Saturday, March 6, 2021

Raya and the Last Dragon

Tonight, I checked out the new “Raya and the Last Dragon” Disney movie, which came out yesterday in theaters and Disney+ with a premier access fee. For the first time in a few years, Disney has come out with some new movie that isn’t a sequel or a remake. Even though the story isn’t entirely new, but it’s still a breath of fresh air. How is the movie? Let’s find out:

Andy Lea started his review by saying, “When those Disney princess parties start up again, supervising adults should make sure kids go easy on the sugary drinks. I dread to think what a little Raya may do to a blushing Cinderella after too many cups of orange squash.”

Lea continued, “The studio's princesses have been getting pluckier since Ariel literally lost her voice pining for a man in The Little Mermaid.” That trend reaches its height with Raya, voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, a sword-carrying martial artist from the beautiful fictional kingdom Kumandra. After a sacred stone breaks unleashing demons called the Druun began turning people into statues, including her father, voiced by Daniel Dae Kim, the survivors retreated to their five tribal kingdoms, each protecting themselves with a piece of the Dragon gem.

However, if Raya find the pieces and put the gem back together, she can banish the Druuns from the entire kingdom and reunite the five kingdoms of her once peaceful country. This makes her plan out a series of heists with the help of her giant armadillo pet Tuk Tuk (Alan Tudyk) and funny shape-shifting water dragon Sisu (Awkwafina).

On her journey, more partners team up with her. There’s a 10-year-old chef (Izaac Wang), a sad soldier (Benedict Wong) and, very hilariously, a baby who is both orphaned and a con-artist (Thalia Tran).

Once again, there’s no handsome prince to make the protagonist fall in love, but we do have a villain. Namaari, voiced by Gemma Chan, is from the warring Fang tribe and wants the pieces of the gem for power reasons.

The message in this film is about forgiveness and unity, and might be in the records as the first major family animation of the Biden era.

However, Disney’s goal is more direct.

Lea ended his review by saying, “The sparky characters, slick animation and breezy (and entirely bloodless) fight scenes transport us to a beautifully realised fantasy realm.”

I know that this movie’s message is something that we have seen before in previous movies, like “Frozen,” “Zootopia,” and “Moana,” but you got to love the animation, voice cast, characters, music, sword-fights, everything. The movie being about prejudice and not judging people, learning how to forgive, not hold grudges, putting differences aside, don’t trust people easily, I think is needed today, even though Disney has done this before. There are similarities to “Avatar: the Last Airbender,” but I still would say this is might be one of my favorite Disney films. Unlike the “Mulan” remake, this movie is worth giving Disney+ the premier access fee because of how good it is. You should see it if you want to see it because you will love it. Kids will also really love this movie because it will teach kids about not making enemies, learning when to trust people, not hold grudges, especially with what we had to go through. Check it out and have a great time watching it.

Thank you for joining in on tonight’s review. Look out next Friday for the continuation of “Chris Farley Month.”

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