Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

[Eric Atreides]

Discuss

[Morieris]

I wish they had dug into the distrust aspect a little bit more. The moral boils down to "Everyone's hurting, and some times, you just have to be the first to reach out."

 

Wasn't as annoyed with the sidekicks as I thought I would be, but I wish it had just kept the fairly serious tone throughout.

 

Also Whoa this was so beautiful.

[charlie Jatinder]

The film is good, it could have been better if it wasn't so formulaic. 

 

One thing though, is also case of most "representation" movies, just like most of them this was just "American" characters in foreign faces and clothes. For starters I would have loved to watch it local language with subs, hopefully one day we reach there.

 

6/10. That's a B I suppose.

[Fullbuster]

 

I loved Raya and the Last Dragon so much, it's an "A" 😍

 

 

 

[Ms Lady Hawk]

I give it an 8/10. It’s a visually stunning movie. The colors and the texture of the animation were on point. I particularly liked that the characters were well developed and complex.  There were no truly bad characters. The message is one that resonates nowadays too. We come from different places but ultimately we are human beings and we must learn to live and respect one another across different lands. If not, then we will perish. 

[El Squibbonator]

I liked Raya and the Last Dragon well enough for what it was, but at the same time I felt like it was a movie with a lot holding it back from being what it could have been. Those comparisons to Avatar and The Legend of Korra that people are making? There's merit to them. But the problem is that Raya and the Last Dragon feels like a de-fanged, watered-down version of those shows without the nuance and maturity that made them so good. There's potential for a great movie here, if it weren't shackled by its adherence to the Disney formula. And that's a shame. 

 

Grade: C

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by El Squibbonator

[cannastop]

Raya is to COVID-19 as Zootopia is to Trump.

[Morieris]

15 hours ago, El Squibbonator said:

I liked Raya and the Last Dragon well enough for what it was, but at the same time I felt like it was a movie with a lot holding it back from being what it could have been. Those comparisons to Avatar and The Legend of Korra that people are making? There's merit to them. But the problem is that Raya and the Last Dragon feels like a de-fanged, watered-down version of those shows without the nuance and maturity that made them so good. There's potential for a great movie here, if it weren't shackled by its adherence to the Disney formula. And that's a shame. 

 

 

 

Yep. The first 20 minutes showed a lot of promise that this would be different, and would show Disney could do something cabable without a ton of laughs. But I guess "no music" was as far outside of their comfort zone they could get without getting a lot of "It's nice, but it's too serious for their target audience - kids who want toys."

[filmlover]

Lacks that certain something special that would elevate it to the ranks of Disney's best, but it stands out in the crowd as a highly enjoyable and unique entry filled with breathtaking animation (even on a TV screen) and a good mix of action, humor and heart. Excellent voice performances from Kelly Marie Tran and Awkwafina add to the experience as well. B+

[Webslinger]

As the latest addition in the strong run their animation department has been on for over a decade now, Raya and the Last Dragon is another highly enjoyable, highly effective animated outing from Disney. With a fairly ambitious narrative scope and a decision to focus primarily on friendship, trust, and grief, it’s probably the biggest swing they’ve taken since Zootopia, and while its somewhat rushed treatment of its many ambitious aims puts it just a slight rung below the top tier of their 2010s output, it’s a highly enjoyable and emotionally satisfying affair. The animation is gorgeous, with appealing character design and quite a few landscape shots that will look particularly impressive to viewers who opt to see it on the big screen. There are also some very impressively animated action scenes that show off the animators’ skills with character movement and use of their surroundings. The story itself, while a bit rushed given how much it tries to do (enough so that it honestly could have easily been a big-budget television project instead), hits its emotional and comedic beats skillfully. In the title role, Kelly Marie Tran finally gets a post-Last Jedi role worthy of her talent (well, her voice talent, in this case) and delivers upon it by making Raya an engaging and compelling character. Unsurprisingly, the buddy dynamic between the title characters, Raya and dragon Sisu, is one of the highlights of the film, thanks to Tran and Awkwafina. The latter is perfectly cast as Sisu, and the animators cleverly capture parts of Awkwafina’s appearance and mannerisms to accompany the lovably energetic voice work she puts forth. The other character relationships could have stood to be traced just a bit further, but the Raya/Sisu bond is so strong that it carries the film and allows the film’s ultimate messages about trust and unity to feel organic. Though it is not opening in ideal circumstances and many of its viewers will likely end up settling for watching it at home, Raya and the Last Dragon is another visually stunning and emotionally resonant entry in Disney Animation Studios’ current winning streak.
 

B+

[Wormow]

Frozen is incredible and after the disappointment of Moana, Disney shows that they still have it. Shame that the marketing for this has been so poor though, because Raya deserves to be up there in the Disney Princess legends.

[efialtes76]

On 3/5/2021 at 7:36 PM, charlie Jatinder said:

The film is good, it could have been better if it wasn't so formulaic. 

 

One thing though, is also case of most "representation" movies, just like most of them this was just "American" characters in foreign faces and clothes. For starters I would have loved to watch it local language with subs, hopefully one day we reach there.

 

6/10. That's a B I suppose.

6/10 is more a C.

[charlie Jatinder]

35 minutes ago, efialtes76 said:

6/10 is more a C.

Yeah in that case it's a B.

 

My ratings goes like

 

8 - A

6-7 - B

4-5 - C

2-3 D

1 - F

[Barnack]

5 hours ago, charlie Jatinder said:

Yeah in that case it's a B.

 

My ratings goes like

 

8 - A

6-7 - B

4-5 - C

2-3 D

1 - F

What is a 9 or a 10 into that system ?

[charlie Jatinder]

27 minutes ago, Barnack said:

What is a 9 or a 10 into that system ?

There is no 9 or 10 when it comes to movies.

 

I do 9 & 10 for TV shows though, GoT & The Office being the only two 10s.

[Barnack]

28 minutes ago, charlie Jatinder said:

There is no 9 or 10 when it comes to movies.

 

Maybe wise if you are still young, but that limiting your option.

 

I would suggest (which is a bit stupid to do)

 

10/10: Any movie that if you would entertain the question, what is the movie you consider the best movie (or favorite movie would be one candidate you strongly consider and have an hard time rejecting and cannot really put a movie above them, because the candidate you put above are a bit apple and orange genre and style wise.

9/10: the best movies that are easy to remove from the list of the best movie ever made.

And so on down, with the 1/10 movie that you would entertain has the worst you ever saw.

[charlie Jatinder]

1 hour ago, Barnack said:

-snip-

I used to rate 9 and 10 few years ago, but then I had few films which were in 8, I know they were great and I loved them, so instead of bumping them up, I made 8 the ceiling. May be I will start rating 9 and 10 for movies like I do for TV shows.

 

Continuing 9 and 10 in TV shows was because I have watched some 50 shows to date, organising them is way easier than 1K plus films. And watching a story and characters for 60-70 hours do get more connection than 2 hours movies. The latter also explain the fact that only 2 movies I had 10/10 were sort of movies in a serialised universe, Infinity War and Deathly Hallows Part 2.

 

Here's how my ratings stack, may be if I started doing 9 & 10, there will have to be all around shift of increasing rating. That is also why I am sticking with 8 as ceiling, something like how many people rate stuff out of 4 instead of 5. IDK what was reasoning behind that, I would like to think it was similar to mine of ceiling the rating point at 8/4.

 

[Morieris]

The more I think about this movie, the more I think that the highs are great but the lows aren't lows, but just...there.

[TigerPaw]

As a South East Asian... i didn't even know this was made for us. Lol. Until I read articles after the show.

 

Cookie Cutter Disney Film, with a very rushed 3rd act and the ending was a little too perfect for my liking.

 

Also didn't the dad get wounded from the cross-bow? How did he recover when he turned back from stone to human?

 

Also Awkwafina's voice does not fit the dragon IMO. 

 

Not close to Soul or Coco... heck, I felt that the live action Mulan was better.

Edited March 30, 2021 by TigerPaw

[charlie Jatinder]

2 minutes ago, TigerPaw said:

As a South East Asian... i didn't even know this was made for us. Lol. Until I read articles after the show.

I am not even a South East Asian but...

On 3/6/2021 at 12:06 AM, charlie Jatinder said:

One thing though, is also case of most "representation" movies, just like most of them this was just "American" characters in foreign faces and clothes.