Raya and the Last Dragon

Raya and the Last Dragon – 2021 (Animation, Action, Adventure)
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There are great voice casts, and then there are voice casts like this; Disney hit an absolute home run with the voice cast for this film. Including Kelly Marie Tran (“Star Wars,”) Awkwafina (“Crazy Rich Asians,”) Gemma Chan (“Humans,”) Benedict Wong (“Doctor Strange,”) Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy,”) Lucille Soong (“Fresh Off the Boat,”) Alan Tudyk (“Firefly,”) and more!

Let’s get the negative out of the way; pretty much as always, they followed the same tried and true formulaic progression that Disney has become known for. That isn’t to say it doesn’t work; it just becomes a bit predictable when you know the “bad guy” will fake out the good guy, the parent(s) will end up dead or in peril, etc.

As for the film itself, it’s beautifully animated; I’m pretty sad I wasn’t able to see this in theaters; I bet it would’ve looked stunning. Unfortunately, I still haven’t returned to theaters with the regularity that I had in the past. My guess is it will still be some time before I start going weekly again.

I want to take a moment and point out that I didn’t pay the extra thirty dollars for Disney+ premium. While I understand the motivation for someone with several kids that are excited about a film coming out, in general, I disagree with this practice. If it were thirty dollars extra for the entire year (all of their new movies), then I could probably be swayed in that direction. However, I waited a few months, and now it’s part of Disney’s library there and included in the subscription cost with everything else that was already on there.

I’m a firm supporter of hand-drawn animation; Disney and Studio Ghibli classics that were hand-drawn were forever my favorites. However, I am starting to come over to the other side a little (at least when it comes to Disney productions.) Studio Ghibli’s latest computer-animated film “Earwig and the Witch” was an absolute nightmare. Hollow shells of characters that lacked any warmth or connection. For the most part, Disney has figured out the magic mix and has been able to give humans depth when animating without looking scary unintentionally.

As for the story, it was pretty straightforward, but the connections you gained throughout made you appreciate the stakes when a character was in peril. Overall it was an enjoyable experience even though at an hour and 47 minutes, it felt like they added some filler to the film. The director tandem has some incredible films to their credit Don Hall (“Moana,” and “Big Hero 6”) and Carlos López Estrada (“Blindspotting”), and you can see that with the story development and the character-driven film.

I find it odd that Pixar’s next film, “Luca,” will be added to the platform without the additional $29.99 fee tacked on. It makes me wonder if they don’t have the same confidence level as they did with Raya. I’ve honestly only seen a snippet of a trailer for it, and even then, nothing about it screamed out to me that this would be another in the long line of great Pixar films. I don’t think it will necessarily be bad, but if they’re giving it away as basically a freebie, their confidence can’t be that high. (I’ll review it, look for it in the 6/26 edition).

Where to watch: 

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About Post Author

Chris Jones

OverlyHonestMR@gmail.com

https://mailnewsgroup.com/ohmr/

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