Written By Nick Thomas
Streaming on Disney+ with premium access.
Directors: Don Hall ( Big Hero 6, and Moana), and Carlos López Estrada (Summertime)
Staring: Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars), Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, jumamji the next level)
Synopsis: Long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it's up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. However, along her journey, she'll learn that it'll take more than a dragon to save the world.
Review: Raya and the last Dragon is as heartwarming as it is funny with plenty of adventure and life lessons along the way. Disney explores a new world with lush lore and culture and has brought to there viewers an experience that we have all come to expect, magical but with dragons.
Raya and the Last Dragon touches upon a lot of very poignant topics that the world is facing right now like trusting each other, teamwork, and not giving up hope during dire times. The voice actors all provide stellar work and bring to life the characters they are playing.
The animation and sound guys at Disney out did themselves this time. The music is as beautiful as the exotic places our heroes travel to on our harrowing adventure. The towns and locations are carefully thought out and full of life (except when it's not meant to be) The people of the different nations take on a life all there own and definitely each represent different cultures. The sprinkling of doom and despair is carefully dolled out to not over due it so you can take in all there is without the nagging Dread.
I wish they would have taken a little more time for character back stories on some of the important side characters who most of the time stole the spotlight anyways. So at this point the rating…...I would give this a 7.5 out of 10 I really enjoyed it but the lack of story for the other characters actually distracted me from the movie. Then there was the issue with the all to typical Disney formula. Hero + struggle and loss = character growth. Even though it was different and unique it felt as if they had taken the drive of Mulan and Moana and got the band back together and said let's do it again. Even with those thoughts all in all I really enjoyed the movie and say it's definitely one to watch.
Well thank you for joining me on this review and as always nerds I will see you on the other side.
7.5/10
Heartwarming and Fun!