Raya and the Last Dragon 3D Movie Review

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Raya and the Last Dragon 3D Movie Review

Written By: Jacob Scarberry

3D


I had high hopes for the 3D aspect of Raya and The Last Dragon, sadly the 3D seems like your standard Pixar 3D animated film ( A Nice Afterthought ). Based on the excellent Disney + 4K 2D stream of this movie and the abundance of vibrant colors popping off the screen I expected more from the 3D aspect of this movie.

Starting with the positive aspects of the 3D, everything just seemed natural. The 3D has natural spacing between the layers of fore, middle and background elements. Overall the 3D details were amazingly abundant and the depth was just outstanding. The settings were beautifully designed and fully enveloped to the point of it looking like the real deal, instead of a computer creation. The water effects are bar none the best that I have ever seen. The 3D greatly increased how real various objects felt on screen. Overall the 3D depth is rather spectacular.

Depth wide the 3D works well, however, nothing really popped out of the screen towards the audience. Beyond a slight jutting out of the sword, some water / rain  splashes , nothing really broke out of the screen, despite the massive opportunities throughout this movie. We do have a few examples of pop out 3D: The water droplets from Sisu (The Last Dragon), the several fights between the characters, and some random shrimp being thrown at Raya. I wanted more pop out 3D for this movie. 

All in all the 3D highlights are few and far between. The various rain scenes where the camera is panning up or down look very nice in 3D. Another noteworthy scene is where, one character aims the crossbow at Raya and a bit of it pops out of the screen. Finally the cave scene with the exploding beetles looks especially nice in 3D.  

The 3D aspect of Raya and the Last Dragon is a very solid effort from Disney, but it simply left me wanting more. 

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie

I traveled nearly fifty miles in the hills of West Virginia to watch this movie in 3D. This was during the covid-19 pandemic. My epic long journey to watch this movie in 3D took me through winding roads, up and down the various mountains, into a few valleys and I even crossed a few rivers. All this to watch a movie that I already seen at home but now in 3D in a theatre. Call me crazy if you must, but I just had to do it, partially because no closer theater had it available in 3D, but mostly because I am so dedicated to 3D . These are desperate times and I rose to the occasion, for Raya and the Last Dragon.

Raya and the Last Dragon is a Disney animated movie that takes place in a fictional asian land, that has been splintered into five nations: Talon, Spine, Tail, Fang and Heart. After a series of errors and mistrust, Raya must reawaken Sisu the titular last dragon. Sisu is the only hope to try to reunite this divided world. Sisu is able to do many amazing feats, but it can’t help me love this movie. Asian lore is abundant in this movie. All the usual Disney tropes are also present in this movie. This movie has a young princess, cute animals, and some surprising racial stereotypes. It’s all very familiar and it’s told with a lack of grace and talent. The film just keeps hitting you over the head with obvious metaphors and awkward modern humor. This style of humor makes no sense at all in this story. Raya and the Last dragon fumbles the narrative ball. 

Raya and the Last Dragon’s vocal cast is largely decent. Kelly Marie Tran is better here as Raya than she was as Rose in the Star Wars sequels.  Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae, Sandra Oh and Benedict Wong are all delivering fine work. The one noteworthy exception is Awkwafina who is woefully miscast as Sisu. I like Awkwafina, she's funny and can act, but this character and her portrayal are jarring and downright grating at times. I feel bad for poor Alan Tudyk who was Tuk Tuk (a pillbug/armadillo-like creature that Raya rides on). Alan Tudyk is sorely underused to the point of not being needed to voice the basic grunts of this creature. What a waste! 

Luckily, the movie looks and sounds amazing. This movie showcases many beautiful locations and it has top notch animation. The sets, character designs, particle / hair effects, and water effects are all amazing throughout. I cannot deny how pretty this movie is. The sound design and musical compositions are also very well done. The score by James Newton Howard is excellent and it really captures the asian vibe. The sound and visuals match each other perfectly. The movie has no musical numbers and that is fine by me. 


Raya and the Last Dragon is a good but not a great movie. This film has a basic storyline with underdeveloped ideas, forced humor, and a miscast co-lead (Awkwafina). The 3D is nice and it satisfied me enough to make rewatching this movie worthwhile. This is a beautifully animated movie that sadly doesn’t live up to its potential.

Final Verdict: 7/10

Official Website :

 https://movies.disney.com/raya-and-the-last-dragon

© Disney, All Rights Reserved

Wonder Woman 1984 3D Movie Review

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Wonder Woman 1984 3D Movie Review

Written By: Jacob Scarberry

3D

Throughout my viewing of Wonder Woman 1984 the 3D was wonderful. While being shot on film, you can tell they had 3D in mind when they were making this movie, and it delivers in spades. There is natural depth and spacing between the characters and background/foreground elements. This movie has plenty of particles that enter the theatrical space, and several shots with pop-out effects that manage to fully entertain and engross the viewer. One scene with fireworks is especially beautiful in 3D. In fact the 3D fully lifted my movie watching experience for Wonder Woman 1984. While not a perfect 3D visual experience, overall I really enjoyed the 3D in this movie.  


Final Verdict: Great 3D

Movie

To put it bluntly, Wonder Woman 1984 isn't as good as Wonder Woman (2017), that being said I still liked this movie. 

Let me start off with the good aspects of this film, which is the cast. Gal Gadot was born to play the role of Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, as she exudes confidence, charisma and class throughout all the scenes that she is in. Chris Pine returns as Steve Trevor, this time, the roles being reversed, with him not knowing (then) modern life. It's a fun performance and the chemistry between him and Gadot retains its spark from the first film quite easily. Pedro Pascal's performance as Maxwell Lord is your typical superhero villain, over-the-top, a bit hammy and plenty of bites taken out of the scenery. What grounds Maxwell Lord to Earth is when he has heart-to-hearts with his son Alistair, it's acted perfectly. Kristen Wiig is an odd casting choice as Barbara Minerva / The Cheetah, having mainly known her for her comedic roles in films and on SNL, but she manages to make a believable foe to Wonder Woman.

The story is where it falters a bit for me, though. The story is pretty simple on the surface, where a financially troubled oil baron ( Max Lord )  has been looking for the wishing stone, to lift his fortunes and control the world and Wonder Woman has to stop him. Unfortunately the film takes it's sweet time and at two and a half hours, you feel every minute of it. The film is languidly told with several scenes running too long or are totally unnecessary. I'm not against long films, but when the pacing is this slow, it really wears on the audience. Patty Jenkins, who returns to direct as well as co-writing, should've known better to scale back several scenes or outright delete them entirely. The opening scene in Themiscyira should've been shortened, maybe a minute or two of length, not the full 15 or so minute scene. The middle portion of this movie drags. The ending itself is too long and the denouements of the villains are entirely in the realm of WTF. There's also an utter lack of action in this film. I thought this was an action movie? There are two action scenes in the opening of the film (the Themiscyira scene and the mall scene) but it's a good hour before we even get to the next action scene. Luckily this final action scene is the highlight of the film. This scene is a fun and well-executed scene, with plenty of pep and excitement, but it's not enough to save the film. Also, despite being set in 1984, besides a few cursory details in the costume and production design, the film could've been set in modern times and worked. The film just didn't do enough to make me think "Okay, this is really 1984".

Overall, this isn't the worst of the worst of the DC extended universe of movies or any comic book film for that matter, but it's a film that has too much circumstance, and not enough pomp. A fairly middling entry, with just enough entertainment to prevent it from being outright boring, but not enough for more than the occasional re-watch. Simply put Wonder Woman 1984 is a disappointing mediocre movie. 

Final Verdict: 6/10

Official Website :

https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/wonder-woman-1984

https://www.wonderwomanfilm.net/

TM & © 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.