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Raya, and the Last Dragon:
A review [NO SPOILERS]
Raya and the Last Dragon is another project in the post-porcelain princess line-up from Disney. While the appreciation and meticulous detail in the animation, cinematography and world-building is top-notch, the movie unfortunately falls flat when it comes to impactful story-telling and character development.
Kelly Marie Tran, yep the actress infamous for playing Rose in Star Wars, voices the protagonist Raya, and does a good job capturing the plucky, 'go-gettedness' of a coming-of-age young woman expressing full agency in pursuing her goals. Yet, I never felt Raya changed during the story. I also never felt a true human response from the obstacles in her way and the trauma she faces, and faced. And if the story writers were trying to show her as emotionally numb because of that trauma, then they missed the mark because she instead comes out emotionally lacking altogether.
So let's talk about the deuteragonist (and my personal favorite character), Sisu. Voiced by none other than comedian Awkwafina herself, Sisu's character animation is visually stunning every time she's on screen, her anthropormorphic facial emotions being far from uncanny valley territory. Awkwafina also brings a certain...'awkwardness' to the celestial beast, humanizing Sisu and adding a drop of humor in a relatively straightforward and sometimes depressing film.
The film really doesn't have a particular 'villain', but it does have a foil, who, in some regards, is the ONLY character that changes in the film, and that would be Namarri, voiced by Gemma Chan (the EXTREMELY pretty and uber-rich wife of a cheating husband in Crazy Rich Asians). So at first glance, I immediately got Robin Wright 'House of Cards' vibes. Maybe it's cause of the haircut, maybe it's cause she was BOSS on screen, but her character arc is a great one, and she, of all the characters, shows the most emotion, pain, and redemption in the film.
Now, I write this being culturally sensitive of our time and am aware we are in a world that values inclusion, and when I looked through who were in the main and supporting casts, I noticed a certain archetype was missing: a capable man. Now before the pitchforks come out, I don't think that is a bad thing, not if this film is saying what I think it is. Raya, and in the same sense her foil, Namaari, are both young women that have known each other through their development, and both have only the other when it comes to their greatest joy, which is being 'Dragon Nerds.' The film doesn't explicitly hearken to any homosexual relations, so I was going to let my theory rest, until Kelly Marie Tran came out and said she believes Raya did have romantic feelings for Namarri. (check comments for article) But if this Disney's 'toe dip' into moving forward with more inclusive romances then I wouldn't be surpised if later we hear 'yup, they were together.' (Reminds me of a certain Avatar and Industry Tycoon's daughter...)
All in all, the film was...ok. It may have been saying too many things at once, and thus ended not saying much at all. If the film was a slight breeze into homosexual Disney Princesses (or Chieftain's daughters in this case), then alright Disney, making waves instead of making profits; i can respect that. But if it wasn't, then this film is an 'ok' shrug until we get Pixar's waterborne fairytale 'Luca'.
Score: 5/10 (6.5/10 if my theory is true tho!)
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