Reviews

My sister took us out to see a movie and I went in without knowing a single thing about what we were seeing. When I heard it was Raya and something about a dragon I thought I would have to miserably sit through some boring kids animation. Although it started off painfully cliche, I walked out of the theatre pleasantly surprised. I haven't been able to sit through an entire movie-let alone kids animation-for a while. As one user said about it being formulaic-perhaps-however, I still felt I was watched something fresh and new. It made me laugh and cry. I felt a whole range of emotions watching it. I felt the sense of community among the passengers on the boat who all slowly began to trust eachother. After the opening, there wasnt a single dull moment. I feel the creators of this movie were really smart in how they presented this movie and the characters. I cringe at the word diversity, but this was really well done on that end. I loved their use of geography and how the map looked like a dragon instead of a distinct part of Asia so no one can claim innacuracies. None of the characters looked particularly chinese either. Everyone looked like a mixture of sorts. Raya had redeeming qualities and made you root for her despite being the cause of the main conflict. I especially lived Sisu. I immediately recognized her voice as Awkafina from Crazy Rich Asians. I couldn't see anyone else better fitting the role. The whole time I was thinking to myself how much I loved the human version of Sisu's hair. Which brings me to the last part of this review-the animation quality is to the moon. I never really liked cgi but this made me love it a lot. Overall, I would have given it a ten if it wasn't for the cringey opening. Even if it was needed for the rest of the story, it almost made me want to leave.