My Thoughts on Disney's Raya and The Last Dragon

Hey there Disney pals!

Right, you know the drill.

Disney have released their latest classic, Raya and The Last Dragon, to Disney+ with premier access. This means that fans will have to pay an additional fee of £19.99 if they want to watch this movie, on top of their monthly/annual subscription to the steaming service. If you purchase the film, you can watch it as many times as you like until it becomes available for free on Disney+ from June 4th.

I was a little on the fence about this movie going into it but I went ahead and purchased it so that you can decide if its worth the extra money for you!

So here they are – my thoughts on the movie. Enjoy, and as ever, let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments below.

– M

 

So going into this movie, as I said, I was a little on the fence. Marital arts were featured quite heavily in the trailer and they aren't something I'm particularly interested in, especially off the back of the Live Action Mulan. (You can read my thoughts on Mulan here) I was also concerned about how dark the setting of this movie seemed with regards to landscapes and things, and was a little skeptic about the plot too. But that said, I went into the film with my eyes open as much as possible and I so wanted to love this movie.

Let's start with the good.

Firstly, I'm thrilled that we have out first South East Asian representation in a Walt Disney animation. In terms of the culture, the characters, and the vibrancy, I feel that this has been achieved well and is an important inclusion for the diversification of the Disney company. There are specific scenes that evoke Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam... it's really well executed. Kudos to Disney for this.

Secondly, I'm SO happy that we finally have some dragons! Dragons, unicorns, and mermaids are all extremely popular right now – especially after successes like Game of Thrones and Harry Potter! So I think the inclusion of these mythological beasts is timely and welcome. Mushu is finally in good company. Hooray!

And finally, the animation was decent. But sadly, this is where the positives end for me.

Overall, I did not enjoy this movie. If we're looking at a ranking system out of 10, and we're saying that 5 is average, I'd give Raya and The Last Dragon a 4.

Here are a few of the reasons why...

1. The animation of the dragons. I'm genuinely thrilled that we have dragons in a Disney film, but these are not the dragons we were looking for. Am I right Obi Wan? When we think of dragons, we expect fire, flying, scales, claws... but instead, we have water dragons. Now this might be culturally appropriate for South East Asia legend, but for a western audience, this is mildly problematic.
 
2. The music, or lack of. I appreciate that despite her being a Disney Princess, having Raya burst into song would not fit the flow of the film nor her character. But that said, the lack of music in this film was a problem for me. The way that music was thread into Brave was so subtle and beautiful, and achieved without Merida bursting into song, and I feel something similar could have been considered here.

3. The humor was very juvenile. There was no witty, sophisticated humor in this film. You know, the sort of humor we have come to expect of Disney and Pixar. The dragon annoyed me, the baby was the worst, and nobody else was even mildly entertaining. This film felt like a Dreamworks or Universal film to me when I consider the humor. Disney, you can do better. 

4. The story was basic. This is the story of a country divided in which they must set aside their differences to come together, restore the crystal, and bring back the dragons. That's it. That's the plot. A 6 year old could have written it. 

5. The trust theme that ran through this movie was too obvious. Yes, I know this movie is aimed at children but come on! There was absolutely no subtlety around this theme of trust. It was painful to watch this play out. It was unbearably predictable. If you compare this theme to something like the prejudice undertones in Zootopia, or the big twist in Frozen, it was severely lacking in sophistication. We expect better storytelling from Disney.

6. None of the characters were very likable. With the exception of possibly Raya, and I guess her Father? Oh, and Tuk Tuk... I would have liked more Tuk Tuk. 

If you'd like to hear more of my thoughts on Raya and The Last Dragon, be sure to head over to the ChatDisney podcast where I gave a full movie review. I would love to hear your thoughts on Raya and The Last Dragon too so be sure to comment below, or DM me on Twitter.

– M