Raya and the Last Dragon - Review Thread

As is the norm with Disney animation these days, Raya and the Last Dragon looks stunning. From the designs of the characters, to the use of colors and the rendering of landscapes, this is yet another visual feast from the House of Mouse. And when you consider that the majority of the post-production work on this was done from people's homes, it feels even more impressive. Given its roots in mythological and quest adventure storytelling, the visuals of Raya and the Last Dragon really do succeed in helping to lend the film the kind of grandeur and sense of scope/epicness you'd expect from a movie like this, animated or otherwise. Not to mention that the world itself that's presented here feels well-realized.

So, how's the story itself? I think "serviceable" and "solid enough" are the best descriptors there. The central theme the movie chooses to hang its hat on is one of trust, specifically how important it is in building stronger relationships or the foundations for them and so on and so forth. The movie sets this up in how it establishes its central conflict in the First Act, particularly as it relates to Raya and one other important character in the story. And it's a solid theme to base a story like this around, especially when looking at the current state of the world...even if how this movie goes about executing it feels a little one-note. I don't know, maybe it feels a slightly one-note because a little of that bleeds into some of the characters. Not so much Raya, because the movie does a good job of establishing her personality and her motivations, but more so the side characters whom she comes to team up with on her journey. It's not so much that they lack personality or charm, cause they certainly have that, but rather that they're pretty straightforward with not a whole lot of room for depth beyond what we're already given. Seeing the characters interact with each other proves entertaining and rewarding, but their individual arcs -- and this applies to the story itself as well -- are fairly predictable and a bit more innovation in certain respects really could've helped elevate things a little. And yet, seeing these characters work through certain personal traumas and such of theirs alleviates some of that criticism. Also, the exposition-heavy First Act prevents the movie from really gaining any steam/momentum at first.

The comedy here is also most fine/serviceable, but also not quite as clever as Disney is usually capable of? It's never outright groan-worthy or anything like that; the movie can still be funny to the right degree when it needs to be. It just could've used some punching up in that department.