Probably gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I was quite disappointed at how disappointed I was in Raya and the Last Dragon. For a movie that took me this long to see, I guess I built it up in my head as this precious gem. What I got though was a decent enough story, an obvious (if not unwelcome) moral, and a whole mess of cute toys in the form of characters. Marketing 101 in your face!

Raya is about a fantasy kingdom broken into five warring factions. All the dragons are gone, a mystical gem protecting the world from an evil nebulous force has broken, and only Raya has the courage and vision to try to heal the world. With the help of a bunch of random friends who will look great on the shelves at Disney World.

Yeah, pretty cynical about this but the movie is just crowded with plush toy opportunities. Hey… all Disney movies have that cute animal or character that will move toys. We know that – it’s part of the price of admission. But Raya just keeps piling on the cute or wacky characters to the point there’s only one or two characters with any actual heart or serious character development. Everyone else is just a pop-culture spewing marketing opportunity. I guess it’s kind of a case of “some adult guy taking this too serious” here, but I wanted a little more serious (in my kids cartoon movie).

But all that doesn’t necessarily make the movie bad. I can look past the crazy chicken and cute pig (hi Moana) and still love the film. But Raya… I don’t know… it just never sparked for me. Maybe because I was being too cynical, maybe because there’s nothing particularly unique or innovative about the plot and story, or maybe because those characters kept me at a distance. I kept hoping it would pick up and, until the very final act, it just didn’t.

But, hey, the final act did work and the various disparate elements that weren’t working for me did finally come together. There was a (super obvious) moral and lesson we all got learnt… and that’s good for kids even if it was telegraphed from last Tuesday for anyone else.

And, hey, of course the movie looks gorgeous and has some pretty decent action scenes that are animated with grace and speed. And the voice acting is good, even if (for example) you can’t take the Awkwafina out of Awkwafina. For what she was doing, she was good. Whether that was the right choice for an allegedly mystical dragon in a pool full of other marketing opportunities is up to you.

So… very much a mixed bag but for the animation and art style, the pretty good action, the good message, and the solid final act, I’ll give it a passing grade. Just so very much wished for a better film.

Score: 75