Raya and the Last Dragon Review

Raya and the Last Dragon is a computer animated adventure fantasy movie and the 59th Walt Disney Animation Studios film. The movie is produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Raya and the Last Dragon is written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lin and directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada and Don Hall.

The story is long ago both humans and dragons lived in harmony together. Then all of that changed when an evil monster known as the Druun attacked, the monster was stopped when seemingly all of the dragons sacrificed themselves to put an end to the beast. 500 years later the Druun has returned. Now a lone warrior named Raya must track down the last dragon in order to finally put an end to this evil creature once and for all.

Initial Reaction

I was looking forward to this movie when I first saw the poster. Then I got even more interested when I read the synopsis and watched the trailer. Not only was I excited because it's an original movie but it seemed rather interesting.

Cons

My only issue with Raya and the Last Dragon is there's a lot of exposition. So much so that it just got annoying. Like their are scenes where a character is talking about something that happened to the world but they don't need to talk about it. Because some of these scenes can be explained just by simply showing us and letting us connect the dots.

Middle Ground

The mix bag in this movie is while some moments you don't see coming others are really predictable. Like one moment in the beginning of the movie Raya is showing a character a very powerful object, I predicted that said character would betray her, and they I got to say called it. Another mix bag is the humor. Yes, there were a lot of times I found myself laughing but other times not really. Like sometimes Sisu just needs to stop talking so much and just be quiet for a few minutes.

Pros

One thing I need to praise the movie for is it's original. I know with the internet we already knew that it wasn't based on anything but, because Disney is starting to become known for more of their live-action remakes on their classic movies, sequels, or whatever else it's quite refreshing to see them do something different. Hopefully we'll get more of this. Another to praise the movie for is the animation. Kind of no duh thing to talk about but I still feel the need to praise it. There are times when it's just breathtaking. And I would love to tell you what my favorite shot was but sadly it's a spoiler so that's not gonna happen. What also made Raya and the Last Dragon a good movie was the action. Great hand-to-hand combat but what was really the best action scenes is when there's a sword fight. Those sword fights were a lot of fun to watch. Especially during the final act of the movie with a fight scene between Raya and Namaari. My final praise for the movie goes to the directors of the movie Carlos Lopez Estrada and Don Hall. Their directing really helped make the movie as beautiful as it was. And like I said previously there were a shots that looked breathtaking.

Raya and the Last Dragon is pretty good. It's original, the animation is stunning, the action was fun, and the directing was done perfectly. Could've used less predictability and better jokes but those problems aren't as big as all the exposition.

My final rating is Good.

Okay I'm finished. Due come back on Thursday, March 11th where I'll finish my Road to Mortal Kombat (2021) with my review of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.