AHHHH
The movie theater in my college town has opened up again!
(If I am being honest, I dont think it ever closed.) But, that is alright because it opened up and I went to see Raya and the Last Dragon with a few friends from my club.
One, I met this girls the night before so I was super nervous because I did not want to embarrass myself by crying at a Disney movie. But, it was all good. I cried but so did they.
Two, I was a little freaked out because I knew I was going to review it but I dont want anyone getting mad I went to the movies in a pandemic. I wore my mask the entire time (even though I didnt have to) and we brought our own candy and did not shared a popcorn with our hands. We used cups and split the popcorn up.
Anyways,
OH MY GOD THAT MOVIE WAS GOOD
I was crying my heart out at the end. Disney is great at making tearjerkers with fantastic messages. I mean the message of this story was beautiful. It was like trust the people around you. Trust thy neighbor.
I dont know.
It was so good.
AND…
It passed the Bechdel test. In fact, the heroine, Raya, did not have a love interest at all (except I am very sure their was tension between her and Naamari). That is huge in my book. And Raya, a girl, saved the world. I just hope that this shows little girls around the world that they do not need a man to save the world.
So, the plot was fantastic. I do not know if there is a Southeast Asian folklore (is it called folklore or what would it be called?) about this story or if they just made this up but it was phenomenal. It had me on the edge of my seat most of the movie. Clearly, it is a Disney movie so it will be all happy go lucky at the end. But, it did so good at keeping it suspenseful!
AND THE CAST WAS AMAZING
First off, this was a movie with ties to a Southeast Asian culture actually had a cast with an almost full Southeast Asian respectively cast. It was so great to see that representation. I thought they casted this so well. Secondly, the actors were so good. Everyone’s voice fit their role (obviously) and they just were so good. Awkwafina is one of my favorite actor because she is so funny. I think that she played Sisu so well! She was still showing off her funny side while taking on a serious role in the story. Everyone else was really good especially Kelly Marie Tran (Raya) and Gemma Chan (Naamari).
Ugh, I cant get over how good this movie was. I am so glad that the movie theater was open. I did not want to pay $30 on Disney+ to watch it.
I was so happy to see this movie and I think that everyone should go see this movie. I of course am writing this two weeks after seeing this so I am forgetting things. But, I liked it and it made me literally cry.
As always, thanks for reading,
A Bookie
Star rating: 4.5