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