Raya and the Last Dragon
I wish to join this fellowship of butt kickery
Tong
Summary:
Raya is a young girl who lives in the remnants of a land once known as Kumandra, a prosperous and peaceful land protected by dragons, that was destroyed by an evil creature called the Druun. After the Druun turns all the dragons and a lot of humans to stone, the last dragon named Sisu creates a dragon gem that defeats the Druun but Sisu disappears. The loss of the dragons creates a power struggle amongst the humans as they each want the gem and they eventually split the land into 5 lands Heart, Fang, Tail, Spine, and Talon.
Raya comes into the story 500 years later as we see that she is the princess of Heart and her father is the guardian of the dragon gem though he hopes to reunite to tribes as Kumandra once more. After an incident where the gem is destroyed by a different tribe, the Druun is released once more into the world and Raya’s father is turned to stone. 6 years later Raya is on the hunt trying to find the last dragon to save her father and maybe Kumandra altogether.
Characters:
Our main two characters are Raya and Sisu. Raya is the main protagonist and a wonderful character. She is dedicated to her cause, and loyal to those around here. Her trusting, go-lucky nature gets her in trouble and it changes the way she views the world.
Sisu is the funniest character in the movie without a doubt, and she brings great energy. Her humor comes from her unique view of the world, and her lack of awareness considering she was asleep for 500 years. She views the world with wonder and hope. It’s this hope that makes her a great fit to help Raya on her journey.
Nathanyal: 9.7/10
Raya and the Last Dragon was an amazing movie, if it wasn’t evident enough though the scoring. This movie had everything you could ever want from a Disney movie: a solid plot, good theme, and loveable characters. This movie is a great watch for the whole family that everyone can enjoy.
Before I go into more detail about the good points of the movie, I’m going to go over some the not so good aspects. For one, since this movie is a Disney movie, the plot was pretty predictable. The opening scene had a predictable outcome. For those of you who have watched a Disney movie, the opening scene is always a sad one that pushes the characters into the situations they find themselves in. This predictability also plays into the ending, but for spoiler reasons, I won’t be going into much detail. The other downside is that the movie is relatively short. Although the movie has a 2-hour runtime, the last half an hour is used for credits. I wish more time could have been spent on some character interactions instead. But overall, there weren’t too many downsides.
Now onto the great aspects, and boy are there a lot. The first thing I wasn’t to mention is that the opening scene is intense. It perfectly captures everyone’s characters, and although predictable, it got the job done and in a fun way. This segues nicely into the next point which is about characters. Each character is fun and unique. I particularly loved Sisu’s character, especially since she’s voice acted by Awkwafina. Sisu is funny and naïve at the same time, which leads to many comedic events and interactions. Raya is also a strong lead. Her backstory is relatively dark and explains most of her motives for the rest of the movie. I also appreciated the pacing of the plot. It didn’t feel all too fast or slow, and everything had the right amount of screen time. The actual content of the plot was great too, as it led to a variety of different scenarios which all seemed plausible through the setting. Another aspect I enjoyed was the theme of trust. I thought it had a good foundation and it was explored in a fulfilling way throughout the movie.
Overall, this was a great movie, and it might be my favourite Disney movie to date. It has everything you could want for a family friendly movie: solid plot, good theme, and loveable characters. Definitely recommend checking this out in theatres now or even on Disney+.
Sebastian: 9.5/10
This is a really good movie that blew my expectations out of the water. This movie continues a very strong winning streak for Disney Animation as they have continued to release hit after hit. This movie perfectly combines many classic Disney elements while being a very action and worldbuilding heavy story. This movie never lost my attention and had me engaged from the very start. The first thing I would like to compliment is the animation as I found it to be quite detailed and beautiful from the backgrounds being very detailed and colourful and the characters themselves being very expressive and none of the characters ever look like they are pasted in a scene even in the background they look alive. Each different land is very distinct in design and colour scheme and while each human is different, I loved that each dragon was their own character as well. The story itself is actually decently complex and I was impressed how well they told a story with so much detail and mythology while making it easy to comprehend for kids.
I really found each tribe to be interesting and I would have loved to explore their parts of the world and I liked how the characters from each tribe were all very different in looks and attitude. Now the characters we meet in the story all have distinct and fun personalities. Raya ( as voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) is a very intelligent, resourceful, and combative protagonist who shows she will do whatever it takes to save her father and she is not afraid of a fight. Sisu (as voiced by Awkwafina) is the last dragon and she proves to be very powerful, wise, and kind as she tries to help Raya while providing a lot of the comedy. The rest of the characters are all very fun and interesting too with my personal favourite being Boun the boat driver. The action is another really solid part of this movie as you can tell that this was choreographed by real martial arts experts and then animated. Whether it was with swords or hand to hand the weight and impact of the attacks felt very real and pretty violent for a Disney movie. Also, though I love a good Disney musical I did not feel this movie needed music and I felt that it worked as just a solid action-adventure movie. I’m glad that this was the first new movie i got to see in theatres and would say this movie is meant for the big screen.
All in all, this was a really fun action-adventure movie that fits perfectly in the Disney catalogue of films. So if you are on Disney+ and willing to spend 30 bucks or can see it in theatres then I would say this is worth the price as it is fun for the whole family!
Austin: 9.4/10
This movie is incredible. It blew every expectation I had out of the water, and I had pretty high expectations to begin with. With it being a Disney movie, I expected big things and big things we got. The in-theatre experience was awesome, and it was great to be back in theatres for the first time in 4 months. The characters are great, the entire movie is funny, and is an entertaining watch from start to finish.
The thing that surprised me the most was the quality of the action in this movie. The fight scenes feel so real, and the movements feel very natural from an animation standpoint. As an animated Disney movie, quality action isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, but it might be something we should expect more of moving forward. We see different fighting styles from different groups in this movie, and it goes to show the amount of effort put in to make sure everything was perfect. After seeing this one, I’d love to see more movies in the genre from Disney paired with their great storytelling.
I loved the action and the effort put into animating, but it’s the Disney storytelling that pulls this movie together. We see ups and downs, we see comedy, and we see great character interactions. The movie is a fun watch, and the story will capture your emotions. The challenges faced by the characters make them lovable, and it makes the story that much more in-depth.
Without a doubt, Raya and The Last Dragon contains some of my favourite characters written by Disney. Sisu is hilarious and Raya is an example of dedication to a cause. They make for a really solid pair, and their development is infinitely linked. They grow and change based on each other, and the development is very deep. Some of the secondary characters play large roles, and they all feel important in some aspect. There is very little wasted material or screen time, and it makes for a captivating watch.
I loved this movie and I think you will too. It’s a perfect combination between comedy and action, and the characters are absolutely lovable. Although $35 to buy a movie might be steep, it is totally worth the expense if you can’t go see this work of art in theatres.
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