Raya and The Last Dragon is the newest movie from Walt Disney Animation Studios coming March 2021, Disney showed us the first look by giving us a teaser trailer, showing us the synopsis of the movie and a bit of image about the world, characters, and theme of the story.
Even though I feel like Disney lost its charm when it comes to their animated movies, Raya and The Last Dragon really just made that clear for me. Sure, they’re showing a representation of different parts of Asian culture, but it feels like they didn’t even try to hide the fact that it just has the same feel as Avatar the Last Airbender, plus Raya is just another example of, you guessed it, another female hero made for selling merchandise to little girls.
I’m sorry if you don’t feel that way but that’s just my opinion, most of the reactions have been very positive, but for me, Disney is not on the right track. It’s a new film, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be something revolutionary like the stuff they have done back then. I think that Disney is just painting a wall with, Different cover of paint but in the end the same wall.
They’re following a formula that they’ve had for a long time, using it over and over again. To a point where there’s no creativity involved. Different settings with the same type of characters, the girl who has a dream and wants to change the world, the cute animal friend/sidekick, and the main villain or evil force trying to stop her from doing the thing she wants. You don’t have to know anything about storytelling to see that it’s the same structure for every single film they’ve released for the past decade. That is a basic story formula that works, but when a studio uses it differently, with some other elements, you can see something different, unique, and wonderful, there’s nothing wrong with that structure, it’s just about knowing how to use the formula to not make the same thing.
Here’s the official synopsis for the film:
“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—it’s going to take trust and teamwork as well. From directors, Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, co-directors Paul Briggs and John Ripa, producers Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho, and featuring the voices of Kelly Marie Tran as Raya and Awkwafina as the last dragon Sisu, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Raya and the Last Dragon” opens in U.S. theaters on March 2021.”
So, as I’ve said, this is my opinion, I’m not saying that Disney is bad, I love Disney, it’s just that this is how I feel towards Raya, and other things they’ve been doing. Check out the trailer on YouTube and leave a comment saying what did you think about it, again, we all have different perspectives so feel free to share yours.
