Raya and the Last Dragon
Long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people.
- Released: 2021-03-03
- Runtime: 107 minutes
- Genre: Animation, Family, Fantasy
- Stars: Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Izaac Wang, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Benedict Wong, Jona Xiao, Sandra Oh, Thalia Tran, Lucille Soong, Alan Tudyk, Dichen Lachman, Patti Harrison, Sung Kang, Ross Butler, François Chau, Paul Yen, Calamansi Lindo, Ren Hanami, Sierra Katow, Gordon Ip, Jon Park
- Director: Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada
Comments
- masonfisk - 11 January 2023
RAYA WORE ME OUT...!
The latest animated feature from the Mouse House is a typically visually sumptuous ethnic affair (taking place in what looks like Thailand) where a fractured populace (separated into five provinces) is besieged by a force which can turn the inhabitants into stone. What keeps the evil at bay in one province is a magical stone (granted to them by the once teeming dragon population) to protect them. During a reunification attempt between them & the outlining areas (who are stoneless) goes bust (a daughter of one the leaders uses her wiles to trick Raya to take her to the stone only for her steal it where it's then accidentally broken up into pieces). Years later Raya, voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, & her trusty Tuktuk, voiced by Alan Tudyk, roam the lands hoping to reunite all the stones again before the impending evil force engulfs the land & luckily, after successfully acquiring the first piece of the stone revivifies a dragon, voiced by Awkwafina, Raya gets much needed help to succeed in her mission. As usual in most Disney stories, the heroine has abandonment issues (her father was waylaid & turned to stone), the dialogue seems to be written for 21 century characters when the setting belies that fact & touchy/feely aspects of sworn enemies banding together to fight a common foe is straight out of Mickey Mouse's handbook. After scoring w/recent hits like Moana, Wreck-it-Ralph & Zootopia, this feels like a return to bad form for the animation studio w/its over-reliance on quirky speak bordering on annoying rather than endearing keeps derailing the action & mood the film is trying to set. Other voices are provided by Daniel Dae Kim as Raya's dad, Gemma Chan as Raya's nemesis, Benedict Wong as one of Raya's traveling companions, Sandra Oh as Chan's mom & other voices, which include Ross Butler & Sung Kang, round out the other supporting players. - timleesongs - 10 September 2022
I found Raya and the Last Dragon more like watching a video game cutscene than an engaging story
Raya lives in a land where dragons are worshipped but the people are divided. She goes off on an adventure to find the last of the fabled dragons and try to heal her land.
Maybe I need to rewatch it, but I just didn't care about the characters or the story and I found Raya and the Last Dragon more like watching a video game cutscene than an engaging story. Within minutes I had lost all focus or interest in the film and if my life depended on it I couldn't recall any of the characters' names.
Spellbinding visuals can't make up for a film I felt very little connection with. Is it me just being a grumpy old man, or are modern Disney films trying too hard to be 'cool,' in sacrifice of good movies now?
