with Shia Labeouf but, it also runs away from tying itself to the already established Transformers franchise by itself too seriously. The reason i think it might be a reboot is simply due to the fact that they redesigned the transformers to have their more simple classic design from the old school cartoons rather than the more "extra" design filled unnecessary level of detail. This film tries very much to be more human and rely more on emotional connection rather than being a grand cgi filled fest that could span the course of multiple two hour films.    The plot is simple;in the face of being terminated, the Autobots must flee from Cybertro
3 comments
Read more

DOOM PATROL

Written By
   The second DC Universe Live Action show; Doom Patrol just premiered and I must say, it was a really interesting watch. Following the lives of the Doom Patrol, a team of very strange heroes who we first encounter during an episode of Titans, the show sheds more light on how they came to be the "freaks" that they are now through a brilliant narrator who ties into the episode and beautiful acting from every member of the cast.   If you saw them in Titans, you might have been pissed off by the actor who played Chief there. I thought he was horrible and the show recast him with a much better and intense actor who carries each scene he's in. With just the first episode, I was very impressed by how funny, serious and emotional it was. Unlike the show before it, Doom Patrol managed to start off on a high note with so many possibilities, it actually manage to do the whole team dynamic better than the Titan show.  I could actually feel the bond amongst each member of th
4 comments
Read more

Army Of The Dead: A Crazy Roller Coaster!

Written By
  Visionary director, Zack Snyder comes through with a new release following his long awaited director’s cut of 2017’s Justice League. This time (and thanks to Netflix), he has full creative control of the entire film.    Army of the dead was shot, written and directed by Zack himself and is his return to horror, the same genre of his first feature film “Dawn of the Dead”. Army of the dead is an extremely ambitious film with the potential for multiple sequels and spinoffs besides the already announced ones. I’ll try my best to make this a spoiler free review although I make talk or hint about certain things that happen in the film.   The film tells the story of a team of skilled men and women coming together to go to closed off zombie infested Las Vegas to retrieve millions of dollars from a vault before the US government nukes the entire place and its zombie residents. Each member of this team standout and feel like real people with personalities. There’s a lot of present world realis
4 comments
Read more

I Truly Loved Wonder Woman 1984: An Honest Review

Written By
   Wonder Woman 1984 is the sequel to 2017's Wonder Woman with Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Patty Jenkins all returning in their respective duties with the first two as actors and Patty as the director once again.   Wonder Woman 1984 has only been out for a few days and within that time has been destroyed critically with people (including a couple of my friends) downright calling it horrible and a strong contender for worst movie of the year. While I'm not one to be swayed by the popular opinion of most critic reviews, seeing a couple of people whose tastes I respect speak ill of the film honestly made me scared and so I avoided watching it until today when I decided that I had to be brave and face my fear!   As seen by the trailers and  other promotional materials, Wonder Woman 1984 is set in the 80's, specifically, 1984, the film has the classic retro feel to it and unapologetically embraces it. Please note that while I will not be spoiling anything major, I may drop some li
3 comments
Read more