(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Raya and the Last Dragon)
Doug (vo): Raya and the Last Dragon is not a great movie, but I think it's a big step towards a great movie. Had this film had maybe another year in development, I think this could've been one of the Top 10 greatest Disney films ever. As is, it's still pretty damn good.
Story[]
Doug (vo): In a far-off land, evil spirits are turning tons of kingdoms into stone. A race of magical dragons band together and stop the evil demons, but at a great sacrifice. They themselves are turned to stone. The magic that performed this stunt is in this magic gem, which a chief named Benja and his daughter, Raya, are hoping they can use to unite the five kingdoms who don't trust them, because, well, they have this incredibly powerful gem. Through a series of events, the gem is split, the evil demons are released again, turning everybody into stone, and it's up to Raya, years later, to find every piece of the gem and put them back together to stop the evil demons as well as the fighting kingdoms. While traveling to each kingdom, she collects a colorful local, as well as brings back to life Sisu, the last dragon, voiced by Awkwafina.
Review[]
Doug (vo): So the story already sounds very different from what you would usually see from an animated Disney film. It draws a lot of inspiration from a lot of South-East Asian mythologies, similar to what Avatar did. But make no mistake, these are very different stories with very different styles. And I wish I could say it does best when it's not doing its usual Disney thing, but that wouldn't be entirely true. Disney's animated films have usually been very good at crafting a story and memorable characters that you would remember years after seeing them. And this one definitely has the story down, like, this is a very well-laid out story that keeps you engaged, and the pacing is good, and you want to know what's gonna happen.
(Footage focusing on the characters is shown)
Doug (vo): And the characters are...pretty good. Raya has a very good reason for not trusting a lot of people around her, and Sisu has very good reasons for trusting too much of the people around her. Obviously, they try to teach each other lessons, and they both learn how to listen and also act on not only what they're preaching, but also what they're learning. The side characters are also pretty entertaining. Namaari is a good antagonist without being a 100% bad guy, and thank God there's not a secret surprise villain in this one. The people they pick up along the way are very funny, memorable, and have good backstories that make you feel for them.
(Footage focusing on Sisu, both her dragon form and her human form, is shown)
Doug (vo): And Sisu...is pretty funny when she's a human. And honestly, I think a lot of that is because they keep that dragon smile, and that just looks funny on a human face. But, yeah, there's a lot of times where she tries to get a laugh, and...half the time, they fall pretty flat. Awkwafina has a very energetic voice that clearly knows comedy, so I don't think it's necessarily her fault. I think they were maybe relying too much on her bringing more comedy than what was in the script, though, like, say, Robin Williams, James Woods, or Ellen DeGeneres. But where those three could make a line that isn't written very funny very funny, I don't think Awkwafina's that kind of talent. I think if you give her already-funny dialogue, she can see why it's funny and bring the most comedy you can out of it. But if a line isn't already written with good humor, she's not gonna be able to salvage it. With that said, she does get a chuckle every once in a while, and when she needs to do the dramatic moments, she does it very effectively.
(Footage focusing on a scene about to be described is shown)
Doug (vo): But there's a lot of little details like that that start to add up. Like, there's a scene where she wants to buy stuff, and she's told she can put it on credit. She doesn't really get the idea and takes whatever she wants, just saying, "Credit." This isn't something this character would really do. I feel like she would get their addresses and find out their names and say, "I'm gonna mail you the money", and already try to find a job to pay back the money in that short amount of time, like, that feels more like the naive, overly-trusting character they established.
(Clips focusing on the scenes where Raya and Namaari face each other, as well as the climax, are shown)
Doug (vo): The same can be said for Raya, Namaari, and, honestly, the details of the lesson. I feel like a lot of people have pointed out, if you really dissect it, the way people technically trusted each other at the end doesn't make a whole ton of sense. Like, there's other things the characters could've done. This isn't a 100% epically fleshed out ending. But to me, it's kind of like Lion King. The details of that lesson don't necessarily make sense either, but what do I remember? I remember Rafiki hitting him, saying, "Doesn't matter, it's in the past. Don't run away from it." That's what I take out of it, that's what most people take out of it. Raya, I think, is the same thing. Through the visuals and the ideas and the ways the characters work off each other, I think people get the general idea.
(Clips focusing on the film's fight sequences and landscapes, as well as more clips focusing on the climax, are shown)
Doug (vo): This is one of the few Disney Princess movies that doesn't have any songs or fancy dresses or dance sequences. It's mostly a lot of martial arts fighting and roaming distant beautiful lands and hearing a lot of really cool lore. And the movie does it very well. But I will admit, when Raya is walking towards the big enemy at the end, and the action-packed music is playing, and they're really building it up, like she's going up the stairs and getting the sword out, I was invested, but didn't find it epic. Again, I feel like this movie needed one more rewrite just to tighten things up a little bit, or tweak the comedy so characters are more likeable, and make me care so much that if a character dies, I would gasp. And there's a few characters that are quote/unquote "taken out of the picture", but you're always kind of aware what's gonna happen.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): I think if it went a little bigger and bolder and took a few more risks, this could've been a spectacular movie. But again, I don't mean to really downplay it, because it is very good. It's visually stunning, very imaginative, I like the characters well enough, even if...yeah, the Disney style on them doesn't always fit. And it does do well at getting a lot of information to you that I feel like a lot of other movies would muck up. I was always amazed I knew where they were, why they were there, and how close they were to finishing their journey. I remember a long time ago, I talked about The Princess and the Frog and Tangled, how each one had a big part of the puzzle, like Princess and the Frog had really memorable characters but an OK story, and Tangled had a really good story but OK characters. I remember saying, if they combined the two, they could really have something gigantic, and sure enough, Frozen came out, and, well, that was no small movie. So I'm kind of hoping that Raya is like that. It's a step, it's a big piece of the puzzle that's gonna lead to this really giant, enormous film. But for what it is, it's still a pretty good movie. I've seen it three times now, because I always come across someone who hasn't seen it yet and wanted to, and every time I see it, the good moments get better and better, and the mediocre moments...don't get worse, but they stay mediocre. I wouldn't say this is one of Disney's best epics, but it's a very impressive step on the way there.
(A scene showing Raya and her allies witnessing all the dragons flying around in the sky is shown)