I don’t feel like a composer, off in an ivory tower. You feel like you’re sitting around a real round table. You can really write the craziest, most fun, silly, exciting music that you can think of, and collaborating with these filmmakers, Don Hall, was just so great. Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.I think in animation, the great thing about it-and somebody else said this, not me-is that as a composer, you can do anything you want. Like the Chinese-set, live-action Mulan, Raya has lots of flare but a lot more fizzle. For the rest of us, it’s not much to go on (and Awkwafina’s unique, gravely voice, is arguably not the right choice).ĭisney should receive some credit for portraying a new culture in Raya and the Dragon, but it all feels a bit like vaporware. In reality, the “dragon” has a more nuanced, thoughtful reason for existing, which is all fine and good for the people looking for that kind of thing.
Raya and the last dragon movie guide movie#
Kids may be disappointed to learn that the dragon isn’t a dragon for much of the movie and doesn’t do a whole lot when the dragon is, you know, a dragon. One of the selling points of a movie called Raya and the Last Dragon is that it features a dragon.
The humor seems added on late in the game, perhaps attempting to bandaid a story that isn’t as engaging or entertaining as people except Disney cartoons to be. It is clearly trying to be funny, but it isn’t even a scene where a con artist toddler and her monkey pals pull of a Mission: Impossible-esque heist, you sort of just sit there amused but hardly inspired. It’s serious at times, but also has cute and weird animals doing cute and weird things. With four credited directors and nine or ten writers, Raya isn’t a mess, but it also doesn’t have a unified vision of what it wants to be. The movie isn’t slow, nor is it without things that happen, but the plot is routine Disney, a standard, overused, and forgettable adventure story that comes off as surprisingly episodic, with little at stake (despite the world being at stake) and little real suspense.
Tran is superb in the lead role, and she is joined by a rich set of energetic characters who will coincidentally make for great toys come the holidays.īut if you peel away the shiny visuals and cultural elements (as a white American, I’ll admit I didn’t pick up on the nuances that separate what is shown here from other family-neutered portrayals of other Asian cultures), Raya is noticeably lacking real entertainment value.
When it breaks into action mode-most notably a few sword fights-it is jaw-dropping.įurther, it does a fine job of world building, opening up a compelling if dystopian land colored by complex, generally likable characters. Brightly colored and gorgeously textured, the movie operates with incredible depth and visual appeal. Standing in their way is a fractured group of former friends-turned-enemies. There’s also a noticeable lack of dragon in Raya and the Last Dragon.Ī mediocre though harmless Disney film, Raya is about a young woman, voiced by Kelly Marie Tran ( Star Wars: The Last Jedi), who joins forces with a dragon (Awkwafina) who can transform into a human who looks and sounds suspiciously like Awkwafina, to save the world from a dark, evil cloud force (note to filmmakers: never, ever make your ultimate villain an evil cloud force). Raya and the Last Dragon is another beautifully animated movie from the House of the Mouse, but despite featuring southeast Asian culture for the first time, there isn’t much new-let alone to enjoy-here.
Now available on Blu-ray and DVD ( Buy on Amazon)
0 kommentar(er)
