My first thought going into Raya and the last Dragon is, "this sure does look a lot like The Legend of Korra". My last thought coming out of the film was, "I wish this was a bit more like The Legend of Korra."
Beyond the the East/SE Asian influences and the action girl protagonist who in some scenes dresses almost exactly like Korra, this movie also queerbaits its audience like crazy. But whereas Korra actually followed through and gave us a queer protagonist, Raya sticks to implications and vaguely romantic frissons between its female characters. It is about the farthest Disney is going to get in terms of giving us a gay protagonist. That is my interpretation anyway, my wife argues I should stop looking for this stuff just because the film lacks a romantic male lead.
To talk about the movie properly, Raya is about a fantasy world blighted by a vague purple evil that turns people to stone. The hero Raya must find and reunite five fragments of a magic rock, and this, combined with a newly awakened ancient dragon, should return things to normal. It feels like a videogame plot, with Raya having to traverse and fight across a snow level, and then the swamp level, then the desert level etc, to collect the magic plot coupons. It takes a lot of clunkily delivered exposition to set all of this up, and I found the opening to be fairly boring up until Sisu, a fluffy blue dragon, eventually arrives out of thin air and adds a bit more liveliness to things. Sisu is this chatty, bubbly critter who helps stop the movie get a bit too serious for its own good, and is probably the thing I liked most about this film.
When it's not reminding me of Korra, the movie reminds me heavily of the formulaic quest plot of Moana, only now that Moana already exists, it feels extra formulaic this time around. Beyond recycling the environmentalist message, Maya introduces an antiwar, anti-xenophobia element as well. The central plot of the movie depends on Maya learning to get over her bigotry, as without this contrivance the story would be over in five minutes.
Raya is an okay movie. Despite the plot feeling cumbersome and too familiar, I appreciate Disney trying to do a more serious action plot with a badass female martial artist protagonist. There is also a lot of the style and artistry of the movie, and it is nice to see SE Asian culture getting more attention. But there is not much else to enjoy here when compared to other Disney flicks.
Grow a Pair, Disney
My first thought going into Raya and the last Dragon is, "this sure does look a lot like The Legend of Korra". My last thought coming out of the film was, "I wish this was a bit more like The Legend of Korra."
Beyond the the East/SE Asian influences and the action girl protagonist who in some scenes dresses almost exactly like Korra, this movie also queerbaits its audience like crazy. But whereas Korra actually followed through and gave us a queer protagonist, Raya sticks to implications and vaguely romantic frissons between its female characters. It is about the farthest Disney is going to get in terms of giving us a gay protagonist. That is my interpretation anyway, my wife argues I should stop looking for this stuff just because the film lacks a romantic male lead.
To talk about the movie properly, Raya is about a fantasy world blighted by a vague purple evil that turns people to stone. The hero Raya must find and reunite five fragments of a magic rock, and this, combined with a newly awakened ancient dragon, should return things to normal. It feels like a videogame plot, with Raya having to traverse and fight across a snow level, and then the swamp level, then the desert level etc, to collect the magic plot coupons. It takes a lot of clunkily delivered exposition to set all of this up, and I found the opening to be fairly boring up until Sisu, a fluffy blue dragon, eventually arrives out of thin air and adds a bit more liveliness to things. Sisu is this chatty, bubbly critter who helps stop the movie get a bit too serious for its own good, and is probably the thing I liked most about this film.
When it's not reminding me of Korra, the movie reminds me heavily of the formulaic quest plot of Moana, only now that Moana already exists, it feels extra formulaic this time around. Beyond recycling the environmentalist message, Maya introduces an antiwar, anti-xenophobia element as well. The central plot of the movie depends on Maya learning to get over her bigotry, as without this contrivance the story would be over in five minutes.
Raya is an okay movie. Despite the plot feeling cumbersome and too familiar, I appreciate Disney trying to do a more serious action plot with a badass female martial artist protagonist. There is also a lot of the style and artistry of the movie, and it is nice to see SE Asian culture getting more attention. But there is not much else to enjoy here when compared to other Disney flicks.