Raya gets punished in the beginning for being too trusting...then she gets punished in the end for being too guarded and not trusting enough...meanwhile, those who've wronged her make no acknowledgment of their own wrong doing. Really puts a lot of blame on the victim of the trauma.
I loved everything about the movie EXCEPT I didn't like how Raya was blamed for Sisu's death. Like her not blindly Trusting an individual holding a crossbow to someone's chest is her fault? I didn't like that at all. It felt kind of gaslighty.
that scene was what made me realize how "moderate" this movie was, a lot of sisu's scenes felt like "let's just sit and talk and come to a conclusion together" when raya's been living in the world for years and clearly knows that isn't going to work. for me at least, after realizing that all the meta commentary just became super blatant and very cringy
The reason I can see blame for Raya is more so she attacked somebody at a distance with their finger on a trigger. Now I get why she did it, but at the same time Naymari was clearly shaken and a bit jumpy to the situation. Any force or quick movements would easily get a slip of the trigger
Plus when you think about it, Namaari is technically Raya's abuser. She caused Raya a lot of trauma at a very young age but Raya is meant to trust her? Raya obviously has severe PTSD from when Namaari betrayed her, caused the Druun to come back, and took Raya's father away. The thing that would have been best for Raya is not to blindly trust her abuser but to instead walk away from her. Maybe they would have been able to eventually make up but forcing Raya into trusting her abuser when she is obviously not healed is just not the move.
My husbands reaction was he wished it was a series not a movie. To give more time to flesh out all the characters and unique cultures. Mine was, when was the last "princess" movie without music? We agreed it was good but fell short.
Yes I haven’t even watched it but I wish it was a series and maybe in 2d It would be better for world building and more character development. And time with each people that are divided. In this world. It would be so coool!!and yes it has that avatar feel to it and kinda an avatar vibe but like it’s own thing yk
Ditto here. I felt like it had stellar setups for things that just got forgotten, and a lot of events that weren't set up in any way, completely blindsiding the viewer. I liked pretty much all the characters, but the story felt like they forgot to show/tell about 50% of the relevant information. I bet they had to cut a ton of what was supposed to be there due to movie length constraints.
In my opinion, Sisu kept talking about bringing/giving gifts is because it's very much an Asian culture. It's kind of like "bringing a bottle of wine to a dinner party at someone's place" for a western setting.
Yesssss this!!! I was suprised they didn’t bother to even look this up beforehand it’s such a prominent part of many Asian cultures. I lived in SEA and Japan for 8 years and for me I noticed it straight away and loved how they wove it into the story
yeah thats a really good point, i didn't feel any emotional connection with thecharcters at all. but I really really liked the idea and theme, would make an amazing book in my opinion
I loved the con baby. I don't think the monkeys were super trained but were instead just raising a baby. I think the con was being played by the monkeys. They stole the jem pieces. The baby was just acting like a baby. The monkeys climbed the wall.
There is a hidden power. She's not just good at swimming. She's THE water dragon. She thought she's worthless. The one who doesn't contribute to the group project but she provides water to the world. Even without the Drunn, without her, the world is dead.
It would have been nice if they put more emphasis on this. like a singular line thats just like 'she was the one keeping us all safe this whole time' because i didnt even think of this till now
I wish this was actually canon and was a plot point in the movie. This would make more sense why she was chosen to keep the dragon gem out of everyone. As much as I am absolutely fine with the average anybody getting picked to do the impossibe by coincedence but considering trust is the focus and theme, there really ought to be some reason for them to trust her. Since we really don't get to see Sisu and her sibling's dynamic or see any of Sisu's input actually helping Raya, it makes more sense for Sisu to be THE water dragon.
Actually Raya going to fight Namari instead of helping people makes sense- she was ONLY doing this to bring back her dad (her motivation only changed to 'and his dream' because of Sisu who got killed) so all she wants is to destroy the one who took it all away. Which she realizes is wrong only when she sees the friends she's made along the way trying.
Im disappointed what they did with Raya. She is a badass but there is nothing else to her personality. Moana was a badass too but she had a personality. So sad that they miss the mark and didn’t show us anything about raya quirks
I don't think its that she lacks personality she has plenty of that, but it gets drowned out by having so many other "main" characters, with Moana its her and Maui, with Raya you have 5 really important people for the story so you never get to rest on any of them. So it ends up just being, This one is untrusting, this one cooks, this one is a thief, this guy is missing his family and this one feels pressure from her mom. Edit: And I feel the fact that I forgot about the dragon while writing this proves my point xD
@@belzedk agreed, I don’t think Raya necessarily lacked personality, but since we had to cram so many characters into an hour and a half, she didn’t have a chance to show much of it.
What I liked about Raya is to me she’s really different from other Disney princesses. It seems like the “personality” for so many of the princesses is just, I don’t being here and I want to go on a quest to figure out who I am. I think it’s refreshing how Raya starts out the story already confident in herself. I also like how from the get go it is clear she has flaws. She doesn’t care about helping the word, just getting her dad back. To me, her fear and mistrust make her more relatable. I her flaws make her character a lot more interesting, I just wish there had been more time to develop it. I also really wished there had been more development of the Namaari Raya relationship. I wish this movie had been made a tv show instead
It felt awkward. It’s dialogue was very obviously “gen z” catered. Which I get, cause it’s supposed to be a kids movie, but it was cringey at times. The atmosphere, the environment and even the “time period” felt specific and then bam! They throw in many 2021 references and slang. It took me out of the movie a lot. Also the con-baby was weird too me. That baby was 2 years old but moved and acted like an adult almost. Again, it took me out of the movie cause my brain was thinking “how tf is this baby understanding all these complex ideas.” I’m probably nitpicking, but those were just things that took me out of the movie, and made me question it more than enjoying it.
@@brummelbar I did not question the con-baby and it's abilities because maybe that's just a thing in this weird, mythical world. If this movie took place on earth, I'd have serious issues.
It felt like they were trying to imitate the Genie and Mushu but went way too far with it. Anytime they mentioned something it was a quick reference or a visual gag but with Sisu it's basically her entire personality. Robin Williams made countless modern era jokes or references in Aladdin and it didn't hurt the film one bit, in fact it made for some humorous moments when you spot something he does. I was so excited for Raya when I saw the poster and was going to watch it at my local cinema.... Until I saw the trailer and lost pretty much all interest in the film. I felt the script in general felt weak in terms of dialog but Sisu was the worst. No offense to the VA but I found Sisu annoying and cringy at times. She lacks all subtlety and killed the mood whenever she started popping off.
There were a lot of things I have issues with, but their fight I kind of understood. Raya blames Namaari for the death of Sisu, which basically means she will never get her father back. Namaari blames Raya fo the death of Sisu, because her mother had been turned to stone because of it. They are blinded with rage and don't care about anything/anyone else because, as far as they know, they've already lost everything that mattered to them. I'm not saying it's sensible or anything, but it kind of makes sense.
But to say that Raya didn’t trust Sisu or was responsible for her death is kind of idiotic. She had no problems with trusting Sisu. It was Namaari she had problems with. You know? The girl that stabbed her in the back and was planning to beat her to death after she lost at the Spine.
@@Dr.Meme-Man To be honest, If Raya had fully trusted Sisu, she never would've interfered. Her trusting Sisu wasn't evil is not enough, she should've trusted that Sisu knew what she was doing. Sisu knew Namaari wasn't gonna shoot (and I believe so, too), Raya didn't trust her enough to have faith in Sisu's instincts.
nah it made sense, at that point they suffered loss Raya lost her entire tribe now and namaari her mother. So for raya it was if the world is burning we'll both burn.
Am I missing something? I did not like the message of trusting people at all. It was contradictory and just a bad message for children in general. I mean the conflict came from the dad trusting people..and then the solution to the conflict was to trust people? If the message was more centered on forgiveness then I would be pretty content but "trust people even if they have backstabbed you multiple times" is a bad theme I would say.
Finally, I found a comment that's not 'oh Raya clearly has trust issues and she needs to get over them' like, she has trusted every person that has proven trustworthy, including some people she shouldn't have trusted. She shouldn't have to keep extending olive branches to those who have consistently worked against her.
To be fair the movie. points this out too. Remember that fantasy sequence. I think you should try to see the. good in people most of the time but not literally all the time.
I think the big issue was the time. They had way too many characters that could have used a lot more building. But instead it felt like "Hey theres this character, heres a little bit of their past, ok NEXT"
You guys should really hear our old granny's tell stories to us Asian kids. You'd understand why the movie seemed rushed😂😂😂 (it really wasn't... I only regret that they didn't spend more time developing Raya and Namaari's friendship and ultimately making them lovers)
@@tick1180 I'd argue it could have been great but isn't great. Decent to good. Its only flaw is that it's rushed but that hinders quite a lot with the progression and buildup of the story and characters and that's everything.
@@chetsi_099 Well that's your granny and then this is Disney with a list of professional story writers. And it's one thing to just listen to a narration for kids which is typically less than 30 minutes long and another to see a movie which we have come to expect to be invested in the characters and story.
I'm more concerned about the unintentional lesson Disney pushed regarding trust. I mean it is great to learn to overcome past prejudices and build trust with past enemies but the fact that Disney pushes this idea with out ever acknowledging the damage that was caused to Raya or ever having Raya receive a very well deserved apology.
it felt SO short, and they made a movie with southeast asian cultures when disney+ isn't even available in most SEA countries 💀 it just felt like wasted potential yk
@Fahim Shahriar because we're still in the pandemic and cinema still closed, at least in Surabaya is. They could have promote it better, use it to gain more subscriptions or launch the app in SEA countries, I just found out that hotstar is different version of disney+ that doesn't feature Raya trailer, let alone access to online view.
This movie would've been so much better longer or as a tv show. Everything went so quickly and it didn't let the audience breathe. They were so focused on moving the plot, they didn't develop the characters well enough.
I hope they make sequels and things like that because the themes and impactful moments were good but it was very fast and I feel like it would gain a lot from fleshing out the characters and continuing with the world building. Also it will probably be better on the second watch because people will be looking for things they missed about the characters and people know what happens in the impactful moments.
i keep saying this. this movie has so much going for it but they don't give the emotions quite enough time in the oven to really bake. if this was a trilogy, it would be an easy 10/10
I remember when I first saw this movie, about 15 minutes in I genuinely believed this might become one of my favorite movies of all time. By the end I was like, “Eh, that was ok.”. Which I think might have been the quickest my opinions on a movie have ever changed. The characters were extremely one dimensional and the world was amazing, but felt like it could have been fleshed out more. I think this would have been a lot better as a TV show where they have the time to explore the world and deepen the characters. It’s like if Avatar: The Last Airbender wasn’t a show but instead a movie where all of the characters were stripped of their depth and we barely got to explore the universe they created. Wait.
Just one thing tho , Sisu does have a hidden power that is not actually hidden at all , she IS water , the embodiment of it , and you know , where is water there is life, which means Sisu is not only the most optimistic , hopeful and obliviously most humble dragon ever , she is the fuel for all of her siblings powers, the fuel for everything actually, she is literally the embodiment of Life !
could be but this is technically not canon and just a theory, and even if this was true it was never addressed in the movie directly so yeah the plot execution was poor. also, you could argue the water disappeared because in raya's world dragons are supposed to bring water into the world so water disappearing when the last dragon dying makes sense.
As an Asian, I couldn't stop thinking the magical creatures like Sisu and the Droons could have looked much more unique and stand out (in a way Terry and the Jerrys did in Soul) if they added some more Asian stuff to them
Yeah that’s true, there are so many weird urban legends and myths in Southeast Asia, where I come from we got people with horse heads and women with severed bodies eating unborn children, but they picked dragons and a dark shadowy ball. And I get that they couldn’t show favor to one country more than the other without getting backlash but it still would’ve been cool to see stuff from your culture in the movie and maybe recognize other cultures as well
I feel like they were trying to make the dragons look Asian but they still wanted them to look cartoony and appeal to American audiences. I personally would have enjoyed it a lot more if they didn’t try to make it cartoony.
Ultimately, the pacing was weird, the characters weren't very fleshed out, and it was so annoying how much they shoved the idea that you need to trust people down your throat. A bit overkill and instead of thinking about the message it made me think about how many times they've said that trust is important vs created a good scene that effectively portrayed the message without having to blatantly point it out.
@@thefreerepublicofadmiralpr2935 I’m sure it looks really cool, but so did the live action Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and Aladdin. They failed in my eyes cause they lacked substance, and Disney seems to be doing that a lot lately (focusing more on the beauty rather than the story or characters, and what message they’re trying to convey). That’s why I’m weary of watching it, I’m tired of bad stories, and underdeveloped characters- (although Soul was awesome). I’ll judge for myself when I see the movie (when it’s cheap), but I can’t say I’m surprised with a lot of peoples’ reviews on this movie... Thanks for your input!
@@dua_junaid No problem. I won’t spoil anything, but you’re guaranteed to get emotional with some scenes, the animation is top notch (all done at home by the way ‘cause COVID), visuals compliment the scenes, the worldbuilding is incredible and even quite clever if you look closely at it, the action scenes are epic and badass, and the southeast Asian culture is done right. The trust message I feel is not shoved down your throat, but shown effectively (that’s subjective though). While the pacing WAS off, I felt it complimented the story in quite a couple instances. Oh, and you’re going to get a kick out of some of the side characters. Those are my thoughts. I’m practicing for my video review on the film that I’m planning out.
"other tribes are heavily insprised by specific asian cultures" bro i can't even point out which countries are which tribe in the film, they made us into a monolith and just split us into 5
My feeling was that they were trying to make this movie "ethnic" for the sake of it, not because there was a real interest in representing different cultures.
Have you ever red/watched European fantasy? That’s what always happens when it’s fictional world like Middle-Earth or Westeros. This isn’t set in real world either.
I personally believe that the lack of Disney songs really hurt the movie. Disney songs accomplish soooo much. They progress the plot, develop characters, and allow the audience to connect to the characters in such a short time.
I hope they aren’t trying to get rid of the music, since they also removed the music in 2020 Mulan. It’s not likely they will go away, but it makes me nervous.
The structure of musicals goes when the emotions get too high for words, you sing them (then when it's too emotional for singing, you dance). While I personally don't think Raya was musical material, it probably would have helped the pacing to add songs!
My interpretation for why Raya and Namarii fight is because at that point both Raya and Namarii have given up Sisu is dead and therefore there goes their last hope of survival so why not fight it out they are all going to die anyway all the waters gone there’s nothing to hold back the drune it’s over so Raya and Namarii do the one thing they have left and fight the person they blame for the end of the world
My biggest issue was that I didn't find it believable that just because this group of people who already trust each other add another person to their trusting list suddenly EVERYONE ELSE is gonna trust each other. The only reason everyone decides to unite is because their loved ones and, more importantly, the dragons are back, not because they actually learned to work together and trust each other.
@@robertshelek5435 I hate this argument so much, but even though I'm pretty sure you know what I mean, I'll humor you. I meant that, even within the context of the movie, its mythology and its rules, I didn't find it believable.
@@meg3809 my point is... it is a fantasy movie... by definition it is unbelievable. If we can watch a film and accept dragons and magic, we need to be open to fantastical things like the relationships in the film. They are meant to show an ideal and convey a moral. Yes it is extreme, and would never happen in the real world. But it’s not the real world. That’s my point. And for what it’s worth, the kids I watched it with (who are the intended audience) had no problems with the relationships between the characters. They just loved the characters and the setting.
@@robertshelek5435 I'm really happy that the kids you watched it with liked it because the representation and the message are important, I just think that specific plot point could've been better executed.
i totally agree. i thought the ending was going to be a little different. such as where this new group of friends, with each individual from a different tribe, who now trusted each other were going to have to build up and convince their own tribes that having Kumundra again is possible or something. and they would become the new leaders... but no. they just all band together with smiles because now the dragons are back and there's no gem to fight over or drunes to kill them. /:
Y’all kind of missed a crucial part of why Namari has the crossbow. I suggest watching it again cause I didn’t pick up on it at first either. Namari is the one that lead fang to the gem, she betrayed Raya, she failed to get the gem pieces from her & when she came home SUPER excited about seeing sisu, she wants to help Raya but her mom says that instead they need to take the gem pieces and sisu so THEY can be the ones to fix the world. Namari didn’t know what her mom was planning and when she asked her mom just says “that’s none of your concern. You’ve done enough”. She feels guilty for breaking the world, and feels like a failure. She brought the crossbow cause she was trying to do what her mother wanted. That’s why she says “sisu and the gem pieces are coming with me”.
I wish there was more development on the Druun, it looks really interesting and I think that it needed more backstory. Actually, I think pretty much all of the characters needed more fleshing out.
The gift is important because Raya never gave up on it. Even when it was a trick, the moment she was given it meant so much to her that she carried it with her for years. It represented both the best experience and worst experience. Eventually the entire experience paid off and saved everyone. If she hadn't gone through what she was through the clans would still be at odds with each other, the dragons would have never returned, and the druuns would forever haunt them. EDIT: it wasn't true for Naamari until it was. Her character growth was the point of the film. Raya was just the person struggling to help her grow.
@@darcyparrott1002 I dunno, she seemed pretty willing to me. We don't see any signs of genuine regret or sorrow that she had to betray Raya even as a kid, and we don't see those sentiments when she grows up either. She even says things like we/Fang didn't mean for the world to break, and yes that is true because Fang ONLY meant to steal from Heart their source of prosperity during what is akin to a peace summit...yEAH, no wonder the other regions blame Fang. While each stole a piece, Fang was clearly were the only ones who planned to steal from Heart from the beginning, and intentionally or not it lead to the dragon gem breaking and mistrust growing stronger. Namari may not be a bad person and she is far from an evil one, and she is an effective leader but she is narrow-minded and lacks emotional intelligence when it comes to others. Or maybe she is willfully ignorant.
I feel that it makes perfect sense for Raya and Namaari to fight at the end. As you said Raya went on this quest mostly for selfish purposes ( get her dad back) and now when she thinks Sisu is dead she believes that the quest is over and that it failed. That is why she went after Namaari, to get revenge on the person who started this all. I honestly think she could have cared less about the Druun. Or maybe she just needed to let all that anger out.
I’m not sure if I’m the only one but I really enjoyed raya. It brought me to tears and it was just such a beautiful movie that really moved me. It just spoke to me and it hit me really hard emotionally. I don’t think there’s anything that should change about it but I do agree it would be cool to see this as a series to get to know the characters more.
YES ok im glad i found someone in here who experienced it the way i did. im noticing that it feels oddly hurtful to see people criticize it, bc of how meaningful it felt to me lol
Sisu’s power literally brings life to the world as without her there is no water to yknow,,, make everything live? I feel she was chosen to use the gem because if she had been turned to stone it wouldn’t have even mattered if the drun were gone because nobody would be able to survive without their biggest natural resource? Idk i feel like sisus importance was glossed over a lot. Like the joke of her being a really good swimmer felt like a foreshadowing to her connection with the water and later when she dies and it’s gone it feels as though all hope is lost and the one thing keeping them alive was gone. I do agree with pretty much everything else pacing wise and such. i still enjoyed the movie but it’s not perfect maybe would have been better as a series
All the dragons are connected to water, there's one that makes fog, one that makes rain, they all can walk on rain and Sisu litterally says dragons bring water and life, the water disapear when Sisu is gone only because she was the last dragon, that's also why it came back before she does
@@Gilsidoo yeah, as far as I’m concerned, the film never explains why the dragons “trusted” her for the job. Literally anyone else would’ve been more reasonable to get the job done.
@@Framlii "No need to make things up" remind me what the main activity on this youtube channel is? I didn't have an explanation for glow and shapeshifting, now thanks to Darcy I have one, it's obvious dragons are all linked to water we just had to figure out how for some that are less obvious
For the fight, I feel like it does make sense? They specifically mention she was blinded by rage when the crew was looking for her. They've both lost everything that mattered to them and the only thing left was their rivalry with each other. One of the reasons the tribes couldn't trust each other was the idea that they were blinded by their own needs and problems that they failed to account for the others around them. Fang was more concerned with helping themselves first above everyone else- their people's needs were more important than those of the other tribes. Anyone who betrays anyone in the film does it for their own benefit. They're too involved in their own affairs to see the forest for the trees. The same thing is happening in the fight with Raya and Namari. Raya's so consumed by her need for vengeance that she loses sight of the "bigger picture." Namari's line about Sisu's death being Raya's fault too jogs her out of her anger, and her looking at her reflection in the sword, to me, feels like her realizing what she's become. That's how I saw it, at least.
This was so much better than How to Train your Dragon. Those movies were so predictable and filled with unlikable characters, expecially Hiccups mother.
@@sarasamaletdin4574 I respect your opinion but Raya is one of the most predictable things I've ever watched. Like I knew from the start Raya and Namaari will make up, save the world and unite the tribes again with the power of friendship/trust. For me at least HTTYD had more fleshed out characters and time to do so when raya felt like collecting characters and items from a video game with no proper character development and rushed pacing. Like ''hey my family is gone thanks to the Druun and I want them back. Lemme help you'' was technically the character trait for all of them and I find the con-baby a lil annoying. Of course I still think it's a good movie. But for me, it can't compare to the impact HTTYD had.
Am I the only one who noticed that the reason why Namaari and Raya “randomly started fighting was because Namaari’s Mother got turn to stone? I mean yeah, Sisu dyeing was a part of it and why RAYA was fighting, but the reason for NAMAARI suddenly fighting was because of her mother turning to stone.
To me, Raya's father looked like Disney just took a common man from my streets (Java, Indonesia) and shove him into the movie XD Same thing about the sword. It's called a Keris, a native sword from here and it wiggles like that. But it most certainly doesn't extend into pieces and whip like that.
agree..... its fun and exciting to notice parts of our culture in a disney movie, maybe that's why i like it so much, bias (: i notice a lot of batik patterns, sate, durian, rambutan, and even felt represented by the scenery such as rice fields, huts from hays, etc. if anyone notice things that represents Indonesia, please reply
Not Indonesian, but there is also Longgan (the fruit that Tuk Tuk is eating when young Raya brought Naamari to the Dragon Gem) not sure if its in other SEA countries but it is abundant here in the Philippines... along with Rambutan, Durian, and Jackfruit 😊😊😊 Also my dad mentioned that the sword is of Muslim culture, I found it cool... Also Dewdrop and Morning Mist (Raya and Naamari's nicknames) both translates to "Hamog" in Tagalog... I dunno what it adds, maybe like a coin symbolism, two of the same kind thingy but some fun facts for the comment scrollers hehehhe
Also, Shrimp Paste... I feel like they generalize it a bit... if I remember correctly the shrimp paste from Thailand is different the ones here in the Philippines
I actually really enjoyed this movie, mostly because the theme itself hit me so hard. I have a lot of trust issues so all the trust stuff hit me hard, plus the whole thing of accepting you had a part to play in the mistake.
I agree with you, and I’m honestly a bit scared of how much I distrust others. For me, Raya is sort of a warning sign of “this is who I could become if I don’t start letting people in”.
As soon as the guy was revealed to be her dad, I knew he was going to die/turn to stone. As soon as she made friends outside the “kingdom” (I guess) I knew there was going to be a double crossing. As soon as they died, with the gem put together, of course they are coming back to life. I loved the look of this film, and I loved the lack of male love interest and the possible chance of a lesbian relationship. I agree that this movie was good but could have been great and all the important moments fell short.
it wouldn’t be a classic disney ending, but considering the dragons stayed as stone after putting together the original stone, it would have been awesome and meaningful for raya and her friends to remain stone, sacrificing themselves for the good of everyone. then they become the symbols for coming together and unity
I laughed when SiSu died like full on laughed and said if this was a Disney sequel I’d say it’s a Disney sequel fakeout death and my friends looked at me like I was a crazy person
It's not a fake-out death. She actually died (the water going away and the gem's power fading is proof of this). Her siblings are the ones who restored her to life.
I think the pacing made some of the motivations/characterizations pass by a bit too quickly but I thought they were interesting and moving when you think about it. ***SPOILERS*** For one, I think the dragon necklace was a reminder to Raya that she couldn’t trust anyone even tho her father dreamt of a United Kumandra (all the parts of the dragon with a gem in the middle) plus she needed it to find Sisu, so it meant a lot to her. It was a symbol of the dream that destroyed her ‘perfect’ reality. For Namaari, it was a symbol of the moment she first saw the reality of looking out for yourself above everyone else. That it can end up costing you just as much as the ppl you sought to screw over. That necklace was a reminder that she was a child once, who hadn’t destroyed the world. Who had trusted her mother like Raya had trusted her. And maybe it broke the world. But her ppl were alright. And yet, she still clearly feels guilty. It’s also a symbol of what could’ve been. She and Raya seem to have crossed paths a fair amount over the years as they have a rapport, and an understanding of each other’s fighting styles, etc. so I think she probably wonders what things could’ve been like if she hadn’t betrayed her. Could they have really United Kumandra? Could they have been friends? Or More? (Their whole relationship definitely read as very enemies to lovers to me, and the actress for Raya says she purposefully played it that way!) The sword seemed to be less about reflection and more about unity. It’s made up of segmented pieces of a whole. They need to be separate. They need to be different shapes, otherwise they won’t all fit together. And they need to be able to come apart at times. But in the end, they always have to come back together. Otherwise, the sword is useless. As far as Fang’s stance on fixing the dragon gem, they said it in the movie but I get where it doesn’t feel like it makes sense. They were scared that if they just did their part to fix what they broke, everyone would punish them when they all came back since they broke the gem in the first place. They wanted to get Sisu and the pieces of them gem under their control so that they could play the heroes and ‘single-handedly’ fix everything so that ppl would be so happy that they’d forget who wrecked it all in the first place. Then with Namaari’s second betrayal, she was just trying to enact that plan; get Sisu and the gem pieces to her mother where they could fix everything and try to spin it so that they look like saviors instead of just folks cleaning up a mess they made. She clearly felt guilty about what happened to the world after her actions in Heart but she’s able to justify it bc her ppl are doing well and that was the point of what she did. If she fixes the world at the expense of her ppl, then the past 6 years of suffering would’ve been for nothing. I don’t think she ever really intended to pull the trigger, but she was scared and conflicted and she wanted them to do what she said. And then Raya, understandably, lost faith bc of her past betrayal and intervened. So where Raya’s concerned, they could’ve fixed everything if Namaari hadn’t betrayed her again, and in Namaari’s eyes, Sisu would still be okay if Raya had just trusted her to do the right thing and hadn’t interfered. So in that last battle sequence, neither of them care about fixing the world anymore. The last dragon is gone, the power of the gem is fading, and everything they fought for is lost. Raya’s last chance to see her father. Any hope of Namaari protecting her ppl, or even her mother. They don’t think there’s any fighting it and they just want the satisfaction of revenge before they die. So they fight. Bc they’re hurt and they’re hopeless, and they don’t want to blame themselves so they blame each other. And in the end, when they all give the gem pieces to Namaari, she doesn’t stop to fix it bc she knows that if it doesn’t work, that’s it for her. She won’t be able to get out of this cave in without whatever power is still in the gem pieces but if she makes a run for it, she might have a shot. Her whole life, she’s been taught to look out for herself first, and those instincts are flaring up dramatically trapped like she is. But in the end, Raya put her trust in Namaari, who had betrayed her. Who had ruined everything as far as she was concerned. And Namaari had to earn that trust. Even if it was the last thing she’d ever do. She couldn’t betray her a third time. I really liked the character dynamics between Raya and Namaari. They felt pretty fleshed-out and realistic to me, at least by implication anyway. I definitely would’ve liked to see more characterization for each of the ensemble cast, tho. I agree that it maybe should’ve been a show in which the first episode ends with Namaari’s betrayal, each subsequent episode features a new cast member (first Sisu, then each citizen of the remaining 4 countries), then an episode where they all try to come together by inviting Namaari to help, and we get a mirror to the first episode with this penultimate one ending in yet another betrayal by Namaari, then the finale picks up with the reaction to Sisu’s death, and Raya and Namaari fighting each other and goes through the sacrifice of the crew and Namaari’s choice, and finally, the reunions and reuniting of Kumandra. I would’ve absolutely loved that!
@Aislee Love Greenwood Thanks for your reply. I hope you won't mind a friendly rebuttal :) I see where you're coming from. I know that's probably the way the writers wanted it to be understood, but the "trust" seems more like blind faith to me. Namaari didn't do a whole lot to earn their trust, but she did plenty to break it. And though our small group of heroes decided to overlook the red flags and "trust" Namaari, the populations of each kingdom never came to the same consensus. There was no moment for the people to decide to trust, the dragons just came back so they had nothing to fight over anymore. So the unintentional message seems to be this: Trust people even if they consistently stab you in the back and disputes can't be ended until all the problems go away. Anyway, this is all in good fun. If you disagree I'd love to hear your thoughts!
While I will agree that I wasn't blown away by the movie, the motivations of the characters felt very clear to me. Particularly in terms of the ending fight. If you look at the motivations of both Raya and Namaari as trying as hard as they can the entire film to not fail their parents, the fact that they both ended up killing what they saw as their last chance to either bring their parent back or make their parent proud would be devastating. When their plans failed, they were both filled with pain, anger, shame, guilt, and loss and the easiest target to aim that at was each other. And, yes, the world was crumbling around them and, yes, there were bigger problems in the moment, but, for Raya who never properly processed the loss of her father and held this moment as her last chance to save him, this would feel like going through his loss again. And, just like last time, she feels partly responsible because she trusted someone who she shouldn't have trusted. For Namaari, she was raised to put her own moral code aside for the good of her people and to please her mother and it broke the world once. Then she was asked to do it again and it broke the world yet again. Now her mother was turned to stone and she knows she holds a lot of the blame because, as she was raised to believe, she couldn't be what her mother and her people needed her to be. Her entire life, she's sacrificed in the name of family and duty, giving up the chance at a friendship with Raya, that she clearly wanted, and even giving up her own sense of morality to be what she thought her mother and people wanted and needed. And still she failed. Maybe it isn't smart or practical or productive to point fingers at each other, but in moments of immense grief it's often easier to find someone to blame rather than deal with it. Even while acknowledging how toxic and damaging it can be, I can understand how it would feel preferable to focus on that anger to make yourself feel like you're getting vengeance or justice, rather than doing the harder work of dealing with your feelings of grief and guilt. Which is what makes Raya's and Namaari's decisions to look outside of themselves and their own mess, stop fighting, and help people significant. It's the harder choice. It's the choice we'd all like to think we'd make, but, in the moment, often don't, and often for reasons much like Raya's & Namaari's.
I think the movie really good it probably wasn’t the most amazing movie ever, but I feel it could have been better. However the theme and the visual and diversity are really great and really helped the movie!!
About Sisu's character feeling out of place because she's so optimistic, I believe that was because she lived in a time where the world was united and she hasn't been in the world torn apart by malice for long. She believes that the world can be united and optimistic again
Guys, we should make our own plan for a Raya and the Last Dragon series. Comment your ideas below. Like a lot of people here, I think it would’ve been great for Disney to make a series to flesh the characters out. Can’t wait to read your suggestions!
Idea: After the dragons are back all the dragons except sisu have obey whoever has the dragon gem. When the dragon gem disappears and dragons start attacking commandra (it's dark, I know) raya, sisu, namaari, boon, noo and tong go on a qwest to find the dragon gem and stop the dragon attacs, but they are faced with a moral dilemma. The dragon gem is too strong and you can not trust anyone with it, it is just too strong. Namaari's mother asks her to bring her the dragon gem and Namari faces a dilemma that no one knows about. raya also faces a moral dilemma because she doesnt think its right to control dragons and that they shouldnt be bound to the gem but if they are not then the drone will return. Siso is really worried about the safety of the other dragons and she is dealing with things that challenge her optimistic worldview. Boon and baby Noo go on the qwest without parents' permission and they hide it from the others, tata dont understand it because they have no idea how healthy parent-child relationships work (Namari's mother is distant from her and quite manipulative, Raya's father was a stone for most of her life, and Tong ... well, he's Tong. he wel He will probably notice, but will give them time to tell others themselves) The series will explore things like who is (note that Im not writeing in past tense) rayas mother and what happened to her, what happened to Namari's father, the deeper history of Komandra, rayas father dark past (that she was unaware of), The history of the dragons, the powers of the gem and other Continents ecsept komandra. For most of the series the cheracters escapes bandits and such after the mysterious villain who has the gem has posted ads saying he will bring a lot of money to whoever brings him his siso, the only dragon not under his control. you mabe noticed i have elot of ideas
I wanna see more of our Southeast Asian elements on it. They blend it too much that the southeast asian elements became too vague. I'd love to see her adventure during the last 6 years before she was able to resurrect Sisu.
It felt like the movie changed partway through. It started with Raya narrating and sisu making 21st century jokes, neither of which came back. I felt like the exposition was was rushed and we didn’t get to learn enough about the world and the characters. And I 100% agree with Ben and J that I hated the con baby
From 10:00 the Real SPOILERS sort of start. Just a heads up, cause they don't have any New Warnings from when it starts (after the spoiler warning in beginning) I haven't seen the movie yet so wanted just their thoughts of if it is worth paying for... I feel No.
I was blinded by negative reviews before watching the movie and refused to watch it. I'm saddened that I trusted others judgement honestly. It's an amazing movie to me
For me, I felt like the reason why the dragons didn’t come back is because everything was based on trust. The dragons trusted each other which let the humans come back and they trusted the humans to trust each other. However, the humans didn’t which didn’t allow the dragons to come back. However, the last moment where all our main cast, who are from the different tribes, come together and trust each other allowed for the dragons to come back. That’s just my take on it.
i guess the fact that each of the last people standing was from parts of kumandra makes thematic sense in that aspect. still, i kinda thought things would have been solved if they just got the gem pieces together, that's how poor the execution was
@@msk-qp6fn tbh, I think this story would’ve done been as a show, rather than a movie. Cause, it didn’t feel like any of the characters really bonded and stuff. I feel like if it was like an avatar situation, with each place their own arc, it would’ve made the whole friendship and trusting each their stuff a lot better. However, it just felt rushed, now
I felt like the sword may have been representative of Raya's literal moments of reflection as if Raya was looking at her self and even questioning why she's made her lens of the world so untrusting and wishing she didn't see it in that way.
Yeah, but it's not like she just turned into a pessimistic person randomly, she was constantly met with betrayal and consistently shown that she shouldn't trust people, we only see a glimpse of that in the movie with just her going from town to town and either being tricked or attacked. Imagine what the 6 years of her searching the rivers was like for her. I think that's long enough for her to give up on trusting random people. But she doesn't! She actually still trusts people, like the boat kid pretty quickly after getting to know him for like a day. I don't think she even has trust issues, because it seems like she's just being reasonably cautious around people.
@@emilynikkel5658 I Know and you make a fair point but she wishes that it never happened to her. The sword is meant to represent her moments of guilt and reflection. What the last 6 years have done to her and everything else in between that we didn't see or hear about on screen. Not many people wish to be pessimistic for the sake of being pessimistic. When she sees her self in the sword she may be reminded of how much she's grown up or her Ba. I agree no one is randomly pessimistic. She's just reflecting her character growth from a young girl of the dragon gem to a warrior woman.
I thought that them fighting at the end was to show that pride and rage make excellent tunnel vision. Pride is a very big motivation for Fang in general, hence them not helping everyone when they could.
A thing I noticed, the groups have weapons that are similar to the part of the dragon they’re named after. Like Tail uses curved blades kinda like a curled up tail, Talon dual wields sorta like how dragons have talons on both hands, the handles on Spine’s axes are long and arched like a spine, and Fang uses spears which are like a fang on a stick
I feel like the bad jokes and the baby character were just there so that little Timmy doesn’t get bored while watching the movie. I thought the animation was amazing though, I hope Disney keeps going with their visual masterpieces.
SPOILERS, DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN Hmm what if we actually get to see what the Fang queen was going to do to the group>! (Because she like "I know what to do with them" but we NEVER SEE WHAT SHE PLANNED) Maybe the group got captured. The queen then find out someone took the stone. The group then escaped. They runs into the Fang princess on their way out (I forgot how to spell her name ): ) and the gem exchange scene happen. Sisu wanted to talk to the princess, but then the Queen arrives and it put pressure on the princess to raise her crossbow. And then the scene with the crossbow happen where Raya accidentally got her to shoot the crossbow.
I think there will be a Raya series sometime in the future, mostly because every other Disney revival film has had a show or is getting a show except Wreck It Ralph and Frozen oddly enough, even though I expect they will also get shows by the time Frozen 3 comes out or something
I am 2 months late because I waited, pretty sure I made the right decision. Waiting for it was a better decision (no matter how annoyed I am at the paywall system)
I am so excited to see this! I am going to wait until June so I don't have to spend $30 because I did that with the live action Mulan and it was AWFUL. I'm sure Raya will be a lot better, mostly because it's animated, which is why I'm so happy because it looks gorgeous and engaging, but I already pay for the subscription so I'm just gonna wait. It'll be four days before my birthday when I can watch it for free anyway so it'll be worth it!
Yeah, I didn’t pay for Mulan and I’m not paying for this movie either. It makes no sense to pay an extra $30 on top of the $8 per month (or $96 per year)
No when the dragon died I got shocked and mad so they caught my emotion with that... but I feel like this whole story is missing is a little bit of information for the main characters so us audience can understand why they act how they act.
I can agree with most of the criticisms, but I still loved it anyways :) . I love dragons, especially Asiatic dragons, and the world created was evocative and fun. I give it an A-. I agree there were pacing and characterization issues, but the theme, world, and yes, the dragons, sold me hard!
yeah i was still moved and had fun watching raya but i am painfully aware how the direction was poor i like it but i would also heartily agree with people who rip it apart
It really bugged me that they didn't have their hands in the shape at the end when they were hit by the drune because the hand shape seemed really important even to the dragon and making the gem. Plus it pulls you out of the scene and makes it not hit as hard.
I watched the movie yesterday it was good,the whole comment section Is saying they need to feel emotionally attach or we dont really know the tribes. To me we technically kinda did but didn't.
I think it's less dislike and more of a feeling that it could have been better. Kind of like Brave, it was a movie with excellent grounds and mediocre execution
I know right. 2 princesses hand to hand battle? No musical? It's a totally different vibe. There is no muscular big guy that saves everybody. And i see this on a kid perspective. These kind of representations are needed. The tribes, and how it is important to unite, the amount of people Raya needs to carry along the way, the mistrust, like as a south east asian... I totally can relate..
I feel like Raya is more of an emotionally-driven character compared to other Disney princesses, she's young and really all she wants is to save her dad, she couldn't care less about everyone else and that makes her motives a bit weird and towards the end, she snaps when she seeks out Namari for the fight. Shes definitely a lot like Korra headstrong and stubborn which makes her seem a bit off because we don't see that in Disney princesses.
The design of the dragons was more accurate to the Vietnam/Singapore regions mythology. It looked a bit childish I’ll agree but honestly I thinks that because of the giant eyes and colours.
They looked like pets or even collectables but maybe that's just me. They lacked certain mystery or allure or grandness to them and the fact that Raya revived the last dragon so easily (or at least seemed like it) also didn't help. Makes me wonder why hasn't anybody else tried to revive it in 500 years.
I think the reason that the dragons came back the second time is because the druin were created by the people’s malicious so just the dragons coming together didn’t solve the problem the humans had to come together to full break the spell. That’s my interpretation anyway.
But the explanation of the drunn coming into their world doesn’t even make sense. Especially when you look at the beginning again and Raya, in her own words, was “Everyone lived in peace and harmony”
Y’all are like the only reviewing movie and show people I watch. Most people are so negative about everything and mostly just complain rather then actually give a genuine review.
I agree with a lot of your points. My biggest criticism was that it felt like the movie didn't want to committ to making Namaari or her mother true villains, but they also didn't do enough to establish believable moral conflicts for them to justify their selfish decisions. I will say, I interpreted Raya and Namaari's final fight as them (mostly Raya) fully accepting that there is no more hope. In that moment, there was no point trying to save anyone because there was no hope. All there was left for her was avenging Sisu before they all die.
I don’t get why everyone complains so much about paying for premiere access. I gladly paid to see some quality original Disney content. And you have to remember, these films are years in the making, lovingly crafted by countless talented individuals, intended for a theatrical release. The fact it has been added to premiere access is a compromise to allow people to see it. Rather than saying “well if your cinemas are closed, then tough, you’ll have to wait”. Obviously I would rather pay to see it on the big screen as it was intended. But I’m happy helping make sure that the movie/cinema industry doesn’t collapse, both as a result of this pandemic, and people who take streaming for granted.
I don't personally mind the premiere access concept, but as a single guy with no kids, I don't agree $30 is a fair price for it, especially on top of the D+ subscription. Maybe as a standalone, if you got to keep it.
key word been "quality content". You can have all the work, craft, effort and good intent put in but if the final product is still not good, one can't simply justify the price. Even though I bumped my opinion for Raya from mediocre to "good but could have been amazing" after watching this review, at the end of the day, unfortunately it is still not worth it IMHO. As for helping movie industry, not everybody has that kind of luxury to think or even spend. So, I think is very easy to see why people complain.
"I don’t get why everyone complains so much about paying for premiere access." Because I'm already paying for the subscription, and paying _more_ on top of that at Disney's whim is a bad idea for _my_ finances, especially if doing so encourages Disney to adopt that cost+cost business model for their films going forward. This isn't just about _one_ film. It's about them testing the waters about how much consumers are willing to throw money at them on demand. I don't look forward to a Disney+ where everything is an extra add-on charge. New movies? Extra cost. Back catalog? Extra cost. First-run shows? Extra cost. Pay-per-view content? Why not? That's the next step if the audience allows it. They can price D+ at a point that is sustainable without resorting to the all-too-common nickel-and-dime model. It's popular with businesses because it makes money for the company, not because it's good for consumers. When you have a monopoly, you don't offer deals better for your economic adversary than for yourself, and anyone who thinks this is a good deal is either bad at math or lying to themselves. The house always wins. Our only way to express any power in this transaction is to refrain from participation.
@@JosephDavies But this “extra cost” is as an alternative to the big screen. Even if Premiere Access continues past the pandemic, its purpose is to provide an alternative for those who would rather watch from home - which is a brand new concept that has never existed before, born out of a new reliance on streaming, and a decline in the cinema industry. I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect to pay for this luxury, since the alternative would be to pay to see it at the cinema. Either way, you are paying Disney to see a new release, which is not an outrageous idea. However, if like you suggest the concept snowballs out of control, to extra costs for everything, then I would agree we have a problem.
@@GirishManeShine If you paid to see this in the cinema, you would always be taking a gamble on whether you will like it or not. Your enjoyment is never sure-fire, or contingent on how much you paid. And when I say "quality content", I just mean that Disney Animations are of pretty consistent quality and craft, unlike some films produced by other studios, or those churned out in much shorter time frames. Even if you are comparing to the only other Premiere Access movie so far, "Mulan" - it's safe to say that their live action track record is rather lacking compared to their original animations.
Stick with me here... was anyone reminded of Sly Cooper? The movie felt like a video game in general but they had so much in common. Going to different cities? To collect different artifacts? Getting new friends in each city? A thief/con artist that can scale building and sneak through the night? A female anti hero that works with them in the end?
What i thought when raya and namaari were fighting each other was that namaari basically took the one chance raya had of getting her father back away from her, so she was blinded by that rage and wanted to get revenge
okay so i watched this movie once it was free on disney+ cause ur girl is brokeee. but honestly i really lovedddd this movie. like i cried watching this. raya as a character, i understand why she is so pesimistic and have trust issues because she literally witnessed 4 different groups of ppl fall apart right in front of her eyes even though her father trusted them. and because of that it ultimately led to her father turning into stone so her feelings are completely valid. i think her and namari and the pendant thing made sense. like when i was tht age and a girl that had the same interest as me gave me her fav "merch" of tht item, i would have been super touched and we would have immediately been bffs. i understand why the pendant held sentimental value to the both of them. i think tht part was genuine for namari but she was conflicted with wat her tribe needs. felt like more details could have been added to explain the situation better. WHY WAS HEART SO PROSPEROUS AND LUSCIOUS? like they never gave any explanation of why Heart was doing so well and the otbers were not. since its not cause of the gem. I ACTUALLY LIKED THE CON-BABY AND THE SUPER GEN Z JOKES 😂 first obviously it felt weird and out of place for the gen z jokes but i thought it was funnier at the fact tht a dragon who has been MIA for 500+ years was talking about just beind the one tht handed in the report in a group project. i tot con-baby gave more insight in the kind of environment Noi was force to live in. like i thought tht it was a commentary of how bad the situation has gotten to the point where babies learn how to con ppl from their surrounding. despite tht i thought it was funny to have a con baby. i mean we can have a boss baby so why not this one?
Yes, a Disney Princess: to build on what he said about the lead being Asian decent. It is representation for the asians and to bolster up the disney plus subscriptions (as mentioned) because Disney plus came to Singapore on the Feb21, and it is also expected to enter several countries in 2021 such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Philippines. Right now, most asian kids dress as either Elsa and Anna.. this would be an alternative (i suppose?) Also since there is a lot of asian casts members, this is like the crazy rich asians but disney style. And we all know how much that franchise has done for the asian community.
Question: Not to rely too heavily on originating cultures of the movie but does the cultural background of the viewer make the viewer appreciate Raya more? Being filipino myself I was very pleased to see that there is a more mature Disney movie that was portraying Southeast Asian culture and throughout the entire movie I was wanting to dissect the movie in its cultural inspiration. The story was good in my opinion and the overall message was something I enjoyed but having the underlying excitement of representation really sweetened the deal for me. Do other viewers of other movies also resonate slightly more depending on the viewer's cultural background? For example, if the viewer is influenced by Middle Eastern cultures, do they see Aladdin any more relatable? or if your family is of Northern European descent do you see Frozen any more appealing? Food for thought.
My husband is Lao/Thai and he was obsessed with the movie so I definitely agree it is geared towards people from that culture. I think it’s kind of like coco. It didn’t seem to do as well in places with less Mexicans. My personal opinion is that they can be authentic or marketable. It’s is almost impossible to be both
I think knowledge of cultural origins definitely affects your views of the film. How excited was everyone when they saw raya with escrima sticks? If you aren’t familiar with those things, maybe you’re less impressed. I think Disney dipping into Asian representation is important. I also think familiarity with Asian culture and dynamics also plays into how much you enjoy, or relate to the lessons and tones in the film.
Alright story time: In Sweden you can buy this movie on Disney+ for 250 kr. That’s roughly 30$. And you can also see it in cinema for 120 kr. That’s roughly 10 $. So it’s actually cheaper in cinema (2 cinemas open in the swedish capital Stockholm where I live). And the feeling and the whole atmosphere is like 100 times better in a cinema rather than watching a movie at home. I would’ve probably felt like Ben if I had just seen it in my house. I don’t know what country y’all live in but if it’s possible watch this in cinema. It’s legit made for that experience. I loved it. Would easily go 93%. Have a nice day 🌸
I felt the Reflections in the swords were reminders to raya and her father about what their true motives are. If they don’t stand down to stop the fighting then nothing will change. Literally “holding up a mirror to oneself”
I was pleasantly surprised by Sisu in the movie. I was worried she’d be more like Mushu, the “failure” dragon. What really endeared me to her is that the first thing she says when Raya summons her is her siblings names and I felt for her predicament. I loved Sisu the most in this movie because of the relationship she had with her siblings and I would love to see more of them in the future. Overall, I loved the movie! I loved it so much I watched it twice! I do agree that the pacing is a bit quick and I felt like Tongs comedy was a bit out of place from the rest he reminded me of Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy in many ways. I also felt the Ninja baby was a bit of an odd choice.
I agree that some people say this movie was too "fast paced" or felt short, but i don't care at all, we rarely seen a southeast asian inspired movie before, and i (an indonesian) felt sooo happy and emotional that this movie represent of our culture so well, not to be biased or anything, it's just that good, and i almost teared up at the end. It's heartwarming. In the end, just respect the movie with love for what it is
I felt like Disney didn't put their heart in this one and it just fell flat. It could have been a great movie, I was excited, but it just... Nope. I would have out it much lower at like a 50 or 60.
They had amazing ideas and they had amazing animation as well but for some reason they just didn’t stretch it out to as good as it could be, I don’t blame them we’re all having a hard time, but we see things like Pixar and marvel getting amazing results even in this hard time so either they’re lazy or they just had some really bad setbacks because it was a good movie but I just think it could’ve been better,
When I saw the trailer for Raya, I was super excited. When I started the movie, I was super excited. I can't say I got all I wanted from the film. I'm not saying it wasn't good. It was an enjoyable story with characters you wanted to know more about, but it felt extremely rushed. The beginning was great but they spent 20 minutes explaining what could have been a five-minute flashback in the middle of the film (have a little mystery!) and then they had to sprint to move the plot forward. I liked the locations introduced there but we never really got to see any of the world everything was happening in. I wanted to spend time in Talon (I think that's the one on water), it seemed Awesome, but we only got to see it for a couple of minutes. Then there's the theme...Many things felt forced to me. I liked the whole "Put your faith in others" idea, but the situations the characters found themselves in never had me doubting that things would work out. I never felt like Raya needed others to succeed. I never felt like Raya needed anything, she did everything by herself and nothing really felt like a challenge. I like a character that's calm and collected and knows what they're doing but I don't think that's what they were going for... Alsooooo, even though that's not really important, I wanted songs! Disney is soooo good at making characters express their emotions through singing. One music number between Sisu and Raya where the dragon starts talking about trust and hope and all that and then Raya just interrupts her mid-song and kicks up the tune to go on and say that you can't trust anyone because people only think about themselves would've done it for me!
Honestly, I think the movie would have been SO much better if Sisu got severely injured earlier. I mean the thing that's missing is a big moment in the middle. Let's say that Sisu tells Raya how she used the stone, and trust dragon circle flash back thing when they meet. Imagine if that moment where Sisu looks into Namaari's eyes after they met that big warrior dude from spine, Namaari points her weapon at her, but hesitates in fear and amazement, and _then_ Raya hits her bow with the sword, and that injures Sisu and makes her too weak to fight. That then confirms in Raya's mind that the Fang is their enemy, despite Sisu's pleas, and makes her more determined. Then as the crew is trying to sneak into fang, Namaari notices, and (against her mums wishes) gets the gem and tries to give it to them, cos she thinks they can save everyone with the dragon. Raya doesn't trust her tho, and refuses to lower her sword, giving Namaari's mum enough time to intervene. Raya thinks this was another trick. Raya then goes after Namaari in rage again and this time, Namaari is talking Raya down and telling her how she was trying to help, and at this time, Sisu dies because of her injuries (maybe the boy stayed with her, since he's got no fighting skills and it doesn't make sense for him to try and sneak in) Raya see's the waters fading out and realises something's wrong and goes to help the others, and the rest plays out the same. It also would have been cool if they framed Namaari's mum as the villain, and little Namaari had nothing to do with trying to get the stone, and was reluctanatly following her mums orders the whole time when she grew up.
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Raya gets punished in the beginning for being too trusting...then she gets punished in the end for being too guarded and not trusting enough...meanwhile, those who've wronged her make no acknowledgment of their own wrong doing. Really puts a lot of blame on the victim of the trauma.
This, yes. This movie makes me so unnecessarily angry considering it’s a kids move.
I loved everything about the movie EXCEPT I didn't like how Raya was blamed for Sisu's death. Like her not blindly Trusting an individual holding a crossbow to someone's chest is her fault? I didn't like that at all. It felt kind of gaslighty.
that scene was what made me realize how "moderate" this movie was, a lot of sisu's scenes felt like "let's just sit and talk and come to a conclusion together" when raya's been living in the world for years and clearly knows that isn't going to work. for me at least, after realizing that all the meta commentary just became super blatant and very cringy
The reason I can see blame for Raya is more so she attacked somebody at a distance with their finger on a trigger. Now I get why she did it, but at the same time Naymari was clearly shaken and a bit jumpy to the situation. Any force or quick movements would easily get a slip of the trigger
Plus when you think about it, Namaari is technically Raya's abuser. She caused Raya a lot of trauma at a very young age but Raya is meant to trust her? Raya obviously has severe PTSD from when Namaari betrayed her, caused the Druun to come back, and took Raya's father away. The thing that would have been best for Raya is not to blindly trust her abuser but to instead walk away from her. Maybe they would have been able to eventually make up but forcing Raya into trusting her abuser when she is obviously not healed is just not the move.
That is Correct. Trust has to Be Earned
It was partly Raya's fault because she didn't trust her NOT to shoot, which caused her to fire the arrow.
My husbands reaction was he wished it was a series not a movie. To give more time to flesh out all the characters and unique cultures. Mine was, when was the last "princess" movie without music? We agreed it was good but fell short.
i agree with your husband, mostly because it worked so well with avatar the last airbender
@@swap9649 lol yeah
Yes I haven’t even watched it but I wish it was a series and maybe in 2d It would be better for world building and more character development. And time with each people that are divided. In this world. It would be so coool!!and yes it has that avatar feel to it and kinda an avatar vibe but like it’s own thing yk
I mean this movie did have music and it wasn't even a princess movie. It was an action movie.
@@mareebee7046 that'd be cool ya
Anyone else finally watching this review now that this movie isn't behind an extra paywall anymore??
Yes.
You bet!
Yep!
Same
Ya
"This is a movie that is good, but should have been amazing." Couldn't agree with Ben more!
Me too
Ikr
Ditto here. I felt like it had stellar setups for things that just got forgotten, and a lot of events that weren't set up in any way, completely blindsiding the viewer.
I liked pretty much all the characters, but the story felt like they forgot to show/tell about 50% of the relevant information. I bet they had to cut a ton of what was supposed to be there due to movie length constraints.
It was an alright movie but its alot better then mulan
I wish the movie raya and the last dragon would have been 2 hours and talking about Raya mother
In my opinion, Sisu kept talking about bringing/giving gifts is because it's very much an Asian culture. It's kind of like "bringing a bottle of wine to a dinner party at someone's place" for a western setting.
Oooo cool I wondered that
Yeah I agree! Gift giving and offering food are two very Asian things that show warmth and friendliness
I was just going to say the same thing! It’s a very Asian culture thing.
Yesssss this!!! I was suprised they didn’t bother to even look this up beforehand it’s such a prominent part of many Asian cultures. I lived in SEA and Japan for 8 years and for me I noticed it straight away and loved how they wove it into the story
It’s definitely true, we always come announced and with a gift in hand, it’s common curtesy
The movie felt like a rushed season fo a show. Many things happen bur we don’t get to know the characters at all.
yeah thats a really good point, i didn't feel any emotional connection with thecharcters at all. but I really really liked the idea and theme, would make an amazing book in my opinion
I loved the con baby. I don't think the monkeys were super trained but were instead just raising a baby. I think the con was being played by the monkeys. They stole the jem pieces. The baby was just acting like a baby. The monkeys climbed the wall.
@@paulsardinasify I honestly like con baby more then the kid chef
I 100% DISAGREE
@@NoraMakesSounds Me too.
There is a hidden power.
She's not just good at swimming.
She's THE water dragon.
She thought she's worthless. The one who doesn't contribute to the group project but she provides water to the world.
Even without the Drunn, without her, the world is dead.
It would have been nice if they put more emphasis on this. like a singular line thats just like 'she was the one keeping us all safe this whole time'
because i didnt even think of this till now
Nice! SCB needs to make this theory vid
Agree
I wish this was actually canon and was a plot point in the movie. This would make more sense why she was chosen to keep the dragon gem out of everyone. As much as I am absolutely fine with the average anybody getting picked to do the impossibe by coincedence but considering trust is the focus and theme, there really ought to be some reason for them to trust her. Since we really don't get to see Sisu and her sibling's dynamic or see any of Sisu's input actually helping Raya, it makes more sense for Sisu to be THE water dragon.
Actually Raya going to fight Namari instead of helping people makes sense- she was ONLY doing this to bring back her dad (her motivation only changed to 'and his dream' because of Sisu who got killed) so all she wants is to destroy the one who took it all away. Which she realizes is wrong only when she sees the friends she's made along the way trying.
Completely agree with this !!
This is clearly the reason. I’m surprised they didn’t get this vibe
I thought Namari would have, and should have, been killed.
Yeah, I actually liked that part. It made her character more "human."
Agreed, I think Tong also makes a comment along these lines about her being blinded by her rage
Im disappointed what they did with Raya. She is a badass but there is nothing else to her personality. Moana was a badass too but she had a personality. So sad that they miss the mark and didn’t show us anything about raya quirks
I don't think its that she lacks personality she has plenty of that, but it gets drowned out by having so many other "main" characters, with Moana its her and Maui, with Raya you have 5 really important people for the story so you never get to rest on any of them.
So it ends up just being, This one is untrusting, this one cooks, this one is a thief, this guy is missing his family and this one feels pressure from her mom.
Edit:
And I feel the fact that I forgot about the dragon while writing this proves my point xD
@@belzedk agreed, I don’t think Raya necessarily lacked personality, but since we had to cram so many characters into an hour and a half, she didn’t have a chance to show much of it.
What I liked about Raya is to me she’s really different from other Disney princesses. It seems like the “personality” for so many of the princesses is just, I don’t being here and I want to go on a quest to figure out who I am. I think it’s refreshing how Raya starts out the story already confident in herself. I also like how from the get go it is clear she has flaws. She doesn’t care about helping the word, just getting her dad back. To me, her fear and mistrust make her more relatable. I her flaws make her character a lot more interesting, I just wish there had been more time to develop it. I also really wished there had been more development of the Namaari Raya relationship. I wish this movie had been made a tv show instead
@@belzedk I didn't like the kid chef at all
Ehh,I felt like Raya had little personality but had flaws but Moana had a personality (I think )too little to no flaws.
It felt awkward. It’s dialogue was very obviously “gen z” catered. Which I get, cause it’s supposed to be a kids movie, but it was cringey at times. The atmosphere, the environment and even the “time period” felt specific and then bam! They throw in many 2021 references and slang. It took me out of the movie a lot. Also the con-baby was weird too me. That baby was 2 years old but moved and acted like an adult almost. Again, it took me out of the movie cause my brain was thinking “how tf is this baby understanding all these complex ideas.” I’m probably nitpicking, but those were just things that took me out of the movie, and made me question it more than enjoying it.
I totally agree with what you say right here haha, I really felt that as well
@@brummelbar I did not question the con-baby and it's abilities because maybe that's just a thing in this weird, mythical world. If this movie took place on earth, I'd have serious issues.
You need to make a movie-reviewing channel bro
When I saw the movie, and she started to work with the baby, I said, out loud
"Ah, so she's using child labor."
It felt like they were trying to imitate the Genie and Mushu but went way too far with it. Anytime they mentioned something it was a quick reference or a visual gag but with Sisu it's basically her entire personality. Robin Williams made countless modern era jokes or references in Aladdin and it didn't hurt the film one bit, in fact it made for some humorous moments when you spot something he does.
I was so excited for Raya when I saw the poster and was going to watch it at my local cinema.... Until I saw the trailer and lost pretty much all interest in the film. I felt the script in general felt weak in terms of dialog but Sisu was the worst. No offense to the VA but I found Sisu annoying and cringy at times. She lacks all subtlety and killed the mood whenever she started popping off.
There were a lot of things I have issues with, but their fight I kind of understood. Raya blames Namaari for the death of Sisu, which basically means she will never get her father back. Namaari blames Raya fo the death of Sisu, because her mother had been turned to stone because of it. They are blinded with rage and don't care about anything/anyone else because, as far as they know, they've already lost everything that mattered to them.
I'm not saying it's sensible or anything, but it kind of makes sense.
But to say that Raya didn’t trust Sisu or was responsible for her death is kind of idiotic. She had no problems with trusting Sisu. It was Namaari she had problems with. You know? The girl that stabbed her in the back and was planning to beat her to death after she lost at the Spine.
@@Dr.Meme-Man To be honest, If Raya had fully trusted Sisu, she never would've interfered. Her trusting Sisu wasn't evil is not enough, she should've trusted that Sisu knew what she was doing. Sisu knew Namaari wasn't gonna shoot (and I believe so, too), Raya didn't trust her enough to have faith in Sisu's instincts.
I agree
The point was that Sisu trusted Namaari so when Raya didn’t trust Sisu’s judgement that’s what is meant. But of course Namaari is more to blame.
nah it made sense, at that point they suffered loss Raya lost her entire tribe now and namaari her mother. So for raya it was if the world is burning we'll both burn.
Am I missing something? I did not like the message of trusting people at all. It was contradictory and just a bad message for children in general. I mean the conflict came from the dad trusting people..and then the solution to the conflict was to trust people? If the message was more centered on forgiveness then I would be pretty content but "trust people even if they have backstabbed you multiple times" is a bad theme I would say.
Finally, I found a comment that's not 'oh Raya clearly has trust issues and she needs to get over them' like, she has trusted every person that has proven trustworthy, including some people she shouldn't have trusted. She shouldn't have to keep extending olive branches to those who have consistently worked against her.
Yeah that was odd
To be fair the movie. points this out too. Remember that fantasy sequence. I think you should try to see the. good in people most of the time but not literally all the time.
Yesss honestly how many time did the fang tribe girl try to trick her and hurt her... yet.... raya was seen as bad for not trusting her :/
Trusting people isn’t a bad message. It isn’t a bad message for children. But, I agree with you that in this movie it is a contradictory message.
I think the big issue was the time. They had way too many characters that could have used a lot more building. But instead it felt like "Hey theres this character, heres a little bit of their past, ok NEXT"
You guys should really hear our old granny's tell stories to us Asian kids. You'd understand why the movie seemed rushed😂😂😂 (it really wasn't... I only regret that they didn't spend more time developing Raya and Namaari's friendship and ultimately making them lovers)
It's because, it's a movie. The movie is GREAT but, it's quite rushed.
Should've been a series.
@@tick1180 I'd argue it could have been great but isn't great. Decent to good. Its only flaw is that it's rushed but that hinders quite a lot with the progression and buildup of the story and characters and that's everything.
@@chetsi_099 Well that's your granny and then this is Disney with a list of professional story writers. And it's one thing to just listen to a narration for kids which is typically less than 30 minutes long and another to see a movie which we have come to expect to be invested in the characters and story.
I'm more concerned about the unintentional lesson Disney pushed regarding trust. I mean it is great to learn to overcome past prejudices and build trust with past enemies but the fact that Disney pushes this idea with out ever acknowledging the damage that was caused to Raya or ever having Raya receive a very well deserved apology.
it felt SO short, and they made a movie with southeast asian cultures when disney+ isn't even available in most SEA countries 💀 it just felt like wasted potential yk
@Fahim Shahriar because we're still in the pandemic and cinema still closed, at least in Surabaya is. They could have promote it better, use it to gain more subscriptions or launch the app in SEA countries, I just found out that hotstar is different version of disney+ that doesn't feature Raya trailer, let alone access to online view.
I want to watch but it isn't available in my country. I'm from south east asia!!!
The Philippines doesn't have any open theaters, and we don't have Disney+
It’s actually quite long and Disney would not have wanted this pandemic to still be an issue.
This movie would've been so much better longer or as a tv show. Everything went so quickly and it didn't let the audience breathe. They were so focused on moving the plot, they didn't develop the characters well enough.
Yeah, the movie felt like the grand finale to a tv show.
I also noticed they weren't fleshed out that well
Yeah and I felt like I didn’t get to know any of the characters. Like raya didn’t have a personality she was a badass but you don’t get to know her.
I completely agree
I hope they make sequels and things like that because the themes and impactful moments were good but it was very fast and I feel like it would gain a lot from fleshing out the characters and continuing with the world building. Also it will probably be better on the second watch because people will be looking for things they missed about the characters and people know what happens in the impactful moments.
I genuinely thought this movie might be the first Disney animated cliff hanger ending. This would have made one heck of a trilogy.
Man that would’ve been kinda cool-
Agreed
i keep saying this. this movie has so much going for it but they don't give the emotions quite enough time in the oven to really bake. if this was a trilogy, it would be an easy 10/10
I remember when I first saw this movie, about 15 minutes in I genuinely believed this might become one of my favorite movies of all time. By the end I was like, “Eh, that was ok.”. Which I think might have been the quickest my opinions on a movie have ever changed. The characters were extremely one dimensional and the world was amazing, but felt like it could have been fleshed out more. I think this would have been a lot better as a TV show where they have the time to explore the world and deepen the characters. It’s like if Avatar: The Last Airbender wasn’t a show but instead a movie where all of the characters were stripped of their depth and we barely got to explore the universe they created. Wait.
There is no movie in Ba Sing Se.
Just one thing tho , Sisu does have a hidden power that is not actually hidden at all , she IS water , the embodiment of it , and you know , where is water there is life, which means Sisu is not only the most optimistic , hopeful and obliviously most humble dragon ever , she is the fuel for all of her siblings powers, the fuel for everything actually, she is literally the embodiment of Life !
Exactly and all of the water disappeared when she died....
i had to look this up and apparently their saying her hidden power is unity like rayas dad wanted for the other tribes
could be but this is technically not canon and just a theory, and even if this was true it was never addressed in the movie directly so yeah the plot execution was poor. also, you could argue the water disappeared because in raya's world dragons are supposed to bring water into the world so water disappearing when the last dragon dying makes sense.
As an Asian, I couldn't stop thinking the magical creatures like Sisu and the Droons could have looked much more unique and stand out (in a way Terry and the Jerrys did in Soul) if they added some more Asian stuff to them
Yeah that’s true, there are so many weird urban legends and myths in Southeast Asia, where I come from we got people with horse heads and women with severed bodies eating unborn children, but they picked dragons and a dark shadowy ball. And I get that they couldn’t show favor to one country more than the other without getting backlash but it still would’ve been cool to see stuff from your culture in the movie and maybe recognize other cultures as well
we are so used to seeing East Asian dragons! Southeast Asian dragons are diff!
@@Tokidoki53899 Still it is too "My little pony" styled
I feel like they were trying to make the dragons look Asian but they still wanted them to look cartoony and appeal to American audiences. I personally would have enjoyed it a lot more if they didn’t try to make it cartoony.
Druun, not Droon.
Ultimately, the pacing was weird, the characters weren't very fleshed out, and it was so annoying how much they shoved the idea that you need to trust people down your throat. A bit overkill and instead of thinking about the message it made me think about how many times they've said that trust is important vs created a good scene that effectively portrayed the message without having to blatantly point it out.
Good to know! I'm relying on the comment section to tell me how the movie is, and I believe you xD
@@dua_junaid Well if you want my opinion, it’s a cinematic masterpiece.
@@thefreerepublicofadmiralpr2935 I’m sure it looks really cool, but so did the live action Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and Aladdin. They failed in my eyes cause they lacked substance, and Disney seems to be doing that a lot lately (focusing more on the beauty rather than the story or characters, and what message they’re trying to convey). That’s why I’m weary of watching it, I’m tired of bad stories, and underdeveloped characters- (although Soul was awesome).
I’ll judge for myself when I see the movie (when it’s cheap), but I can’t say I’m surprised with a lot of peoples’ reviews on this movie... Thanks for your input!
@@dua_junaid No problem. I won’t spoil anything, but you’re guaranteed to get emotional with some scenes, the animation is top notch (all done at home by the way ‘cause COVID), visuals compliment the scenes, the worldbuilding is incredible and even quite clever if you look closely at it, the action scenes are epic and badass, and the southeast Asian culture is done right. The trust message I feel is not shoved down your throat, but shown effectively (that’s subjective though). While the pacing WAS off, I felt it complimented the story in quite a couple instances. Oh, and you’re going to get a kick out of some of the side characters.
Those are my thoughts. I’m practicing for my video review on the film that I’m planning out.
@@thefreerepublicofadmiralpr2935 Sweet! Thank you :)
"This character feels unrealistic because their positive. Wow, I don't like that sentence."
This hit me hard 👆 I had not thought of that but wow.
"other tribes are heavily insprised by specific asian cultures" bro i can't even point out which countries are which tribe in the film, they made us into a monolith and just split us into 5
Exactly. It became too vague I can't identify which is which.
My feeling was that they were trying to make this movie "ethnic" for the sake of it, not because there was a real interest in representing different cultures.
Yeah, and the spine tribe lives in a place with SNOW
Are they sure they visited SOUTH EAST Asia?
Have you ever red/watched European fantasy? That’s what always happens when it’s fictional world like Middle-Earth or Westeros. This isn’t set in real world either.
Right? It's just one more thing that seems like they lifted from Avatar the Last Airbender that Avatar still did way better.
I personally believe that the lack of Disney songs really hurt the movie. Disney songs accomplish soooo much. They progress the plot, develop characters, and allow the audience to connect to the characters in such a short time.
Agree
Also agree. Good songs could have made this movie so much better.
I hope they aren’t trying to get rid of the music, since they also removed the music in 2020 Mulan. It’s not likely they will go away, but it makes me nervous.
The structure of musicals goes when the emotions get too high for words, you sing them (then when it's too emotional for singing, you dance). While I personally don't think Raya was musical material, it probably would have helped the pacing to add songs!
Ya I was just realizing it didn’t have a song except for during the credits
My interpretation for why Raya and Namarii fight is because at that point both Raya and Namarii have given up Sisu is dead and therefore there goes their last hope of survival so why not fight it out they are all going to die anyway all the waters gone there’s nothing to hold back the drune it’s over so Raya and Namarii do the one thing they have left and fight the person they blame for the end of the world
Do you not know how to use a PERIOD at the end of your sentences?!?!?!
@@DavidRay_40 i know how to I just choose not to because I thrive in chaos :)
My biggest issue was that I didn't find it believable that just because this group of people who already trust each other add another person to their trusting list suddenly EVERYONE ELSE is gonna trust each other. The only reason everyone decides to unite is because their loved ones and, more importantly, the dragons are back, not because they actually learned to work together and trust each other.
So... you don't find a movie about a fantasy land with dragons and smoke monsters BELIEVABLE... OK
@@robertshelek5435 I hate this argument so much, but even though I'm pretty sure you know what I mean, I'll humor you.
I meant that, even within the context of the movie, its mythology and its rules, I didn't find it believable.
@@meg3809 my point is... it is a fantasy movie... by definition it is unbelievable. If we can watch a film and accept dragons and magic, we need to be open to fantastical things like the relationships in the film. They are meant to show an ideal and convey a moral. Yes it is extreme, and would never happen in the real world. But it’s not the real world. That’s my point. And for what it’s worth, the kids I watched it with (who are the intended audience) had no problems with the relationships between the characters. They just loved the characters and the setting.
@@robertshelek5435 I'm really happy that the kids you watched it with liked it because the representation and the message are important, I just think that specific plot point could've been better executed.
i totally agree. i thought the ending was going to be a little different. such as where this new group of friends, with each individual from a different tribe, who now trusted each other were going to have to build up and convince their own tribes that having Kumundra again is possible or something. and they would become the new leaders... but no. they just all band together with smiles because now the dragons are back and there's no gem to fight over or drunes to kill them. /:
Y’all kind of missed a crucial part of why Namari has the crossbow. I suggest watching it again cause I didn’t pick up on it at first either. Namari is the one that lead fang to the gem, she betrayed Raya, she failed to get the gem pieces from her & when she came home SUPER excited about seeing sisu, she wants to help Raya but her mom says that instead they need to take the gem pieces and sisu so THEY can be the ones to fix the world. Namari didn’t know what her mom was planning and when she asked her mom just says “that’s none of your concern. You’ve done enough”. She feels guilty for breaking the world, and feels like a failure. She brought the crossbow cause she was trying to do what her mother wanted. That’s why she says “sisu and the gem pieces are coming with me”.
Maybe Sisu was the heart. That is why she was trusted with the gem.
I got a feeling her power was trust/hope
I think she was the one trusted with the gem is bc she is a WATER dragon. So incase it didnt stop, they can still have a WATER protection from Sisu
She's the literal water dragon.
She died and all the water is gone.
Without her, the world would have died even without the Drunn.
Well even if she was it wasn't portrayed in the movie so.....
I wish there was more development on the Druun, it looks really interesting and I think that it needed more backstory. Actually, I think pretty much all of the characters needed more fleshing out.
You were told all you needed to know about them.
The gift is important because Raya never gave up on it. Even when it was a trick, the moment she was given it meant so much to her that she carried it with her for years.
It represented both the best experience and worst experience. Eventually the entire experience paid off and saved everyone. If she hadn't gone through what she was through the clans would still be at odds with each other, the dragons would have never returned, and the druuns would forever haunt them.
EDIT: it wasn't true for Naamari until it was. Her character growth was the point of the film. Raya was just the person struggling to help her grow.
Also naamari was a kid and only back stabbed raya cause of her family pressure. Naamari is a good person in her heart
i just thought she kept it coz its sisu and shes a "dragon nerd"
@@darcyparrott1002 I dunno, she seemed pretty willing to me. We don't see any signs of genuine regret or sorrow that she had to betray Raya even as a kid, and we don't see those sentiments when she grows up either. She even says things like we/Fang didn't mean for the world to break, and yes that is true because Fang ONLY meant to steal from Heart their source of prosperity during what is akin to a peace summit...yEAH, no wonder the other regions blame Fang. While each stole a piece, Fang was clearly were the only ones who planned to steal from Heart from the beginning, and intentionally or not it lead to the dragon gem breaking and mistrust growing stronger. Namari may not be a bad person and she is far from an evil one, and she is an effective leader but she is narrow-minded and lacks emotional intelligence when it comes to others. Or maybe she is willfully ignorant.
I feel that it makes perfect sense for Raya and Namaari to fight at the end. As you said Raya went on this quest mostly for selfish purposes ( get her dad back) and now when she thinks Sisu is dead she believes that the quest is over and that it failed. That is why she went after Namaari, to get revenge on the person who started this all. I honestly think she could have cared less about the Druun. Or maybe she just needed to let all that anger out.
I’m not sure if I’m the only one but I really enjoyed raya. It brought me to tears and it was just such a beautiful movie that really moved me. It just spoke to me and it hit me really hard emotionally. I don’t think there’s anything that should change about it but I do agree it would be cool to see this as a series to get to know the characters more.
I enjoyed it but I just wish it was a show
It was an ok movie… but far away from moana or frozen etc.
Yep, TOTALLY LOVED it!!!
I teared up many times and I enjoyed the visuals but I still wouldn't say Raya was great lol
YES ok im glad i found someone in here who experienced it the way i did. im noticing that it feels oddly hurtful to see people criticize it, bc of how meaningful it felt to me lol
It gives me vibes of “this could be a good year-long D&D campaign”
so true! i had a whip sword like rayas for my rouge once upon a campaign
Sisu’s power literally brings life to the world as without her there is no water to yknow,,, make everything live? I feel she was chosen to use the gem because if she had been turned to stone it wouldn’t have even mattered if the drun were gone because nobody would be able to survive without their biggest natural resource? Idk i feel like sisus importance was glossed over a lot. Like the joke of her being a really good swimmer felt like a foreshadowing to her connection with the water and later when she dies and it’s gone it feels as though all hope is lost and the one thing keeping them alive was gone.
I do agree with pretty much everything else pacing wise and such. i still enjoyed the movie but it’s not perfect maybe would have been better as a series
All the dragons are connected to water, there's one that makes fog, one that makes rain, they all can walk on rain and Sisu litterally says dragons bring water and life, the water disapear when Sisu is gone only because she was the last dragon, that's also why it came back before she does
@@Gilsidoo yeah, as far as I’m concerned, the film never explains why the dragons “trusted” her for the job. Literally anyone else would’ve been more reasonable to get the job done.
@@Gilsidoo not all the dragon are connected to dragon. Shapeshifter isn’t, glowing dragon isn’t. No need to make things up
Glow: Water reflect Or shines and shapshifting: water takes the shape of it's container
I think sisu's power is to go with the flow
@@Framlii "No need to make things up" remind me what the main activity on this youtube channel is? I didn't have an explanation for glow and shapeshifting, now thanks to Darcy I have one, it's obvious dragons are all linked to water we just had to figure out how for some that are less obvious
For the fight, I feel like it does make sense? They specifically mention she was blinded by rage when the crew was looking for her. They've both lost everything that mattered to them and the only thing left was their rivalry with each other. One of the reasons the tribes couldn't trust each other was the idea that they were blinded by their own needs and problems that they failed to account for the others around them. Fang was more concerned with helping themselves first above everyone else- their people's needs were more important than those of the other tribes. Anyone who betrays anyone in the film does it for their own benefit. They're too involved in their own affairs to see the forest for the trees. The same thing is happening in the fight with Raya and Namari. Raya's so consumed by her need for vengeance that she loses sight of the "bigger picture." Namari's line about Sisu's death being Raya's fault too jogs her out of her anger, and her looking at her reflection in the sword, to me, feels like her realizing what she's become. That's how I saw it, at least.
My takeaway from this is that I should just go rewatch the How To Train Your Dragon trilogy.
This was so much better than How to Train your Dragon. Those movies were so predictable and filled with unlikable characters, expecially Hiccups mother.
Girl do it! At least HTTYD has emotion and can make you cry.
I like the book series.
@@sarasamaletdin4574 I respect your opinion but Raya is one of the most predictable things I've ever watched. Like I knew from the start Raya and Namaari will make up, save the world and unite the tribes again with the power of friendship/trust. For me at least HTTYD had more fleshed out characters and time to do so when raya felt like collecting characters and items from a video game with no proper character development and rushed pacing. Like ''hey my family is gone thanks to the Druun and I want them back. Lemme help you'' was technically the character trait for all of them and I find the con-baby a lil annoying. Of course I still think it's a good movie. But for me, it can't compare to the impact HTTYD had.
@@sarasamaletdin4574 trash opinion
nah but at least HTTYD actually has cool looking dragons and not my little pony elsa
Am I the only one who noticed that the reason why Namaari and Raya “randomly started fighting was because Namaari’s Mother got turn to stone? I mean yeah, Sisu dyeing was a part of it and why RAYA was fighting, but the reason for NAMAARI suddenly fighting was because of her mother turning to stone.
i saw it too
altho i was like that's karma namari
I’m sorry, you NEED to do a WandaVision review - PLEASE
YES. PLS!
Agreed!
Yass
I cast my vote here.
Yes plz
To me, Raya's father looked like Disney just took a common man from my streets (Java, Indonesia) and shove him into the movie XD
Same thing about the sword. It's called a Keris, a native sword from here and it wiggles like that. But it most certainly doesn't extend into pieces and whip like that.
agree.....
its fun and exciting to notice parts of our culture in a disney movie, maybe that's why i like it so much, bias (:
i notice a lot of batik patterns, sate, durian, rambutan, and even felt represented by the scenery such as rice fields, huts from hays, etc.
if anyone notice things that represents Indonesia, please reply
Not Indonesian, but there is also Longgan (the fruit that Tuk Tuk is eating when young Raya brought Naamari to the Dragon Gem) not sure if its in other SEA countries but it is abundant here in the Philippines... along with Rambutan, Durian, and Jackfruit 😊😊😊
Also my dad mentioned that the sword is of Muslim culture, I found it cool...
Also Dewdrop and Morning Mist (Raya and Naamari's nicknames) both translates to "Hamog" in Tagalog... I dunno what it adds, maybe like a coin symbolism, two of the same kind thingy but some fun facts for the comment scrollers hehehhe
Also, Shrimp Paste... I feel like they generalize it a bit... if I remember correctly the shrimp paste from Thailand is different the ones here in the Philippines
I actually really enjoyed this movie, mostly because the theme itself hit me so hard. I have a lot of trust issues so all the trust stuff hit me hard, plus the whole thing of accepting you had a part to play in the mistake.
I agree with you, and I’m honestly a bit scared of how much I distrust others. For me, Raya is sort of a warning sign of “this is who I could become if I don’t start letting people in”.
As soon as the guy was revealed to be her dad, I knew he was going to die/turn to stone.
As soon as she made friends outside the “kingdom” (I guess) I knew there was going to be a double crossing.
As soon as they died, with the gem put together, of course they are coming back to life.
I loved the look of this film, and I loved the lack of male love interest and the possible chance of a lesbian relationship. I agree that this movie was good but could have been great and all the important moments fell short.
it wouldn’t be a classic disney ending, but considering the dragons stayed as stone after putting together the original stone, it would have been awesome and meaningful for raya and her friends to remain stone, sacrificing themselves for the good of everyone. then they become the symbols for coming together and unity
@Latest Obsession i completely agree with that, it’s just something I picked up on watching it. Characters don’t always need love interests
I laughed when SiSu died like full on laughed and said if this was a Disney sequel I’d say it’s a Disney sequel fakeout death and my friends looked at me like I was a crazy person
I take it by the phrase “Disney Sequel takeout death” you are also a fan of 🎵The Disney Sequel Show🎵 hosted by Seamus Gorman?
I thought the same thing lol oh Seamus 🤣
I literally said, “Oh look, it’s a Disney Sequel Fakeout Death™️ without the Disney sequel!”
It's not a fake-out death. She actually died (the water going away and the gem's power fading is proof of this). Her siblings are the ones who restored her to life.
@@DavidRay_40 yeah but they had a character die but brought them back to life so I feel as though it can still be counted as a fake out death.
Thanos could have taken care of Fang's overcrowding problem.
I think the pacing made some of the motivations/characterizations pass by a bit too quickly but I thought they were interesting and moving when you think about it.
***SPOILERS***
For one, I think the dragon necklace was a reminder to Raya that she couldn’t trust anyone even tho her father dreamt of a United Kumandra (all the parts of the dragon with a gem in the middle) plus she needed it to find Sisu, so it meant a lot to her. It was a symbol of the dream that destroyed her ‘perfect’ reality.
For Namaari, it was a symbol of the moment she first saw the reality of looking out for yourself above everyone else. That it can end up costing you just as much as the ppl you sought to screw over. That necklace was a reminder that she was a child once, who hadn’t destroyed the world. Who had trusted her mother like Raya had trusted her. And maybe it broke the world. But her ppl were alright. And yet, she still clearly feels guilty. It’s also a symbol of what could’ve been.
She and Raya seem to have crossed paths a fair amount over the years as they have a rapport, and an understanding of each other’s fighting styles, etc. so I think she probably wonders what things could’ve been like if she hadn’t betrayed her. Could they have really United Kumandra? Could they have been friends? Or More? (Their whole relationship definitely read as very enemies to lovers to me, and the actress for Raya says she purposefully played it that way!)
The sword seemed to be less about reflection and more about unity. It’s made up of segmented pieces of a whole. They need to be separate. They need to be different shapes, otherwise they won’t all fit together. And they need to be able to come apart at times. But in the end, they always have to come back together. Otherwise, the sword is useless.
As far as Fang’s stance on fixing the dragon gem, they said it in the movie but I get where it doesn’t feel like it makes sense. They were scared that if they just did their part to fix what they broke, everyone would punish them when they all came back since they broke the gem in the first place. They wanted to get Sisu and the pieces of them gem under their control so that they could play the heroes and ‘single-handedly’ fix everything so that ppl would be so happy that they’d forget who wrecked it all in the first place.
Then with Namaari’s second betrayal, she was just trying to enact that plan; get Sisu and the gem pieces to her mother where they could fix everything and try to spin it so that they look like saviors instead of just folks cleaning up a mess they made. She clearly felt guilty about what happened to the world after her actions in Heart but she’s able to justify it bc her ppl are doing well and that was the point of what she did. If she fixes the world at the expense of her ppl, then the past 6 years of suffering would’ve been for nothing. I don’t think she ever really intended to pull the trigger, but she was scared and conflicted and she wanted them to do what she said. And then Raya, understandably, lost faith bc of her past betrayal and intervened.
So where Raya’s concerned, they could’ve fixed everything if Namaari hadn’t betrayed her again, and in Namaari’s eyes, Sisu would still be okay if Raya had just trusted her to do the right thing and hadn’t interfered.
So in that last battle sequence, neither of them care about fixing the world anymore. The last dragon is gone, the power of the gem is fading, and everything they fought for is lost. Raya’s last chance to see her father. Any hope of Namaari protecting her ppl, or even her mother. They don’t think there’s any fighting it and they just want the satisfaction of revenge before they die.
So they fight. Bc they’re hurt and they’re hopeless, and they don’t want to blame themselves so they blame each other.
And in the end, when they all give the gem pieces to Namaari, she doesn’t stop to fix it bc she knows that if it doesn’t work, that’s it for her. She won’t be able to get out of this cave in without whatever power is still in the gem pieces but if she makes a run for it, she might have a shot. Her whole life, she’s been taught to look out for herself first, and those instincts are flaring up dramatically trapped like she is. But in the end, Raya put her trust in Namaari, who had betrayed her. Who had ruined everything as far as she was concerned. And Namaari had to earn that trust. Even if it was the last thing she’d ever do. She couldn’t betray her a third time.
I really liked the character dynamics between Raya and Namaari. They felt pretty fleshed-out and realistic to me, at least by implication anyway. I definitely would’ve liked to see more characterization for each of the ensemble cast, tho. I agree that it maybe should’ve been a show in which the first episode ends with Namaari’s betrayal, each subsequent episode features a new cast member (first Sisu, then each citizen of the remaining 4 countries), then an episode where they all try to come together by inviting Namaari to help, and we get a mirror to the first episode with this penultimate one ending in yet another betrayal by Namaari, then the finale picks up with the reaction to Sisu’s death, and Raya and Namaari fighting each other and goes through the sacrifice of the crew and Namaari’s choice, and finally, the reunions and reuniting of Kumandra. I would’ve absolutely loved that!
Good comment!
My biggest complaint was that the people never really came to "trust" each other... their problems just went away...
@Aislee Love Greenwood Thanks for your reply. I hope you won't mind a friendly rebuttal :) I see where you're coming from. I know that's probably the way the writers wanted it to be understood, but the "trust" seems more like blind faith to me. Namaari didn't do a whole lot to earn their trust, but she did plenty to break it. And though our small group of heroes decided to overlook the red flags and "trust" Namaari, the populations of each kingdom never came to the same consensus. There was no moment for the people to decide to trust, the dragons just came back so they had nothing to fight over anymore. So the unintentional message seems to be this: Trust people even if they consistently stab you in the back and disputes can't be ended until all the problems go away. Anyway, this is all in good fun. If you disagree I'd love to hear your thoughts!
at best raya learned to trust boon and sisu, that's it. so yeah, i don't think the whole trust message was well executed.
I think it was good but could have been better
While I will agree that I wasn't blown away by the movie, the motivations of the characters felt very clear to me. Particularly in terms of the ending fight. If you look at the motivations of both Raya and Namaari as trying as hard as they can the entire film to not fail their parents, the fact that they both ended up killing what they saw as their last chance to either bring their parent back or make their parent proud would be devastating. When their plans failed, they were both filled with pain, anger, shame, guilt, and loss and the easiest target to aim that at was each other.
And, yes, the world was crumbling around them and, yes, there were bigger problems in the moment, but, for Raya who never properly processed the loss of her father and held this moment as her last chance to save him, this would feel like going through his loss again. And, just like last time, she feels partly responsible because she trusted someone who she shouldn't have trusted.
For Namaari, she was raised to put her own moral code aside for the good of her people and to please her mother and it broke the world once. Then she was asked to do it again and it broke the world yet again. Now her mother was turned to stone and she knows she holds a lot of the blame because, as she was raised to believe, she couldn't be what her mother and her people needed her to be. Her entire life, she's sacrificed in the name of family and duty, giving up the chance at a friendship with Raya, that she clearly wanted, and even giving up her own sense of morality to be what she thought her mother and people wanted and needed. And still she failed.
Maybe it isn't smart or practical or productive to point fingers at each other, but in moments of immense grief it's often easier to find someone to blame rather than deal with it. Even while acknowledging how toxic and damaging it can be, I can understand how it would feel preferable to focus on that anger to make yourself feel like you're getting vengeance or justice, rather than doing the harder work of dealing with your feelings of grief and guilt.
Which is what makes Raya's and Namaari's decisions to look outside of themselves and their own mess, stop fighting, and help people significant. It's the harder choice. It's the choice we'd all like to think we'd make, but, in the moment, often don't, and often for reasons much like Raya's & Namaari's.
💯
Couldn't agree more
I think the movie really good it probably wasn’t the most amazing movie ever, but I feel it could have been better. However the theme and the visual and diversity are really great and really helped the movie!!
About Sisu's character feeling out of place because she's so optimistic, I believe that was because she lived in a time where the world was united and she hasn't been in the world torn apart by malice for long. She believes that the world can be united and optimistic again
poor execution and direction really, it's obvious they wanted to go for Genie or Mushu type of character which didn't end up working well.
Guys, we should make our own plan for a Raya and the Last Dragon series. Comment your ideas below. Like a lot of people here, I think it would’ve been great for Disney to make a series to flesh the characters out. Can’t wait to read your suggestions!
Idea: After the dragons are back all the dragons except sisu have obey whoever has the dragon gem. When the dragon gem disappears and dragons start attacking commandra (it's dark, I know) raya, sisu, namaari, boon, noo and tong go on a qwest to find the dragon gem and stop the dragon attacs, but they are faced with a moral dilemma. The dragon gem is too strong and you can not trust anyone with it, it is just too strong. Namaari's mother asks her to bring her the dragon gem and Namari faces a dilemma that no one knows about. raya also faces a moral dilemma because she doesnt think its right to control dragons and that they shouldnt be bound to the gem but if they are not then the drone will return. Siso is really worried about the safety of the other dragons and she is dealing with things that challenge her optimistic worldview.
Boon and baby Noo go on the qwest without parents' permission and they hide it from the others, tata dont understand it because they have no idea how healthy parent-child relationships work (Namari's mother is distant from her and quite manipulative, Raya's father was a stone for most of her life, and Tong ... well, he's Tong. he wel He will probably notice, but will give them time to tell others themselves)
The series will explore things like who is (note that Im not writeing in past tense) rayas mother and what happened to her, what happened to Namari's father, the deeper history of Komandra, rayas father dark past (that she was unaware of),
The history of the dragons, the powers of the gem and other Continents ecsept komandra. For most of the series the cheracters escapes bandits and such after the mysterious villain who has the gem has posted ads saying he will bring a lot of money to whoever brings him his siso, the only dragon not under his control.
you mabe noticed i have elot of ideas
I wanna see more of our Southeast Asian elements on it. They blend it too much that the southeast asian elements became too vague.
I'd love to see her adventure during the last 6 years before she was able to resurrect Sisu.
It felt like the movie changed partway through. It started with Raya narrating and sisu making 21st century jokes, neither of which came back. I felt like the exposition was was rushed and we didn’t get to learn enough about the world and the characters. And I 100% agree with Ben and J that I hated the con baby
The con baby is cute.
@@DavidRay_40 I agree that she is cute, but she feels out of place in the movie
From 10:00 the Real SPOILERS sort of start. Just a heads up, cause they don't have any New Warnings from when it starts (after the spoiler warning in beginning) I haven't seen the movie yet so wanted just their thoughts of if it is worth paying for... I feel No.
Thank you for the help.
I was blinded by negative reviews before watching the movie and refused to watch it. I'm saddened that I trusted others judgement honestly. It's an amazing movie to me
@@victoriaharris3113 good to know. Looking forward to see it.. when it's not on premium demand
For me, I felt like the reason why the dragons didn’t come back is because everything was based on trust. The dragons trusted each other which let the humans come back and they trusted the humans to trust each other. However, the humans didn’t which didn’t allow the dragons to come back. However, the last moment where all our main cast, who are from the different tribes, come together and trust each other allowed for the dragons to come back. That’s just my take on it.
i guess the fact that each of the last people standing was from parts of kumandra makes thematic sense in that aspect. still, i kinda thought things would have been solved if they just got the gem pieces together, that's how poor the execution was
@@msk-qp6fn tbh, I think this story would’ve done been as a show, rather than a movie. Cause, it didn’t feel like any of the characters really bonded and stuff. I feel like if it was like an avatar situation, with each place their own arc, it would’ve made the whole friendship and trusting each their stuff a lot better. However, it just felt rushed, now
Should of been a TV Show instead, or a mini Series maybe.
Raya's story was a perfect candidate for a series, it's format as a movie hurt it
or the movie should be longer. like close to 3 hours long.
Personally, I loved Noi. I found the con-baby hilarious.
yeah and her monkeys are really funny at times
I felt like the sword may have been representative of Raya's literal moments of reflection as if Raya was looking at her self and even questioning why she's made her lens of the world so untrusting and wishing she didn't see it in that way.
Yeah, but it's not like she just turned into a pessimistic person randomly, she was constantly met with betrayal and consistently shown that she shouldn't trust people, we only see a glimpse of that in the movie with just her going from town to town and either being tricked or attacked. Imagine what the 6 years of her searching the rivers was like for her. I think that's long enough for her to give up on trusting random people. But she doesn't! She actually still trusts people, like the boat kid pretty quickly after getting to know him for like a day. I don't think she even has trust issues, because it seems like she's just being reasonably cautious around people.
@@emilynikkel5658 I Know and you make a fair point but she wishes that it never happened to her. The sword is meant to represent her moments of guilt and reflection. What the last 6 years have done to her and everything else in between that we didn't see or hear about on screen. Not many people wish to be pessimistic for the sake of being pessimistic. When she sees her self in the sword she may be reminded of how much she's grown up or her Ba. I agree no one is randomly pessimistic. She's just reflecting her character growth from a young girl of the dragon gem to a warrior woman.
They both fought at the end because they felt they had nothing else to lose... Last hope in dragon was gone
Finally watching the review now that it’s available on Disney+ without premiere access.
Me too
Okay this movie was good but can we talk about the post credit scene of the Wandavision series finale
I thought that them fighting at the end was to show that pride and rage make excellent tunnel vision. Pride is a very big motivation for Fang in general, hence them not helping everyone when they could.
A thing I noticed, the groups have weapons that are similar to the part of the dragon they’re named after. Like Tail uses curved blades kinda like a curled up tail, Talon dual wields sorta like how dragons have talons on both hands, the handles on Spine’s axes are long and arched like a spine, and Fang uses spears which are like a fang on a stick
I feel like the bad jokes and the baby character were just there so that little Timmy doesn’t get bored while watching the movie. I thought the animation was amazing though, I hope Disney keeps going with their visual masterpieces.
But the baby character was what caused the big guy to join because he lost his child to the druun and he felt like he needed to watch over her
Disney wanted a piece of that boss baby action
This movie feels like an elaborate animated pilot for the absolute best live action show. Gave themselves a lot of stories to flesh out
SPOILERS, DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN
Hmm what if we actually get to see what the Fang queen was going to do to the group>! (Because she like "I know what to do with them" but we NEVER SEE WHAT SHE PLANNED)
Maybe the group got captured. The queen then find out someone took the stone. The group then escaped. They runs into the Fang princess on their way out (I forgot how to spell her name ): ) and the gem exchange scene happen. Sisu wanted to talk to the princess, but then the Queen arrives and it put pressure on the princess to raise her crossbow. And then the scene with the crossbow happen where Raya accidentally got her to shoot the crossbow.
Sounds like it would’ve been better as a series, so it would get more time
I think there will be a Raya series sometime in the future, mostly because every other Disney revival film has had a show or is getting a show except Wreck It Ralph and Frozen oddly enough, even though I expect they will also get shows by the time Frozen 3 comes out or something
I am 2 months late because I waited, pretty sure I made the right decision. Waiting for it was a better decision (no matter how annoyed I am at the paywall system)
I am so excited to see this! I am going to wait until June so I don't have to spend $30 because I did that with the live action Mulan and it was AWFUL. I'm sure Raya will be a lot better, mostly because it's animated, which is why I'm so happy because it looks gorgeous and engaging, but I already pay for the subscription so I'm just gonna wait. It'll be four days before my birthday when I can watch it for free anyway so it'll be worth it!
That's exactly what I'm doing
Yeah, I didn’t pay for Mulan and I’m not paying for this movie either. It makes no sense to pay an extra $30 on top of the $8 per month (or $96 per year)
@@MiloMurphysLaw Exactly. It's not in our interests as consumers to signal that this is sustainable for our pocketbooks.
Kisscartoon has it btw
The - forgive your abuser over and over again until you're literally turned into stone - movie
No when the dragon died I got shocked and mad so they caught my emotion with that... but I feel like this whole story is missing is a little bit of information for the main characters so us audience can understand why they act how they act.
I can agree with most of the criticisms, but I still loved it anyways :) . I love dragons, especially Asiatic dragons, and the world created was evocative and fun. I give it an A-. I agree there were pacing and characterization issues, but the theme, world, and yes, the dragons, sold me hard!
Wait really? You actually LIKED the dragons? Now this I gotta hear. 👀
yeah i was still moved and had fun watching raya
but i am painfully aware how the direction was poor
i like it but i would also heartily agree with people who rip it apart
Personally I really enjoyed the movie. I loved the messaging but I do agree that some character development and relationships felt pretty rushed
For a movie whose entire message and theme revolved around "trust people uwu", they really didn't seem to trust their audience very much
It really bugged me that they didn't have their hands in the shape at the end when they were hit by the drune because the hand shape seemed really important even to the dragon and making the gem. Plus it pulls you out of the scene and makes it not hit as hard.
I watched the movie yesterday it was good,the whole comment section Is saying they need to feel emotionally attach or we dont really know the tribes. To me we technically kinda did but didn't.
I loved this movie, I didn’t realize that so many people disliked it 😳
I think it's less dislike and more of a feeling that it could have been better. Kind of like Brave, it was a movie with excellent grounds and mediocre execution
I know right. 2 princesses hand to hand battle? No musical? It's a totally different vibe. There is no muscular big guy that saves everybody. And i see this on a kid perspective. These kind of representations are needed. The tribes, and how it is important to unite, the amount of people Raya needs to carry along the way, the mistrust, like as a south east asian... I totally can relate..
I feel the exact same thing! I LOVE this movie!!
maybe it’s just because i’m lesbian… but me too
I feel like Raya is more of an emotionally-driven character compared to other Disney princesses, she's young and really all she wants is to save her dad, she couldn't care less about everyone else and that makes her motives a bit weird and towards the end, she snaps when she seeks out Namari for the fight. Shes definitely a lot like Korra headstrong and stubborn which makes her seem a bit off because we don't see that in Disney princesses.
anger driven i guess
Omg, please do a WandaVision quiz next! You said it in a recent video and I would love to see it 😊
The wavy sword is modelled after a traditional Filipino weapon called Kris
Also hated the dragon design. Disney needs to breakaway from that style of animation where it looks like Elsa as dragon
I don’t agree with the Elsa comparison but I also didn’t like the design. Disappointing.
The design of the dragons was more accurate to the Vietnam/Singapore regions mythology. It looked a bit childish I’ll agree but honestly I thinks that because of the giant eyes and colours.
@@neavegiannmoore2455 yeah that’s basically to what I was referring. Body is accurate but the face looks like Elsa from Frozen😂😂
@@neavegiannmoore2455 To be honest, everything outside the face was good looking.
They looked like pets or even collectables but maybe that's just me. They lacked certain mystery or allure or grandness to them and the fact that Raya revived the last dragon so easily (or at least seemed like it) also didn't help. Makes me wonder why hasn't anybody else tried to revive it in 500 years.
I think the reason that the dragons came back the second time is because the druin were created by the people’s malicious so just the dragons coming together didn’t solve the problem the humans had to come together to full break the spell. That’s my interpretation anyway.
But the explanation of the drunn coming into their world doesn’t even make sense. Especially when you look at the beginning again and Raya, in her own words, was “Everyone lived in peace and harmony”
@@Dr.Meme-Man your right that part wasn’t explained the best
Y’all are like the only reviewing movie and show people I watch. Most people are so negative about everything and mostly just complain rather then actually give a genuine review.
You might like Schafrillas Productions then.
Chris Stuckman is great too.
I agree with a lot of your points. My biggest criticism was that it felt like the movie didn't want to committ to making Namaari or her mother true villains, but they also didn't do enough to establish believable moral conflicts for them to justify their selfish decisions. I will say, I interpreted Raya and Namaari's final fight as them (mostly Raya) fully accepting that there is no more hope. In that moment, there was no point trying to save anyone because there was no hope. All there was left for her was avenging Sisu before they all die.
I don’t get why everyone complains so much about paying for premiere access. I gladly paid to see some quality original Disney content. And you have to remember, these films are years in the making, lovingly crafted by countless talented individuals, intended for a theatrical release. The fact it has been added to premiere access is a compromise to allow people to see it. Rather than saying “well if your cinemas are closed, then tough, you’ll have to wait”. Obviously I would rather pay to see it on the big screen as it was intended. But I’m happy helping make sure that the movie/cinema industry doesn’t collapse, both as a result of this pandemic, and people who take streaming for granted.
I don't personally mind the premiere access concept, but as a single guy with no kids, I don't agree $30 is a fair price for it, especially on top of the D+ subscription.
Maybe as a standalone, if you got to keep it.
key word been "quality content". You can have all the work, craft, effort and good intent put in but if the final product is still not good, one can't simply justify the price. Even though I bumped my opinion for Raya from mediocre to "good but could have been amazing" after watching this review, at the end of the day, unfortunately it is still not worth it IMHO.
As for helping movie industry, not everybody has that kind of luxury to think or even spend. So, I think is very easy to see why people complain.
"I don’t get why everyone complains so much about paying for premiere access."
Because I'm already paying for the subscription, and paying _more_ on top of that at Disney's whim is a bad idea for _my_ finances, especially if doing so encourages Disney to adopt that cost+cost business model for their films going forward. This isn't just about _one_ film. It's about them testing the waters about how much consumers are willing to throw money at them on demand. I don't look forward to a Disney+ where everything is an extra add-on charge. New movies? Extra cost. Back catalog? Extra cost. First-run shows? Extra cost. Pay-per-view content? Why not?
That's the next step if the audience allows it. They can price D+ at a point that is sustainable without resorting to the all-too-common nickel-and-dime model. It's popular with businesses because it makes money for the company, not because it's good for consumers. When you have a monopoly, you don't offer deals better for your economic adversary than for yourself, and anyone who thinks this is a good deal is either bad at math or lying to themselves. The house always wins. Our only way to express any power in this transaction is to refrain from participation.
@@JosephDavies But this “extra cost” is as an alternative to the big screen. Even if Premiere Access continues past the pandemic, its purpose is to provide an alternative for those who would rather watch from home - which is a brand new concept that has never existed before, born out of a new reliance on streaming, and a decline in the cinema industry. I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect to pay for this luxury, since the alternative would be to pay to see it at the cinema. Either way, you are paying Disney to see a new release, which is not an outrageous idea.
However, if like you suggest the concept snowballs out of control, to extra costs for everything, then I would agree we have a problem.
@@GirishManeShine If you paid to see this in the cinema, you would always be taking a gamble on whether you will like it or not. Your enjoyment is never sure-fire, or contingent on how much you paid. And when I say "quality content", I just mean that Disney Animations are of pretty consistent quality and craft, unlike some films produced by other studios, or those churned out in much shorter time frames. Even if you are comparing to the only other Premiere Access movie so far, "Mulan" - it's safe to say that their live action track record is rather lacking compared to their original animations.
Stick with me here... was anyone reminded of Sly Cooper? The movie felt like a video game in general but they had so much in common. Going to different cities? To collect different artifacts? Getting new friends in each city? A thief/con artist that can scale building and sneak through the night? A female anti hero that works with them in the end?
What i thought when raya and namaari were fighting each other was that namaari basically took the one chance raya had of getting her father back away from her, so she was blinded by that rage and wanted to get revenge
okay so i watched this movie once it was free on disney+ cause ur girl is brokeee. but honestly i really lovedddd this movie. like i cried watching this.
raya as a character, i understand why she is so pesimistic and have trust issues because she literally witnessed 4 different groups of ppl fall apart right in front of her eyes even though her father trusted them. and because of that it ultimately led to her father turning into stone so her feelings are completely valid.
i think her and namari and the pendant thing made sense. like when i was tht age and a girl that had the same interest as me gave me her fav "merch" of tht item, i would have been super touched and we would have immediately been bffs. i understand why the pendant held sentimental value to the both of them. i think tht part was genuine for namari but she was conflicted with wat her tribe needs. felt like more details could have been added to explain the situation better.
WHY WAS HEART SO PROSPEROUS AND LUSCIOUS? like they never gave any explanation of why Heart was doing so well and the otbers were not. since its not cause of the gem.
I ACTUALLY LIKED THE CON-BABY AND THE SUPER GEN Z JOKES 😂 first obviously it felt weird and out of place for the gen z jokes but i thought it was funnier at the fact tht a dragon who has been MIA for 500+ years was talking about just beind the one tht handed in the report in a group project.
i tot con-baby gave more insight in the kind of environment Noi was force to live in. like i thought tht it was a commentary of how bad the situation has gotten to the point where babies learn how to con ppl from their surrounding. despite tht i thought it was funny to have a con baby. i mean we can have a boss baby so why not this one?
People fighting one another rather than coming together to fight the obvious common enemy, we've seen this
Yes, a Disney Princess: to build on what he said about the lead being Asian decent. It is representation for the asians and to bolster up the disney plus subscriptions (as mentioned) because Disney plus came to Singapore on the Feb21, and it is also expected to enter several countries in 2021 such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Philippines. Right now, most asian kids dress as either Elsa and Anna.. this would be an alternative (i suppose?)
Also since there is a lot of asian casts members, this is like the crazy rich asians but disney style. And we all know how much that franchise has done for the asian community.
Question: Not to rely too heavily on originating cultures of the movie but does the cultural background of the viewer make the viewer appreciate Raya more?
Being filipino myself I was very pleased to see that there is a more mature Disney movie that was portraying Southeast Asian culture and throughout the entire movie I was wanting to dissect the movie in its cultural inspiration. The story was good in my opinion and the overall message was something I enjoyed but having the underlying excitement of representation really sweetened the deal for me.
Do other viewers of other movies also resonate slightly more depending on the viewer's cultural background? For example, if the viewer is influenced by Middle Eastern cultures, do they see Aladdin any more relatable? or if your family is of Northern European descent do you see Frozen any more appealing?
Food for thought.
My husband is Lao/Thai and he was obsessed with the movie so I definitely agree it is geared towards people from that culture. I think it’s kind of like coco. It didn’t seem to do as well in places with less Mexicans. My personal opinion is that they can be authentic or marketable. It’s is almost impossible to be both
I think knowledge of cultural origins definitely affects your views of the film. How excited was everyone when they saw raya with escrima sticks? If you aren’t familiar with those things, maybe you’re less impressed. I think Disney dipping into Asian representation is important. I also think familiarity with Asian culture and dynamics also plays into how much you enjoy, or relate to the lessons and tones in the film.
My grandfather was Scottish and that actually makes me hate Brave.
Alright story time:
In Sweden you can buy this movie on Disney+ for 250 kr. That’s roughly 30$. And you can also see it in cinema for 120 kr. That’s roughly 10 $. So it’s actually cheaper in cinema (2 cinemas open in the swedish capital Stockholm where I live).
And the feeling and the whole atmosphere is like 100 times better in a cinema rather than watching a movie at home. I would’ve probably felt like Ben if I had just seen it in my house. I don’t know what country y’all live in but if it’s possible watch this in cinema. It’s legit made for that experience.
I loved it. Would easily go 93%.
Have a nice day 🌸
I felt the Reflections in the swords were reminders to raya and her father about what their true motives are. If they don’t stand down to stop the fighting then nothing will change. Literally “holding up a mirror to oneself”
I was pleasantly surprised by Sisu in the movie. I was worried she’d be more like Mushu, the “failure” dragon. What really endeared me to her is that the first thing she says when Raya summons her is her siblings names and I felt for her predicament. I loved Sisu the most in this movie because of the relationship she had with her siblings and I would love to see more of them in the future. Overall, I loved the movie! I loved it so much I watched it twice! I do agree that the pacing is a bit quick and I felt like Tongs comedy was a bit out of place from the rest he reminded me of Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy in many ways. I also felt the Ninja baby was a bit of an odd choice.
I agree that some people say this movie was too "fast paced" or felt short, but i don't care at all, we rarely seen a southeast asian inspired movie before, and i (an indonesian) felt sooo happy and emotional that this movie represent of our culture so well, not to be biased or anything, it's just that good, and i almost teared up at the end. It's heartwarming. In the end, just respect the movie with love for what it is
That’s so good to hear! I’m glad ☺️
I felt like Disney didn't put their heart in this one and it just fell flat. It could have been a great movie, I was excited, but it just... Nope. I would have out it much lower at like a 50 or 60.
They had amazing ideas and they had amazing animation as well but for some reason they just didn’t stretch it out to as good as it could be, I don’t blame them we’re all having a hard time, but we see things like Pixar and marvel getting amazing results even in this hard time so either they’re lazy or they just had some really bad setbacks because it was a good movie but I just think it could’ve been better,
When I saw the trailer for Raya, I was super excited. When I started the movie, I was super excited. I can't say I got all I wanted from the film. I'm not saying it wasn't good. It was an enjoyable story with characters you wanted to know more about, but it felt extremely rushed. The beginning was great but they spent 20 minutes explaining what could have been a five-minute flashback in the middle of the film (have a little mystery!) and then they had to sprint to move the plot forward. I liked the locations introduced there but we never really got to see any of the world everything was happening in. I wanted to spend time in Talon (I think that's the one on water), it seemed Awesome, but we only got to see it for a couple of minutes. Then there's the theme...Many things felt forced to me. I liked the whole "Put your faith in others" idea, but the situations the characters found themselves in never had me doubting that things would work out. I never felt like Raya needed others to succeed. I never felt like Raya needed anything, she did everything by herself and nothing really felt like a challenge. I like a character that's calm and collected and knows what they're doing but I don't think that's what they were going for...
Alsooooo, even though that's not really important, I wanted songs! Disney is soooo good at making characters express their emotions through singing. One music number between Sisu and Raya where the dragon starts talking about trust and hope and all that and then Raya just interrupts her mid-song and kicks up the tune to go on and say that you can't trust anyone because people only think about themselves would've done it for me!
The sword was on Raya's back in its sheath when she fell from the bridge and her dad was turned to stone
Honestly, I think the movie would have been SO much better if Sisu got severely injured earlier. I mean the thing that's missing is a big moment in the middle.
Let's say that Sisu tells Raya how she used the stone, and trust dragon circle flash back thing when they meet. Imagine if that moment where Sisu looks into Namaari's eyes after they met that big warrior dude from spine, Namaari points her weapon at her, but hesitates in fear and amazement, and _then_ Raya hits her bow with the sword, and that injures Sisu and makes her too weak to fight.
That then confirms in Raya's mind that the Fang is their enemy, despite Sisu's pleas, and makes her more determined. Then as the crew is trying to sneak into fang, Namaari notices, and (against her mums wishes) gets the gem and tries to give it to them, cos she thinks they can save everyone with the dragon. Raya doesn't trust her tho, and refuses to lower her sword, giving Namaari's mum enough time to intervene. Raya thinks this was another trick. Raya then goes after Namaari in rage again and this time, Namaari is talking Raya down and telling her how she was trying to help, and at this time, Sisu dies because of her injuries (maybe the boy stayed with her, since he's got no fighting skills and it doesn't make sense for him to try and sneak in) Raya see's the waters fading out and realises something's wrong and goes to help the others, and the rest plays out the same. It also would have been cool if they framed Namaari's mum as the villain, and little Namaari had nothing to do with trying to get the stone, and was reluctanatly following her mums orders the whole time when she grew up.
Disney needs to hire you, you just made such a better plot than anything that happened in that movie