Raya and the Last Dragon Review: Another Winner For Disney Animation

 

Raya and the Last Dragon is the latest from Walt Dsiney's Animation Studio. I had some high hopes for this one, not just due to very solid trailers, but also for the fact that I think as a film studio, Disney is arguably most consistent when it comes to their animated films. Especially during the 2010s decade, they released some absolutely wonderful gems with the likes of Moana, Tangled, Frozen, Zootopie, Big Hero 6 amongst plenty of others, and Raya looked no different. After numerous of release delays due to the Covid pandemic obviosuly, Disney decided to do a dual release strategy of  both theaters where open, and a Premium Access Price of $30 for their Disney+ subscribers which started just this past weekend. Whether you decided to brave a trip to the theaters such as I did, or just pay the full premium price on Disney+ to watch at the comfort of your home, I'm very glad to report this film is well the money either way and is another wonderful entry for Disney Animation.

Raya and the Last Dragon follows a lone young warrior, Raya (voice by Kelly Marie Tran) whom lives in the fantasy realm known as Kumandra. After a terrible tragedy leads to the division and destruction of her realm, Raya sets out to find the last remaining dragon in hopes that she can help restore peace to her once civilized kingdom.

In terms of the animation work here, it should be no surprise that Raya features some pretty stellar work and even some of Disney Animation's best maybe ever. This world is wonderfully well realized both from a visual standpoint and with also some very solid world building as well. The creature designs also look fabulous, as do all of the top tier visual effects. And most impressively to me are honestly the action sequences themselves, which are a lot of fun, visually spectacular, and even a bit more tense than I would've expected too. I got the chance to see this on an IMAX screen, and I'm very glad I did because I think it is definitely well worth the extra price tag. Even from just the sound design alone. Also, the musical score composed by the great James Newton Howard is absolutely stellar and yet another memorable addition to his pretty iconic list. 

When it comes to voice casts for animated films, a very recognizable one can either really benefit the film or just frankly be a simple distraction. Thankfully though, for Raya the case is definitely the former, as this cast is just delightful. Kelly Marie Tran brings out such lovable work in the lead role of Raya, she's an easy character to root for and it's so welcoming to see Tran get another major role like this after how simply unfairly she was treated with the most recent Star Wars films. Awkwafina is the easy scene stealing character voicing the role of Sisu the Dragon, and certainly brings out the film's biggest laughs. The lovely Gemma Chan also provides fierce voice work as the villainous Namaari, while we even also get great voice overs from the likes of Benedict Wong, Sandra Oh, and Daniel Dae Kim. The character work here is solid and even pretty memorable ultimately. 

As for any real issues I had, there's only really a few. The story is very solid, engaging, and just very heartfelt, but I did find it to feel a tad bit familiar and even quite predictable overall. Certain major plot points I did honestly see coming, but I was truthfully so invested with these characters and their journey that this was never enough to detract my experience with the film at all. And even with how predictable the story may have been, there were still a couple moments where this really went to some darker places than I was definitely expecting. Majority of this film's flaws are honestly just easily overshadowed by the charming characters, gorgeous animation, and its big heart.

Overall, Raya and the Last Dragon is most certainly another home run for Disney Animation Studios and even one of their better efforts I'd say in quite a few years. It's hugely entertaining, exciting, funny, heartwarming, and just a real charming adventure with pretty lovable characters to go with all of the fun. I certainly had a real good time with it, and I think both kids & adults will too. For my money, it's worth a trip to the theater, but if you're understandably still uncomfortable with making that trip, then I say it's definitely worth that Disney+ Premium Access price as well and will still be a big winner at home.

Final Letter Grade: B+ 


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