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Jack Sparrow
KJ's Leading Idiot
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:15 pm Posts: 36917
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Raya and the Last Dragon
Quote: Raya and the Last Dragon (/ˈraɪ.ə/ RYE-ə) is an American computer-animated action-adventure fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 59th film produced by the studio, it is directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, co-directed by Paul Briggs and John Ripa,[3] produced by Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho, written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim, and music score composed by James Newton Howard. The film features a predominantly Asian American cast, including the voices of Kelly Marie Tran as the titular Raya and Awkwafina as Sisu, the titular dragon, along with Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh, Benedict Wong, Izaac Wang, Thalia Tran, and Alan Tudyk.
Raya and the Last Dragon is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on March 5, 2021 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film will also be simultaneously available on Disney+ with Premier Access, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic's negative impact on movie theaters across the United States, with many of them remaining closed.
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Thu Mar 04, 2021 12:35 pm |
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Jack Sparrow
KJ's Leading Idiot
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:15 pm Posts: 36917
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
Good not great with a rushed finale and takes itself too seriously. More thoughts later.
B-
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Thu Mar 04, 2021 12:37 pm |
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publicenemy#1
Extraordinary
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:25 am Posts: 18843 Location: San Diego
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
I dug it. Voice acting was strong and animation is gorgeous.
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Fri Mar 05, 2021 7:13 pm |
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Dil
Forum General
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:48 pm Posts: 8942 Location: Houston, Texas
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
I thought this was really solid as well. Gorgeous animation with some really fun action set pieces and and a perfectly suited voice cast, especially Kelly Marie Tran and Awkafina.
I even enjoyed the side characters and all the cutesy moments they brought to this.
B+
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Sat Mar 06, 2021 12:48 am |
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Flava'd vs The World
The Kramer
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:36 am Posts: 23695 Location: Classified
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
The trailers did not do this one justice.
There's a huge exposition dump at the beginning of the movie, but from that point on Raya and the Last Dragon climbs the rain all the way to the top tier of Disney Animation Studios. The movie improves each time their multi-cultural gang expands. All the characters have funny lines and a reason to fight. And yeah, the theme of working together with the Fengpublicans (why help save the world when they can help themselves instead?) no matter how many times they betray you and ruin the world is a little too optimistic for today's politcal climate. But damn if Raya sacrificing herself by giving her rival the dragon stone didn't hit all the feels. Hopefully one day our world can be Kumeria too.
The animation is maybe the best they have ever done. I couldn't believe at how far we've come regarding things like hair and water, which are both featured often. There were more feels when Raya regains the ability to "fly." The action scenes are so fluid and remenescent of Kung Fu Panda rather than just a way to keep the story moving. And the score is beautiful and yet also somewhat haunting as it very much resembles dystopian movies of the past.
Everything after the opening five minutes worked so well for me and thus I give Raya and The Last Dragon an A.
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Sat Mar 06, 2021 4:24 pm |
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publicenemy#1
Extraordinary
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:25 am Posts: 18843 Location: San Diego
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
Gonna rewatch Raya as I think I'll like it more on another watch but ranking Disney Animated Studios from Tangled to now:
Zootopia Tangled Wreck-It-Ralph Moana Raya and the Last Dragon Frozen Big Hero 6 Frozen 2 Ralph Breaks the Internet
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Sun Mar 07, 2021 1:56 am |
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thompsoncory
Rachel McAdams Fan
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:13 am Posts: 14544 Location: LA / NYC
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
This was great. Excellent animation and fantastic vocal work. A-
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Sun Mar 07, 2021 2:07 am |
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GuybrushX McMurphy
Cream of the Crop
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 1:28 pm Posts: 2794 Location: Germany
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
~8 decades after Amon Goeth pardoned that boy who couldn't manage to properly clean the bathtub, Disney has finally pardoned the "Southeast Asian" population/culture/(market) by dedicating a new burger with extra cheese to them.
_________________ "Acting is the only thing I'm good at." - Freddie Prinze jr.
Ator: I love you. Sunya: And I love you. Ator: Why can't we marry? Sunya: Ator, we are brother and sister. Ator: I'll talk with our father.
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Sun Mar 07, 2021 4:43 pm |
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zwackerm
Hold the door!
Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2014 10:26 pm Posts: 20302 Location: Where they shot Knock at the Cabin
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
This is not a personal favorite of mine, the antagonist was weak. I liked the dragons, but most of the human characters were one note. Animation was fantastic, story was just ok. I did not feel too much tension, despite a lot of characters almost dying.
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Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:32 pm |
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zwackerm
Hold the door!
Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2014 10:26 pm Posts: 20302 Location: Where they shot Knock at the Cabin
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
Watching this again now that it’s free on Disney plus. It’s hands down my least favorite Disney movie since Bolt. The humor and characters are flat, and it’s sorely missing music and romance.
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Sun Jun 06, 2021 10:40 pm |
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Flava'd vs The World
The Kramer
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:36 am Posts: 23695 Location: Classified
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
Pretty sure that Feng girl was meant to be both the love interest and villain. But it could only be vaguely implied. We saw with Frozen 2 that no matter how progressive Disney thinks they are, they wont cross that bridge if its mean losing out on Chinese, Russian and bigoted-American money.
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Wed Jun 09, 2021 4:45 pm |
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Darth Indiana Bond
007
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:43 pm Posts: 10986 Location: Wouldn't you like to know
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
Probably my favorite since Frozen. Just a fun fantasy movie with cool world building. It’s major drawback is that it REALLY wants you to know it is about trust. That’s the theme. Trust. It the theme of the movie, trust.
_________________
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Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:43 am |
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Jack Sparrow
KJ's Leading Idiot
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:15 pm Posts: 36917
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
We "trust" you had a good time DIB with finding the them of the movie, trust.
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Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:45 am |
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Corpse
Don't Dream It, Be It
Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:45 pm Posts: 37152 Location: The Graveyard
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Re: Raya and the Last Dragon
Wanted to enjoy this, so expectations were perhaps too high, but I couldn't. At least not as much as I was hoping.
After the first 5-10 minutes or so of backstory, the movie just felt very rushed along. Would have liked another 20-30 minutes here. They were going from place to place pretty much instantly, with little/no journey to speak of in-between locations. This would have helped the other issue I had with most of the characters being fairly one note by having them interact more, flesh them out with more than the "Oh, your family was turned to stone too..." bit we got which took 10 seconds.
And while the animation work on the environment, landscapes, and effects was excellent, the character models were a bit distracting to me. Most of the characters look very "plastic" or doll-like, which was a big contrast against the beautiful animated backgrounds. They seemed to me like the transition character models of sorts between what was (think Tangled, Frozen) and what's to come in future years.
And lastly, I know Disney is very unlikely to produce a PG-13 animated film, but this story would have certainly benefitted from it. Most of it felt pretty restrained and confined to the Disney family bubble.
B-.
_________________Japan Box Office “Gods are great ... but the heart is greater. For it is from our hearts they come, and to our hearts they shall return.” “We were like gods at the dawning of the world, & our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.” “There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” “You have to pretend you get an endgame. You have to carry on like you will; otherwise, you can't carry on at all.” "Paper is dead without words / Ink idle without a poem / All the world dead without stories."
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Fri Nov 19, 2021 12:35 pm |
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