Film Name: 寻龙传说 / Raya and The Last Dragon
Raya and The Last Dragon, the new film from Disney Animation Studios, opened in theaters this weekend in a slightly understated fashion.
I say “low-key”, mainly because its pre-release publicity did not spend too much effort, and in addition to theaters, the film is also synchronized in the Disney + online, coupled with the “Oriental culture theme” setting, it always feels that Disney “Raya and the Last Dragon” does not have great ambitions. The Last Dragon” does not have much ambition ……
If we were to find a place for Raya from Raya and The Last Dragon in the “Disney Princesses” category, it would be something like Melida from Brave or Moana from Moana – in terms of genre and popularity. -All in all, Disney has lit up another piece of the world map, and from now on they have another princess from Southeast Asia.
The strength of the movie industry behind this not-so-impressive but pretty good-looking animated movie is what makes me notice and envy it more than the movie itself.
[Friendly reminder: there will be spoilers below].
I’m not going to brag too much about the technical merits of Raya and The Last Dragon. In short, all the purely commercial elements of Disney animation that you can think of, such as sophisticated graphics, gags, cute kids and pets, low-intensity risk-free adventures, and so on, can be found in this movie.
I’ll just briefly mention a few things that strike a chord.
The story takes place in an empty world of “Longyue State”, we can indeed think of the stage prototype is Vietnam, Thailand or some Southeast Asian countries, because the film is full of local style and cultural elements: hot and humid environment, lush vegetation, lightweight clothing, simple and airy architectural decorations, close to the fighting style, and food accessories and many other details have a very strong flavor. There is also a very strong Southeast Asian flavor to the food, accessories, and many other details.
Raya’s mount is a watermelon bug designed after an armadillo, and the image of “dragons” such as Xisu is also a fairly orthodox Asian dragon – as a Chinese viewer, it should be relatively easy to accept the characterization of “Raya and The Last Dragon”. As a Chinese audience, it should be relatively easy to accept the character of Raya and The Last Dragon, after all, the influence of cultural radiation is there, everyone understands.
Disney in the production of this animation did enough homework, in addition to those “Oriental elements of the hodgepodge”, the film’s story theme is also quite Eastern “and culture”.
After 500 years of the dragons sacrificing themselves, defeating the Black Devil, and saving mankind, the five tribes of Dragon Blessing didn’t cherish the hard-won opportunity to survive, but instead fought endlessly over the Divine Dragon Crystal left behind by Xisu. In order to change this situation, the patriarch of the Dragon Heart City, Ponga, who owns the crystal, called the remaining four tribes to get together in the hope that they could defuse the conflict, but his good intentions didn’t pay off, and the Dragon Blessing State once again encountered the Black Devil! The Last Dragon ……
The main spiritual theme of Raya and The Last Dragon is how to rebuild trust and unity in an environment of confrontation and hatred.
The Ponga patriarch’s starting point and strategic direction are correct, but the most basic precautionary measures are missing, and how can you show a Bodhisattva’s heart and soul without thunderbolts?
After the failure of such a wishful attempt, but also let the trust has become a more remote luxury – caused a big trouble of the heroine Laya, no matter how will not believe in the betrayal of their own Namali (said, this time, even the prince are saved, all the princess singing stage).
But the most contradictory part of this story is also precisely here, want to reorganize the broken dragon crystal, play can defeat the black devil’s powerful magic, set the dragon heart, dragon tail, dragon claw, dragon spine, dragon teeth five tribal hand pieces is only the first step, more important is the hand of the crystal people can trust each other, work together.
So, Hisshu moving to send gifts to make good “bad idea” is the most reliable solution …… In fact, if it is not because of Laya and Namali always have a grudge and suspicion, leading to Hisshu was once killed by mistake, the crisis in the movie may be long ago! The movie’s crisis would have been resolved.
Raya and The Last Dragon reveals the importance of unity in every detail of its setting: by putting aside their hatred and stereotypes, the human race is able to use the dragon crystals to dispel the black demons and bring about life, just as the five tribes are able to make the most delicious soup in the land of the Dragon’s Blessing by putting in the specialties of the five tribes.
The movie is particularly relevant in today’s world, where the economic/political/public opinion environment is deteriorating, nationalism and conservatism are rampant, and antagonisms are on the rise, but if we can have more trust and unity with each other, we may be able to come out of the shadows and the quagmire sooner.
Of course, reality cannot be as simple and idealized as the movie, some people just keep on failing the trust of others, and there are always people who will not let go of the opportunity to take advantage and retaliate …… But the salaciousness of reality does not detract from the goodwill and beautiful vision conveyed by “Raya and The Last Dragon”.
It’s a Disney fairy tale with high intentions and excellent execution.
Yes, all my praise for Raya and The Last Dragon is based on the fact that it’s a good “fairy tale”, and Disney is really good at blowing such colorful and brilliant bubbles, but if you look at it from the seriousness of the adult world, or from the expansive nature of the film’s narrative, I’m afraid that it’s just not good enough. If you’re looking for seriousness or narrative expansion in the adult world, I’m afraid this movie is not good enough. …… Therefore, my recommendation for this movie is: no loss if you see it, no loss if you don’t see it.
I am more interested in the industrial strength of the film than the fact that the film itself is not very readable.
I noticed that, in addition to screenwriter Kei Nguyen, more than 90% of the voice actors in Raya and The Last Dragon are of Asian descent, including a large number of familiar faces such as Okafina, Sandra Oh, and Wang (those who love to watch American dramas should be able to find more familiar faces), and such a gimmicky operation similar to that of Black Panther may seem like a no-brainer, but combined with the content and thematic flavor of the film, it just goes to show that Hollywood can find material all over the world and is able to find a pool of talent and execution. The content and thematic flavor of the movie just shows that Hollywood can find material all over the world, and the horror talent reserve and execution ability of the whole work.
And to be honest, “Raya and The Last Dragon” in the Disney/Hollywood animated movie sequence is not outstanding, it is a standard assembly line product in all aspects are not bad, Disney in the launch of the time it should have known that it can not become a hit …… can it still do it, can be the best, not also lose. The best thing is to become the best, not to be able to afford to lose, which in the weight of the light, let a person marveled.
What’s even better is that even though some moviegoers don’t quite “see” Raya and The Last Dragon, the more people there are, the more the audience tends to choose to watch this kind of movie – a mature commercial film that still works even if it’s formulaic.
If this is a domestic animation movie, I’m afraid that its reputation will be another step up, because this is not just a movie, but also a whole set of film industry system level, strength, heritage of the embodiment (not to mention Disney under the banner of the “Pixar” such a fairy studio exists).
A moderate “Raya and The Last Dragon”, once again let me see the domestic animation and even domestic movies and Hollywood distance – to compare with the best than, have to catch up with the target is good.
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