1/31/22 - Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) - 6-/10
A lovely animated fantasy spectacle that started stronger than it finished. I loved the Asian inspired dystopian adventure, recognizable but still its own vision. It’s too bad that it didn’t seem to take off as much as it should have despite doing decently. Felt like a victim of the pandemic and stream “in one ear and out the other” buzz death. A shame because I think the designs of the characters and world have legitimate beauty and viability.
Conceptually, I was way into it, but some of the kiddy cuteness and Aladdin Genie-esque comedy stylings were too over the top. The story progression is simple and generally effective, but I could have used a little more depth, but it is for the children so it’s rewards are equivalent.
I had seen the comparisons, and the vitriolic backlash therein, to Avatar the Last Airbender before I saw this, so that was in my mind. Beyond the cursory Asiatic inspiration, “warring nations divided and classified by their geo-cultural differences” and some other basic YA fantasy storytelling, there isn’t much. Honestly, what it brought to my mind was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, with the plucky female teen protagonist on a unique rolley-polley kind of creature (like a combo of Nausicaa’s little pet and the Ohm bugs) searching for a way to save the world in a dystopian wasteland. Obviously, these are all reductive and Raya brings plenty to the table of its own design and execution.
Solid. Well animated Fun. Probably a bit too simple and silly overall for my taste, but still good.
