Raya and the Last Dragon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Raya and the Last Dragon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 18, 2021

Raya and the Last Dragon builds a tale of friendship and fate in a world in which fear reigns and hope seems futile. Directors Don Hall (Big Hero 6) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting) craft this latest Disney digitally animated film with spirit and technical marvel but without a true sense of purpose or vision for originality. The film thrives on dizzying action and dazzling visuals but not dynamite characters or a deeply defined soul. There's a certain triteness and tiredness at work; Raya plays like a film assembled from standard off-the-shelf components, certainly assembled with care and into a fruitful finished product, but one that isn't infused with a greater purpose. It is sure to delight audiences looking for animated escape and a tender heart, but the film struggles to distinguish itself beyond the superficial.

Kumandra was once a thriving land where humans and dragons lived in harmony: a land of symbiotic peace between the species, thriving communities, and lush lands. Then, the Druun arrived, a plague that turned humans into stone. The dragons fought valiantly but it wasn't enough. When the last dragon, Sisu, gathered together the combined strength of her magical powers, she formed a powerful gem that banished the Druun and restored peace to the land. But without the dragons, man turned on itself. Humanity now lives in five separate and distinct tribes: Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail. Raya (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) and her father Chief Benja (voiced by Daniel Dae Kim) live in Heart and are the guardians of Sisu's gem. The other tribes believe the gem is bringing Heart the very peace and prosperity that alludes them and are in a constant state of conflict with Heart to seize the gem for themselves. Benja personally guards the gem and is training Raya to do the same. But peace must be restored to the land and fractured relationships healed, Benja and Raya believe. When they call together the other four tribes for a banquet and, they hope, a brokered peace, Raya befriends a young girl from Fang, Namaari (voiced by Gemma Chan). Raya and Namaari visit the secret and sacred site where the gem is located, but treachery is afoot. Namaari alerts her tribe to the gem's location. A battle involving all five tribes ensues, and Benja is not strong enough to fend off waves of attackers. The gem is shattered into five pieces in the process, the Druun reawaken, the tribes are scattered, and the world is quickly transformed into a desolate wasteland. Six years pass and Raya finds herself on a journey to find Sisu and restore peace, health, and relationships to a broken world.

"Typical" could be used to define most every component that makes the movie, for better or for worse. "Typical" Disney technical quality. "Typical" razzle dazzle. "Typical" themes. "Typical" strings of adventure and humor. The movie's successes, and failures, stem from its strict adherence to a Disney formula that here, admittedly, takes away the musical numbers so readily associated with the studio's animated films and replaces them with...more of the same of everything else. The film does take on a more muscular posture as a result yet finds no true identity beyond the superficial ebbs and flows that give the movie an exterior polish only to mask the almost startling lack of creativity on the inside. The film is a buddy adventure story, essentially, pairing a young, serious-headed warrior with a cute and cuddly and awkwardly smart-mouthed dragon. There's little emotional center and there are only cursory attempts at building one; it's certainly not Pete's Dragon and anyone looking for a movie to speak beyond its story will be left disappointed, especially anyone looking for the movie to speak in some original, profound way. This is stock modern moviemaking, and it's a fine exercise in movie building that yields an agreeable little picture, but one can imagine so much more depth and purpose and yearn for even the slightest creative spark beyond the reskin job up top.

But that top layer sure does look and sound great. It seems like every time a new digitally animated film is released it's always "the best looking one yet" and Raya is just that. It's uncannily photorealistic in many scenes, particularly considering objects and landscapes where the line between real and digital is as blurred as it's ever been. To be sure characters still have that "animated" look about them but it's startling to see just how far the medium has come since its breakthrough in the mid-1990s with Toy Story. Sisu is the latest digitally animated character with fur and flowing body structure that almost defy even modern expectations, and the character is voiced with gusto by Internet celeb Awkwafina who shares terrific vocal chemistry with co-star Kelly Marie Tran who voices fellow title character Raya. The action scenes are polished to perfection, the world is gorgeous, and the extremal goings-on are well versed in detail and definition. It's just a shame that there's so little meat on the bones.

Raya and the Last Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Disney brings Raya and the Last Dragon to Blu-ray with a high quality 1080p transfer. The picture has something of a grainy look to it, obviously an artificial add after that fact that amplifies a modest feel of grittiness to the film. The picture is certainly clear and robust, as is typical of a new release digitally animated film. The content is crystal clear (if lacking the ever-so-slightly finer textural boosts found in the companion UHD) and well capable of bringing out very clear and robust textures on Sisu's fur and all of the barren world details around the present day Kumandra. Character models are likewise sharp and in-depth, revealing all of the fine digital animated facial features, clothing details, and other near-frame elements with exemplary clarity. Color reproduction is excellent, again lacking the brilliance HDR adds to the film via the UHD but here offering robust cheerful tones that stand out nicely against the dystopian wasteland. Bright blues are one of the major highlights but expect to find a well versed color spectrum that brings all the intensity and boldness the format can muster. Black levels are impressively deep as well and the image suffers from no obvious source flaws or encode shortcomings. Blu-ray fans won't be disappointed.

Raya and the Last Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Raya and the Last Dragon swoops onto Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack (note that the companion UHD features a Dolby Atmos presentation). The track is somewhat typical of the familiar Disney flatness and lack of aggression at reference volume. It is not at all wanting for more enveloping surround usage and seamless flow but it just sounds shallow at reference. Increasing the volume helps but it doesn't bring any substantial depth to the experience. To be sure, the track is well capable of offering a flowing, flavorful listen as sounds rush through and about, all of them effortlessly engaging and immersive with the volume dialed up. But the lack of substantial depth – even just a supportive low end foundation – prevents the track from achieving greatness. Overall clarity is strong, whether considering music, sound effects, or voices, and it can't be stressed enough that the track is well capable of dazzling and delighting with easy-come surround integration. It's just flat at the bottom. Dialogue is clear, center positioned, and well prioritized for the duration.

Raya and the Last Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Raya and the Last Dragon incudes several featurettes, a short film, outtakes, and deleted scenes. DVD and digital copies are included with purchase.

• Us Again - Theatrical Short Film (1080p, 6:49): A story about aging and feeling young again, told through dance. Also included is an introduction to the short film with Writer/Director Zach Parrish (1080p, 1:21).
• Taste of Raya (1080p, 22:09): A virtual roundtable dinner discussion with cast and crew covering the movie and the moviemaking process within a global pandemic.
• Raya: Bringing it Home (1080p, 14:35): Building a movie from the ground up -- from home.
• Martial Artists (1080p, 5:49): Choreographing and crafting the film's various fight sequences, both the technical execution and the thematic currents that course through them.
• We Are Kumandra (1080p, 9:09): Respectfully folding in the cultures of Southeast Asia into the film.
• Outtakes (1080p, 2:23): A look at some of the funnier moments from the voice recording sessions -- from home.
• Fun Facts & Easter Eggs (1080p, 4:16): Exploring some of the movie's hidden secrets.
• The Story Behind the Storyboard with John Ripa (1080p, 5:02): An interesting look at the purpose and process of storyboarding.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 19:00 total runtime): Following Introductions by Fawn Veerasunthorn and John Ripa are the following scenes: The Bridge, Escaping Namaari, Dragon Blade, Meet Boun, and The Heart of the Dragon.

Raya and the Last Dragon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Where Disney falls short with a movie like Raya and the Last Dragon is where Pixar almost always shines: in the heart. Raya is a perfectly capable entertainer with delightful superficialities propelling it forward but it's also an exercise in empty moviemaking, lacking a tangible soul and purpose and any real creative genius under the hood. The themes are fine but they're also tired and presented in a way that only reinforces the lack. That's not to say families can't have a lot of fun with the movie, but anyone looking for something more profoundly satisfying will want to look elsewhere. Disney's Blu-ray delivers high yield video, suboptimal but workable audio, and a handful of extras. Recommended.