Raya and the Last Dragon

Voices of: Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Izaac Wang, Daniel Dae Kim, Benedict Wong, Jona Xiao, Sandra Oh, Thalia Tran, Lucille Soong, Alan Tudyk, Sung Kang, Francois Chau
Directed by: Don Hall, Carlos Lopez Estrada, Paul Briggs
Rating: PG
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: To stop an evil force from destroying the world, Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) must embark on a dangerous journey to find the last dragon and save her people.

Review:

Tim: I feel like Pixar gets so much of the praise and limelight for their films, but Walt Disney Animation has actually been more consistently good in recent years. Pixar will deliver exceptionally strong films here and there, but Disney's main animation studio deserves more love. Out of Disney's last 8 movies, I rated four 7.5 and four 7. That's not incredible, but very consistent. I say all this because Raya and the Last Dragon is yet another solid entry. It's not ever going to be a classic Disney film, but it's a successful one. It's a movie that pushes Disney's diversity initiatives while being very entertaining.

I appreciated that the film starred a young Asian woman. Raya is an incredible character and it's always refreshing not to see a predominantly white cast. Representation matters and Disney did it well here. They cast a mostly Asian cast (filled with strong performers) and told a story that had real power and merit. I feel like twenty years ago, this film would have had a Caucasian as the lead with some story about how her family brought her here and were killed or something. It might seem like a small thing, but progress matters. It's always good seeing female leads in these films, too. My daughter at 2.5 years old is a bit too young to truly understand what she's seeing, but I was happy she got to see this strong, intelligent girl in the lead role. We certainly need more movies like this.

The story is a good one- it's definitely an action adventure film. It introduces us to a new world and it's fun discovering the mythology and the history of this place. The movie surprised me a bit with how much it focused on action. I was a bit concerned about how my six year-old son would handle the more intense moments. There was definitely some nervousness on his part, but he got through it and he enjoyed the movie. I enjoyed getting into this world, learning about Kumandra, the Druun, and the dragons. I appreciated how this film focused on Southeast Asian cultures. It helped the movie to feel unique and new for audiences.

While the action sequences were intense and exciting, the movie has more depth than you might think. I appreciated that the story tackled themes of betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness. It captured many of the complexities of human beings and human behavior. At times, it felt surprisingly mature for a "kids" movie. It was so enjoyable to watch a film that appealed to my kids but had enough depth to keep me interested and entertained as well. Disney has been consistently strong at this, and they achieve that balance again here.

The visuals were stunning. There were multiple moments when I couldn't even believe how beautiful the film was. It's funny, it got me thinking about advances in computer animation. Obviously, when Toy Story debuted, it represented a quantum leap forward. Over the years, the animation advanced rapidly. We've had so many beautifully rendered films in recent years that I feel like we've become nearly immune to their beauty. We expect films to look a certain way and they do. I hadn't really thought about how animation continues to evolve. It feels like the animators were able to accomplish that here, though. The characters, the landscape, it's all gorgeously rendered and a big plus for this film. The detail of the animation was consistently stunning.

I enjoyed the voice cast immensely. Kelly Marie Tran was fantastic as Raya. She truly brings this character to life with so many different emotions through her performance. It's one of the best voice performances I've heard in a long, long time. Daniel Dae Kim was excellent as always, and I loved Benedict Wong's supporting role. His voice is so distinct and he uses it exceptionally well here. I like Sandra Oh, Sung Kang, and Francois Chau, although I have to admit I wasn't able to recognize their work here. Same with Gemma Chan. They're all good, but not so distinct that I recognized them while watching the movie. I definitely did recognize Awkwafina's incredibly unique voice. I have to admit, I'm somewhat torn about her. On the one hand, she does a truly terrific job voicing Sisu. Awkwafina has one of the most distinct voices I've ever heard and she brings that to bear with Sisu. It instantly makes Sisu an unexpected and surprising character. That's not how we would expect a dragon to sound. On the one hand, I loved that this character subverted expectations. However, despite Awkwafina's terrific performance, I'm still not quite sure she was right for the role. Her voice doesn't quite match up with how Sisu is animated. It felt off to me. This is just my opinion, of course.

Raya and the Last Dragon is a solid, entertaining film. The representation of a culture and people we don't see often enough in films was a major success. I loved the movie for that. As for the story as a whole, I thought it was good, but it didn't quite get to the depths of emotion that the best animated films do. It didn't offer the kinds of iconic, unforgettable sequences that elevate the best animated movies to the upper echelon of films. It's good, it's entertaining, but it didn't quite have that punch that the great ones do. That's okay. I'll take this movie. It's a successful film and one I'd happily watch again- maybe when my daughter is a bit older, so she can appreciate it all the more.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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