Ever since "Zootopia", Disney Animation has kind of slumped for the past few years. "Moana" was decent, but not really great in regards to themes or tone, and the sequels to "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Frozen" are just god awful. "Raya and the Last Dragon" however appeared to be the studio's most ambitious yet with an action-adventure approach, a non-musical story, and an East Asian-inspired setting. However, this film is yet another product of untapped potential by a studio that has gone lazy.
Positives:
- The animation. Disney always has great animation and this film is no exception. Considering the smaller budget and COVID-19 forcing the animators to work from home, it looks really good. Not only does the film has the more realistic approach to the animation, but there is also some anime-inspired shots and stylization.
- The setting. Kumandra is a really distinct world and the five distinct nations named after the specific regions of the dragon lake offers both character, flair, and colour to each country.
- The music by James Newton Howard. Howard is a fantastic composer and his contributions to this film is no exception. It may not be the best or most memorable of his work, but the dramatic and action tracks are really nice to listen to and the original song, "Lead the Way", is fairly decent.
- The side characters. They outshine the main characters so much that they really more time to be spent on them. From the young shrimp cook, Boun, to the baby con-artist, Little Noi, and the giant yet humble warrior, Tong, the side cast of allies are perhaps the only enjoyable element of the film, which is unfortunate to say the least.
Negatives:
- The story. The premise itself isn't bad, but it's the execution. Raya is a warrior princess who needs to find all five pieces of the Dragon Gem in order to save the lives lost by the Drunn, including her father. To aid her, she needs to find the last living dragon named Sisu as well as a new group of people that she needs to learn to trust as her childhood rival, Namarri, is also after the pieces to seek glory for her region of Fang. The issue with the story is that it's basically an "Avatar: The Last Airbender" clone, but made into a single film. While the story works as a movie, it really needed to have been a show or mini-series as the pacing is too fast to let certain characters or regions grow with you. On top of that, the story carries one of the biggest plot holes I've ever seen in a Disney film, which I will explain when I discuss the Drunn.
- The tone. While the film takes itself seriously for the most part, the comedy centring on Raya and Sisu really drags the quality as the dialogue gets really modern and out-of-place for this fantasy world. The whole banter between Raya and Namarri is so modern that it almost seems like it was written for a completely different film. The comedy that centres on the side cast is good, but it gets cancelled out by how bad the modern jokes are.
- Raya as a protagonist. While Kelly Marie Tran does a great job voice acting, the character herself is just a complete idiot. Her entire arc and the whole message of the film is to trust others, which she has stopped doing ever since Namarri betrayed her as a kid. Here's the problem: There's a clear difference between being naive/not wanting to trust others and being stupid and Raya fits in the latter. From the choice to show Namarri the Dragon Gem as a kid, telling Namarri that she found Sisu (despite the latter not believing her initially), and stupidly antagonizing Namarri when she was holding Sisu at gunpoint, Raya has got to be one of the worst Disney protagonists simply due to how braindead she can be for such a badass, female-empowered lead.
- Sisu. Where to start with this character? For one, the character design really doesn't suit the rest of the film. Second of all, the jokes she makes can be painful at times. Third of all, her role is completely ridiculous once she reveals her backstory as why she is the last dragon. And finally, Awkwafina is clearly miscasted in this role. I don't hate the actress, but her raspy voice doesn't suit the character, especially with the cartoonish design of the dragon.
- Namarri. While she's fine for the most part as a villain/obstacle for Raya, the climax really drops the ball on her intelligence. For one, she agrees to meet up with Raya by using a firework to show that she got the message. That same firework though was used to alert her guards in the beginning of the film and a firework is way too loud to alert someone for a secret meeting. Second, she tries to betray Raya and the others all by herself with only a crossbow as leverage. Thirdly, she blames Raya for partially killing Sisu, even though she was squeezing the trigger before Raya interfered. The choice to make the character sympathetic really hurts her role as a villain and the film in the long run.
- The Drunn. These purple evil cloud things are described as a plague that seeks after souls and turns people into statues. Not only are the Drunn just a lame excuse for an overarching "villain", but their weakness is so pathetically stupid. You want to know what it is? Water. You know, the most plentiful element in the planet. The reveal isn't even treated as a surprise for the end. Raya's father literally tells the audience by the beginning so it explains why Raya and the others can't get attacked on boat. Not only is it such a lazy writing excuse for the Drunn not to attack the main characters, but the world six years past the beginning doesn't use their weakness of water for combat. It gets even worse when you find out that Sisu's brother was able to control rain as his power. And yet her brother not only wasn't able to stop the Drunn, but decides to sacrifice himself rather than Sisu just to have a female dragon to join Raya.
- The action sequences. Considering how much the marketing pushes on the action and epic nature, you'd think the action would be a highlight. But it's extremely underwhelming. Aside from a fun montage scene with a cool art style and some neat shots, the action as a whole is pretty lame and standard as it's just generic sword-fighting and martial arts with no brutality or uniqueness.
- The ending. For a film that takes itself pretty seriously in the emotional beats, the ending is one of the most sappiest shit I've ever seen. After realizing that they need to trust each other as a nation, the heroes sacrifice themselves to activate the Dragon Gem without relaying on the dead Sisu. The Gem brings everyone who has turned to stone back to life as predicted, but the dragons also come back for literally no reason. Keep in mind, 500 years prior, the dragons never returned back to life when the same act was done. But only now did the dragons come back just to resurrect Sisu? GET OUT OF HERE! So, the ending allows everyone to live happily ever after as everyone turned to stone is back alive, the dragons are now alive again, and the nations reconnect as one. In fact, the one person that actually stays dead in the movie is... A BLACK PERSON! No joke, the leader of Tail, who is a black woman, literally is the only character to die in the entire film because she was reduced to a skeleton rather than becoming a statue. Pretty racist if you ask me!
"Raya and the Last Dragon" is not the worst film from Disney Animation, but it's nowhere near its best. While the animation is Disney-quality, the setting is vibrant and unique, the score by Howard is great as always, and the side cast is more enjoyable than the main cast, everything else is just plain awful. The story is paced way too fast for a "Avatar" rip-off, the tone is uneven as the mature and serious aspects of the story gets completely ruined by a sappy ending, the humour is hit-and-miss with the latter being cringe at times, the character of Raya is just brainless, Sisu is both miscast and annoyingly voiced by Awkwafina, Namarri is also just as stupid as Raya with the third act degrading her role as a serious threat, the Drunn are some of the dumbest monsters I have ever seen in a movie with their weakness of water and lack of character, the action sequences are lame as hell, and the film contains some of the biggest plot holes that can rival "Avengers: Endgame"! If the story was just made into a show and expanded upon, it would have actually been pretty good. As it is, it will just be a disappointing installment to Disney's never-ending empire.
Verdict: 5/10. Average animated film, but extremely poor for an "original" Disney film. If you think this is a masterpiece, you're in for a rude awakening...
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