Raya and the Last Dragon Review!

 Alright! Today I am reviewing the newest movie from the vault, and 59th Walt Disney Animation Studios, Raya and the Last Dragon. Raya takes place in the magical land of Kumandra, where humanity has been split into five clans of people after all the dragons sacrifice themselves to create an orb that saved humanity from a deadly black fog 500 years ago. 

At a glance (And during the movie's intro) it really, really sounded like Disney was remaking Moana about 15 years ahead of schedule. You even have the "Princess not princess" thing going on with the titular character (She's the daughter of the Heart chief). So while the brave, independent, doesn't need a love interest, ethnic character might get inclusivity bonus points, it has been done before. 

In fact, that would be a good way to describe this movie's plot - done before. The divided land, traveling on water, grabbing a glowing orb to stop a black fog, cute sidekick, fourth wall sidekick, and no real villain tropes have been present in nearly every Disney flick the past decade. 

But Raya, even if it was just a movie strung together on Disney algorithms, did several things perfectly - animation, action, soundtrack, and scale. Between this, Godzilla vs. Kong, and The Snyder Cut all in March, my money is on Raya being the most epic (Unless you count epics by the runtime, in which case The Snyder Cut wins by a cool two hours). 

I really, really liked this movie, to be honest. The marketing seemed to take every cringy kid moment from the movie and string them together, so I wasn't expecting much. What I got was... actually amazing. I loved this movie, maybe more than I should have, and definitely more than other people.

Moana without the songs, basically.

But to hit some of the criticisms, because the movie wasn't perfect, I do bring up how derivative it can come off once again. Another criticism of mine was how easy everything was. Minor spoilers here, but Raya goes on a fetch quest to find the broken remnants of the orb, but nearly every piece she gets is really, really easy. She has one of them to start out with, grabs two with ease, and straight-up convinces the people holding the last two to give them to her. For how easy it is, it's kind of silly that it took six years for someone to bring the orbs back.

And maybe the movie had some pacing issues? It felt like the opening went on for too long, and the ending got kind of crazy (And very reminiscent of Guardians of the Galaxy).

Maybe my biggest criticism of the movie was Sisu, the last dragon. On one hand, Sisu turned out to be a really well-developed, funny, and emotionally poignant character. On the other hand, for nearly every joke that landed, one joke wouldn't, especially when she's first introduced. And I found her voice annoying at times. Like, Awkafina and Tracy Morgan do some great work, but whenever I hear their voices in kids' flicks I just want to die. It's a very loud type of humor. 

But for as many things I didn't like about Sisu, I did like others. The animation for Sisu running, swimming, or moving was always impressive to watch. I liked how we actually got a Southeastern dragon (Basically really long and squiggly dogs) as opposed to European dragons (Terrifying flying lizards). So that's always fun. 

It felt like Sisu was trying a bit too hard.

And aside from those criticisms, I really liked everything else about the film. Sure, the situation does lead to a lack of real stakes, but the movie has some surprisingly dark moments! Entire towns are lost, families ripped apart, victims to the fog! Sacrifice! Shocking murders! 

And the action in the movie was excellent, especially for animation. This might be one of the few Disney movies to actually earn a PG rating. Sure, the swords for the most part are non-lethal and relatively useless, but there was some excellent choreography throughout the movie. 

Another thing I absolutely loved about the movie was the animation. And yes, every time a new animated flick from Pixar or Disney comes out I do say this, but this might be the most realistic looking movie they've ever done. Certainly the best cinematography, some of the visuals in here are jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

Are those the same woods from Frozen II?

I also really liked all of the characters (And, like, half of Sisu). While the "Cool loner" might be a common trope, I feel like Raya is the only one that's gone full-blown with it. Her family has been stoned for six years, and she is partially responsible for the state of the world. It's an excellent character. The con baby had her moments, the little kid had some good beats, and the villain, Namaari, was also a well-rounded and conflicted character. Add on to that that every character has excellent designs and visual palette, and nearly all of them were fleshed out enough to make the story emotionally engaging. 

And the music! I was getting Mandalorian vibes from the music, it was very nice. It blended traditional Disney with action with techy sounds. Hats off to James Newton Howard, he outdid himself. 

How am I not supposed to like how cool that looks?

Touching once again on the scale, Raya felt epic yet also personal. While the land of  Kumaandra is apparently much smaller and easier to navigate than one would think, certain shots, designs of buildings, and misty mountains give Raya a very different vibe than traditional Disney flicks. Especially with the score kicking in. 

I really liked Raya. It did nearly everything perfectly and exceeded my relatively "okay" expectations. I've already updated my "Ranking Every Disney Film" post to put it at spot #15. 

Overall, I give Raya and the Last Dragon an 8/10. "With excellent characters, action, cinematography, scale, emotional beats, designs, and animation, Raya and the Last Dragon is a somewhat redundant Disney classic."

Surprisingly excellent.