What I Like and Dislike in Raya and the Last Dragon
Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 9:40 am
What I Liked
The visual storytelling. One thing that really stood out to me while watching RATLD is just how many scenes were done in absolute silence. There are so many scenes where their is no dialogue and in some cases almost no music and it's just the animation telling the story. The film even opens on a scene that has no music or dialogue and SHOWS us Kumandra and we get the idea that this is a world on the edge of destruction.
Or the scene we return to the present day and see Raya making her way to the end of the river and she sees people ahead so she takes out her sword only to then see that they've been turned to stone by the Druun. Or my favorite moment in the film, the Dragon Graveyard scene with Namaari. So, much character and information is given to us through the visuals and with no dialogue. This film is really at it's best when it just lets the scene play out.
I don't know how much of this was already in the film or if it was a result of the Pandemic and being unable to get dialogue from the actors but I'm incline to believe the former due to how naturally these scenes are woven into the story.
What I Disliked
The Exposition. While the acting is good and the dialogue on the whole is overall pretty solid the scenes were characters have to explain things through dialogue is handled, IMO, very clumsily. The worst offenders are at the start of the film where it's very obvious that Raya is addressing the audience and not the characters she's speaking to. Kelly Tran is doing her best and her performance throughout the film is great but the dialogue in these scenes are just not natural. I do think this the issue in the script and not with Tran because, again, she's doing a great job but this is dialogue that even someone like Patric Stewart would have trouble making sound natural.
Thankfully the Exposition scenes are few and far between after the end of act one and all other information is done through visuals though it's clear that someone making this film wouldn't trust people to catch the obvious so they have to point it out but that is done sparingly.
RATLD has begun to get more attention now that it's not behind a $30 paywall and I would love to see this story continue and I hope that Disney tons down on the exposition and continues the film's beautiful visual storytelling.
The visual storytelling. One thing that really stood out to me while watching RATLD is just how many scenes were done in absolute silence. There are so many scenes where their is no dialogue and in some cases almost no music and it's just the animation telling the story. The film even opens on a scene that has no music or dialogue and SHOWS us Kumandra and we get the idea that this is a world on the edge of destruction.
Or the scene we return to the present day and see Raya making her way to the end of the river and she sees people ahead so she takes out her sword only to then see that they've been turned to stone by the Druun. Or my favorite moment in the film, the Dragon Graveyard scene with Namaari. So, much character and information is given to us through the visuals and with no dialogue. This film is really at it's best when it just lets the scene play out.
I don't know how much of this was already in the film or if it was a result of the Pandemic and being unable to get dialogue from the actors but I'm incline to believe the former due to how naturally these scenes are woven into the story.
What I Disliked
The Exposition. While the acting is good and the dialogue on the whole is overall pretty solid the scenes were characters have to explain things through dialogue is handled, IMO, very clumsily. The worst offenders are at the start of the film where it's very obvious that Raya is addressing the audience and not the characters she's speaking to. Kelly Tran is doing her best and her performance throughout the film is great but the dialogue in these scenes are just not natural. I do think this the issue in the script and not with Tran because, again, she's doing a great job but this is dialogue that even someone like Patric Stewart would have trouble making sound natural.
Thankfully the Exposition scenes are few and far between after the end of act one and all other information is done through visuals though it's clear that someone making this film wouldn't trust people to catch the obvious so they have to point it out but that is done sparingly.
RATLD has begun to get more attention now that it's not behind a $30 paywall and I would love to see this story continue and I hope that Disney tons down on the exposition and continues the film's beautiful visual storytelling.