Movie Night - Dragon Movies

Since I finally wanted to check out “Raya and the Last Dragon” I decided to make it a dragon themed movie night.
 
I watched all three movies on my own.
 

The first film I watched was the “Raya and the last Dragon”. And I loved it. Disney didn’t disappoint. It has been streaming on Disney+ for a while, but we had to wait to watch it for free. And it was worth the wait. Tuk Tuk was such a cute character and Raya is yet another strong female Disney character that isn’t a damsel in distress. Check out my review HERE
 

Number two was a rewatch. A movie from my childhood: “The NeverEnding Story”. A movie that both traumatized me and gave me good memories as a child. I used to refer to it as ‘that movie with the flying dog’, which we all know is a luck dragon. The film isn’t timeless, it hasn’t aged well. But for nostalgia sake it’s still one of my favorites. Check out my review HERE
 

The last movie was one brought by Netflix. “Wish Dragon”, doesn’t stand out as original, because it has many similarities with “Aladdin”. But it didn’t bother me, since I never really liked Aladdin anyways. “Wish Dragon” I did enjoy, I really loved the friendship between Din and Li Na and also Din and the dragon Long. Check out my review HERE
 
I liked all three films and I really liked doing a more specific theme for a movie night this time.

Movei Review - Raya and the Last Dragon

Director: Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Paul Briggs, John Ripa
Genre: Animation/ Fantasy/ Adventure/ Family
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Daniel Dae Kim, Benedict Wong, Gemma Chan, Izaac Wang, Sandra Oh, Alan Tudyk

Description: In a realm known as Kumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon.

Review: Kumandra is plagued by Druun: an evil entity who steals the life force of the inhabitants and then turns them into stone. As a result, the Druun becomes stronger, while the number of people decreases. Raya is on a quest to find Kumandra’s last hope: the dragon Sisu, who has the power to stop the Druun.
“Raya and the last Dragon” is beautifully animated, but it’s Disney so that’s no surprise. I love how they also added some simple animations, when they explain a story from the past.
Raya lives in Kumandra, a land which is divided into several pieces. It is placed around a dragon-shaped river - and all five tribes are named after the place where their home is located; Heart, Tallon, Tail, Fang and Spine. This is incredibly cleverly done and adds extra elements to the story that gives it that extra bit of depth.
The feud between the five tribes, who all think they are the best and most important, is a good story element. Raya, who is from Heart, is mostly in ‘war’ with Namaari from Fang, who is the reason the Druun came back. Raya wants nothing more then to get all the tribes together again.
Sisu, the dragon in the story, is not your typical dragon. Normally they are associated with dangerous, fire-breathing and terrifying creatures. But Sisu is mostly a funny and cute dragon. Originall, but it might disappoint some people.
I loved “Raya and the Last Dragon’, where there is yet another strong female lead without her being the damsel in distress.

Rating: 4/ 5