Hey guys. It's me again. I just caught up on reviews of the past Pixar films during the pandemic. So now I am reviewing the 2 recent films from Walt Disney Animation Studios. I can't guarantee you will agree on me completely on these, but oh well. Enjoy.
Raya And The Last Dragon[]
Complex but solid entertainment
Here's a film with a world I never though Disney could imagine so well. We got Raya And The Last Dragon! There's a lot to explain about this film, but not complicated to the point where kids and adults can't follow at all. With all the Asian elements, divisions and war, and culture, I often think of it as an "Avatar: TLA meets Moana" sort of deal. I don't know what part of Asia Disney was trying to base this film off of specifically, but the visual details are great; the water, the snowy area, that tough city, I could go on. And naming the countries after parts of the dragon like Fang, Talon, Heart, Spine and so forth? That's great! Ok, story! The theme of this movie is trust. Trusting people isn't always easy (especially when it comes to trusting hypnotic snakes), but there are times when you have to. If you don't give anyone a chance, you never know how if they will be a friend or foe to you. How about the characters? Well, Raya is pretty cool as heroines go. She's a fierce determined warrior and she totally kicks butt with her sword skills! She's one of the few Disney heroines who doesn't fall in love with a man. Sisu the dragon is decent enough. She is the one who convinces Raya that trust is important in relationships. I think my favorite moment with Sisu is when she think she's borrowing like a credit card and talking debt, but unintentionally stealing. And the other side characters are pretty good too. You got a big pill bug mole thingy, a muscular thug whom I swear looks like a cross between Maui and that hook guy from Tangled, a young boy with a boat restaurant, but the one who really stand out is the baby. I mean, come on! How often do you see a baby sword fight, swindle people? She is so cute and so awesome! I will admit though, there are a couple problems I kinda had. One is that Namaari has been considered the villain even though you see her struggle in trying to please her mother when...shouldn't those dark spirit thingamajigs be considered the main antagonists? Another problem is that I didn't think Sisu's voice actress performed strongly. I mean, it's not terrible but it doesn't live up to the comedic voice work of actors like Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, or Danny Devito when they performed secondary characters. Not a big deal though. Raya And The Last Dragon is a really good Asian fantasy movie. I'm not sure I would quite consider it a classic, but I wouldn't mind seeing it again from time to time. Go ahead and give it a try. You might enjoy yourself.
Encanto[]
Disney fans consider it a gift to them.
Encanto, yeah a lot of Disney fans were talking about this one. Most people around me really seemed to enjoy the culture, the music style, the visuals, Even though it didn't seem to do well in theaters for the obvious reason, it became a big hit with Disney+ subscribers. See? Disney films don't need to be huge box-office hits to become great in my opinion. And speaking of opinion, what's mine on this film? Well....I don't think it's bad, but I don't think it's one of Disney's most memorable animated films either. I'm not even sure I would compare it to the musicals from the 2010's or even the 90's. I guess my issue with this film is that I found the story pretty complicated. You got the grandma and her husband fleeing from murderers, the papa dying, a miracle giving gifts to the family, the miracle somehow in danger, the family struggling to keep up with expectations, the expectations somehow being connected to the grandma's grief, Mirabel somehow connected in the vision, Mirabel not needing a gift to prove herself, I'm sorry, I just couldn't piece everything together. I tried seeing it again, I tried paying attention to close detail, I even tried rereading the descriptions on the Disney Wiki, but I just couldn't get it. I also had trouble remembering the characters other than Mirabel and Bruno. I remember the powers better than the names like the one with ultra hearing, the flower girl, the little boy who talks to animals and so forth. I'd probably say the same about the songs. I remember the Colombian style and a few rhythms, but they haven't felt the urge to listen to them again and again like I did with musicals like Moana or Frozen. Well, the only remember a bit of "We don't talk about Bruno" mainly because one of the students on my bus job liked singing it. And I do give credit that the musical style matches with its culture even if it's not fully memorable. There were a couple things that stood out. I really love that "That's why coffee is for grownups" line. And much like the ocean from Moana, I really like how the house communicates with Mirabel and magically moves on its own. Aside from that, I just couldn't get sucked into this film as well as others. I mean don't get me wrong, I don't it's overrated or anything like that. It is still Disney trying to pull of a culturally fun family musical, and I can't think of anything really bad about it. I just had trouble following everything altogether. If you decide to check it out, who knows? You might think of it as a gift just like the ones in the film.