Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon

No, they discontinued Disney Life last year I believe.

The reviews embargo has dropped. So far it's at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 78 reviews.

Edited by alanh on Mar 1st 2021 at 5:19:05 AM

I can't say I'm surprised by that.

It's amusing to me how she swings from adorable heroine to stunning villain.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Mar 5th 2021 at 1:16:20 AM

It's just weird how most peoples in South (East) Asia like me couldn't watch a movie supposedly set in that region.

Dave Chappelle once said that being a person of color in America is the most frightening thing possible. It’s amazing how Tran escaped from all that hate and hasn’t become an angry, spiteful person. Human beings aren’t built the same way she is.

Well, I watched it! It was fine. As expected for Disney, its production is very good, although the Southeast Asian aspect of it felt largely like set dressing.

I'm going to see this in the theaters next Friday. :)

Okay, I’m here to tell you that Raya and the Last Dragon is officially the gayest Disney movie ever. Holy shit, the sheer amount of UST between Raya and Namaari is just incredible. Disney basically wrote two lesbians into their movie, but they are still too cowardly to let Raya and Namaari be a couple.

Edited by Nightwire on Mar 6th 2021 at 12:58:33 PM

Wouldn't have expected anything more of them, sadly.

Edited by ElSquibbonator on Mar 6th 2021 at 1:35:04 PM

Just as as I thought, then.

I honestly don't like how in every Disney movie the younger characters talk in some modern slang. It was so awkward when you got Heart dad talking normally and then you got Raya talking like that.

Anyway... I honestly don't know what to say. The plot feels so basic and the whole "South Asian" thing they peddle didn't feel like it was there. While you could say that for Moana but at least the voyager aspect was still a major part of the plot. Also I feel the usual third act misunderstanding feels so forced.

Watched it. The shippers are going to go nuts.

Jokes aside, I haven't enjoyed a Disney movie on a story level so much since Tangled, I don't think. It avoids many the pitfalls and missteps that I felt were so very visible in Frozen and Moana, and had a very likeable (if not all of them necessarily developed) supporting cast. I'm sure I'll find a couple things to complain about when I reflect about the movie a little more, but so far I loved it.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 7th 2021 at 5:12:32 AM

I'm not sure if Namaari's arc was well-paced, but I liked it more than the whole twist villain thing Disney has been doing for a while.

Edited by Synchronicity on Mar 7th 2021 at 10:45:06 AM

Even by pandemic standards, Variety declares Raya a box office bomb.

People don't want to pay thirty bucks to watch a movie at home.

Hell, even my being a heavy animation enthusiast might not have spurred me to rent it - I also did it because I had a group of people to watch with to justify the price tag.

The article namedrops how Tom and Jerry did much better, which... yeah. Not counting the cost of the service it comes with, Tom and Jerry is free, whereas Raya is X dollars on top of the cost of the service it comes with.

It's not fair to the people who made the movie, but it is what it is. If Disney's going to keep charging premium rates for new flicks, they should pick a price lower than thirty.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 7th 2021 at 9:28:34 AM

Disney also didn’t attempt any sort of make good with movie chains like Warner did, which led a lot of them, Cinemark in particular, to refuse to carry the film. On top of that home fee, if people watched something on Disney Plus this weekend, it was probably WandaVision.

Edited by Beatman1 on Mar 7th 2021 at 12:36:57 PM

Yeah I am not paying 30 bucks to watch any movie.

Way bad pricing there.

Disney thought they could get away with charging thirty dollars for a single viewing experience?

I actually went to see Raya in the theatre because I live in Vietnam.

I enjoyed it and upon watching it could hear the sounds of a hundred enemies to lovers fics being written.

I agree with Ookamikun that the use of modern slang is a bit distracting. I think it only would have improved the film taking it out. It doesn't exactly date the film, but it's a similar effect.

I've got a few things I disliked about the trust theme that I can't quite verbalize. The clearest being I felt Namaari's whole thing about blaming Raya for not trusting Sisu when she's about to get killed was a huge misstep. Really felt like that should have been a thing Raya blamed herself for instead, given Namaari was actively pulling the crossbow trigger. It made the accusation feel very self serving.

It just felt like a few minor plot points related to that theme needed a bit more ironing out at times.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Mar 8th 2021 at 11:58:26 PM

Yeah that's what I meant by forced third act misunderstanding. Everything in that scene is pointing to Namaari being in the wrong. Yet somehow the story frames it as it's all "Raya unable to free her rage" or some shit like that. It comes off as Sisu being a naive dragon too.

Also wait, why did Disney do that again? Did they not learn from Mulan? Was Soul also like this?

Edited by Ookamikun on Mar 8th 2021 at 9:07:28 PM

Nope, Soul was part of the service, no extra cost.

I also feel like WandaVision having its finale sucked all the air out of the room as far as Disney + hype went.

Edited by Beatman1 on Mar 8th 2021 at 8:13:19 AM

Was that because it was a Pixar movie?

Given how monstrously greedy the Disney corporation is it must be driving them completely up the wall that two of their movies bombed in a row. I hope that these failing would make them learn a lesion but I doubt it.

Mulan was really not a good film, but I'd hate for these to be treated as evidence that Asian-led films don't sell well.