Riot’s Movie Reviews: Raya and the Last Dragon
I know that I’m a little late to the party on this one. Frankly, I barely want to pay for Disney+ as it is, much less pay for an upgraded service just so I could see their new content on its actual release date. I think we are up to four streaming services now and that’s probably three too many already. Since the film has been out for so long, it was interesting going into this with still little to no information about it. I’m not even certain I saw an official trailer for the thing. Which got me thinking before I turned it on, if nobody is talking about this film, was it even good? Turns out, it was a pretty decent flick, the but here being, it was also fairly forgettable. In this household, the most re-watched movies are all of Disney origin so coming across one that I probably wouldn’t put on again was a little surprising. (I felt the same way about Onward, to be honest). “Re-watchability” should not be the only metric by which a movie is judged though and overall, most people will not be disappointed in what Raya and the Last Dragon has to offer.
So let’s get the negatives out of the way first. Negative #1: the extensive/slow-paced exposition. RATLD drops the audience into a brand new world, one that’s filled with dragons, magic, and is beset upon by a horde of evil spirits called the Druun. Lately, I’ve noticed that the film industry has been struggling to keep world-building succinct while being simultaneously interesting. This movie was no exception and the events that lead up to what inevitably becomes the main story are head scratching to say the least. Questions are created that are never really answered well or sufficiently. Why are there so few people available to guard the dragon stone? Why didn’t the father just jump into the water with Raya to escape the Druun? Why would he be so committed to a radically unproven ideal? I could probably go on but I’ll stop here. Spoken exposition can only get you so far and combining it with nonsensical events doesn’t help grab people into the story. Negative #2: the voice acting/writing/jokes are pretty shakey. Now this is more of a personal pet peeve, but it was a little surprising to see a brand new Disney film sort of take a step back in performance quality. I could point to a number of films that I would say have upped the game for acting in American animated films (see Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or Coco for some brilliant performances) but after spending over a third of my life watching/listening to Japanese animated films and T.V. shows, it’s easier to point out when the acting doesn’t feel genuine or up to par. Negative #3: (this is likely to be my most contested point) Con baby (so stupid) and its monkey squad was bad and Disney should feel bad for making it. I don’t think I need to expand any further here.
Positive #1: the animation is as top notch as you would/should expect from Disney. Admittedly, I think some of the choreography of the fight scenes could have used more time (if Dreamworks can make a fighting Panda convincing, Disney should be able to make people just as comparable if not better) but the settings, dragon design, Druun, flowers, and literally everything involving water was stunningly beautiful. Positive #2: Awkwafina’s standout performance as Sisu. Save some of the awkward and silly jokes (the fault of the writers not her) Awkwafina delivered the best performance of the entire cast. Her raspy voice, which is essentially made for voice acting, lent so much likeability to the dragon’s character throughout the film that you could rename it The Last Dragon and Raya. Positive #3: Though the delivery of the exposition hurt the film’s momentum, Kumandra is an exceptionally interesting new world. Disney was able to take what is a fundamentally dark concept and spin it in a relatable way that (1) won’t frighten the bejeezus out of children and (2) promotes a solid message. Which brings me to my final positive #4: we need more messages of unity in the world. Admittedly, RATLD doesn’t spend a whole lot of time on the actual unifying part (I mean this on the grand scale of Kumandra’s societies, not the microcosm of Raya and her compatriots) yet the message is very clear. If humanity cannot set aside their differences or solitary interests, then disaster is bound to consume everything. We’ve seen the full effect of this during the pandemic. Presented with a solitary problem, one that threatened and inevitably did consume the planet, people chose to politicize and segregate instead of uniting to combat the threat. It’s not an easy task and it doesn’t help to ignore the nuance that is involved with it. But there is a major difference between actively taking steps forward to acknowledge the things that unite us instead of hyper focusing on the things that don’t. If anyone says we are not absolutely mired in the latter, they are lying.
Raya and the Last Dragon is definitely a must-see film, if for no other reason than to open-mouthedly gawk at the majesty of modern day animation. While it was likely a one-and-done for me, I acknowledge all the reasons as to why it will be a long-lasting treasure in other households. Maybe I’m too overly influenced by musical Disney films. Who knows? Disney could have easily taken some extra time to smooth out the edges in the writing and ended up with a superior product, but what we were left with is a quality film with an encouraging message for the future. Perhaps the minds of the children watching will understand it and put it into practice.
Riot’s Rating: 9/10
コメント