So, went and saw “Raya and the Last Dragon” last evening, in iMax, because why not…
I was pleasantly surprised at how good the movie was — because, honestly, my expectations were set pretty low…
Let’s cut to the chase; the House of Mouse these days is pretty much known for being the Church of Social Justice of Latter Day Woke… A studio where telling a good story is somewhere near the bottom of the priority list, under “browbeat the audience with your agenda”, “be as preachy as possible about a current event”, and “you have two hours to convince everyone your kink is cool”.
“Raya” still had its {current year} elements, sure; Princess Power Hour? Yep. Mean girl redemption arc? Check. Broken family dynamic? Double-check. Kowtowing to all of the Asian money invested in the company? Oh hell yes…
But what made the movie actually good was all of the {current year} it didn’t have…
There was a strong father figure instead of the modern-era useless comedy relief male. The female lead had raison d’être versus being inexplicably Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger than everyone ever because woman. And the moral of the story was simply a good moral, so there was no need to try and convince the audience with forced morality.
In short, the movie didn’t harangue at the audience about woke du jour and instead just told a good story.
And that somewhat made the $75 it cost to see the movie worth it.