Rated PG for some violence, action and thematic elements.
Now Playing In Theaters and Streaming on Disney+ for $30 Premium Access In a fantasy realm known as Kumandra, humans once lived side-by-side with dragons in a prosperous land. But when an evil force known as the Druun are unleashed, the dragons put all of their magic together to create the Dragon Gem and stop the mayhem. Rather than celebrate the dragons’ sacrifice, the people fight over the Gem; splitting into five different tribes. 500 years later, young Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) and her father (Daniel Dae Kim) rule over the Heart tribe and guard the Gem. Her father believes the tribes can be reunited and attempts to bring the others (Fang, Spine, Talon, and Tail) together. But this only results in the Gem getting split and the Druun resurrecting. The tribes of Kumandra are split even further, and Raya loses her father in the process. Now, six years later, Raya is on a mission to recover the stolen gem pieces and restore peace to the land. In order to achieve this, she discovers and summons the last living dragon, Sisu (Awkwafina), who is said to have been the one who saved the world. Though she doesn’t have any of her powers, she is fully willing to aid Raya. As they make their way across the five lands, they’ll assemble a team to help achieve their goal of peace the world once knew. Raya and the Last Dragon, the latest from Disney Animation Studios, once again takes their well-worn princess formula and applies it to a new cultural background. Typically, they have done a great job making these stories feel fresh and original despite always following the same story beats. Even a film like Moana, which follows the Disney formula beat-for-beat, felt like a unique experience. However, the same can’t be said for Raya. This new film is about as generic as a Disney film could be. It does absolutely nothing new, following the same kind of story as their many others without any new developments. Now, for some of their previous films, Disney can overcome a generic story with great characters and humor. Unfortunately, Raya doesn’t even do this. This is especially true of the titular character. From her very first scene, there’s nothing about her that really stands out from the plethora of other Disney princesses. Her personality is bland, and aside from her quest to learn to trust others, doesn’t have any kind of flaws that she needs to overcome. Without that, the audience doesn’t really have any reason to connect with her. In the end, she just feels like any given person of that world rather than Raya. The same thing goes for the supporting characters. None of Raya’s allies or enemies have any sort of dimension. They are propelled by only the most basic of character motivations, never really changing as human beings over the course of the runtime. They only seek to help Raya defeat the Druun because of some past encounter, but like Raya, don’t really have any flaws to overcome by the end. Probably the film’s biggest achievement is the animation. As with any Disney film, it’s only the highest quality animation that brings the world to life. Everything from the sweeping environments to the details on the human characters is all really well done and gorgeous to look at. But unfortunately, the animation can’t compensate from what ultimately amounts to a lack of story. The film’s script feels more like a repetitive series of skits rather than a full story. Much of the team is gathered during the first half of the film, something that really should be done within the first 30 minutes. It often feels like the concept they came up with is just too big to work in a feature film. Sadly, the film also falls victim to what I like the call the “Rise of Skywalker effect.” There are multiple moments that happen without any logical lead up. They only happen because the script needed them to happen in order to push the story forward. It really softens the film’s overall message when everything is so easy for our protagonists, especially when it goes completely against the rules of the world established before. Raya and the Last Dragon is proof that Disney’s classic formula only works when a unique and compelling story uses it. While it is undeniably gorgeous to look at, it is let down by a script that lacks enough dimension and imagination to make the characters’ journey anything worth getting invested in. While kids, especially young girls, will probably enjoy it, this is one of those rare Disney films that won’t have much for the parents forced to watch along.
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Rated PG for cartoon violence, rude humor, and brief language.
Now Playing In Theaters and Streaming on HBO Max Until March 28 Tom and Jerry have been at each others’ throats for many years, throughout multiple generations. Tom has been doing everything he can, no matter how his plans defy logic, to capture his nemesis Jerry, to little success. But in their latest adventure, they find themselves outside of their normal household setting and thrown into the heart of New York City, where Jerry has taken up residence at the prestigious Royal Gate Hotel. While he makes himself at home, ambitious yet listless Kayla (Chloë Grace Moretz) manages to secure a temporary position despite her obvious lack of experience. Under the supervision of the hotel’s event planner Terrence (Michael Peña), the staff are preparing for an extremely high profile wedding, But as Jerry starts to steal things for his own bachelor pad, his presence threatens to upend everything they’ve worked for. When Kayla is unable to get Jerry to leave on her own, she decides to turn to a different source. She decides to hire Tom to catch him, believing that their classic “cat and mouse” biology will do the trick. What she doesn’t anticipate is how skilled Jerry is at evading Tom’s every move, and their chaotic rivalry unleashes a wave of calamity that may cause more damage to the hotel than Kayla expected. Right from the beginning, Tom & Jerry begin to shows its flaws. The opening sequence introduces us not to the titular duo, but to three animated pigeons rapping a song from the late 90s that we’re already more than familiar with. Even when Tom and Jerry finally come into frame, the movie puts more emphasis on the song rather than what the characters are doing. It’s a perfect introduction into the film’s mindset; that it seems to be interested in anything other than the cat and mouse. Watching how all over the place this film is, I can’t help but compare it to last year’s Scoob!, another modern reboot of a classic property that missed the mark big time. It seemed that the filmmakers wanted to make a Scooby-Doo movie, but made it with the idea that no one likes Scooby-Doo anymore. So they merely just use to characters as window dressing to give us a stew of recycled blockbuster clichés. And while Tom & Jerry never veers into superhero territory (other than the occasional sight gag), it also feels like the filmmakers are only using the names to lure you in. Probably the best way to describe how bad this film is is that Tom and Jerry are supporting characters in their own movie. The duo we’ve loved since the 40s and 50s are reduced to mere background players in a movie that bills them as the stars. And in their place, we get a completely pointless and uninteresting story about some selfish and, at times, insufferable humans setting up a wedding. Much of the first 30 minutes is dedicated to Moretz’s Kayla conning her way into the job by manipulating a potential candidate, stealing her resume, then shakily charming the manager into giving her the position. All while the characters we actually came to see have some gags every few minutes or so. Seriously, the film’s script not only comes up with excuses not to have Tom and Jerry in the movie, but actually tells them, “you’re not needed, go away.” At one point, Kayla forces them to get along by sending them on a day out in the city, while she plans the wedding. We spend all this time on her shenanigans, while Tom and Jerry’s antics are literally a minute long montage. At times, this movie feels like Warner Bros. had some third rate script lying around and said, “let’s throw Tom and Jerry in here so people will come.” This is made even worse by how irritating the human characters are. Both Moretz and Peña, as talented as they are (Peńa is one of my personal favorite actors), are really showing how far they’ll sink for a paycheck here. They’re more like one-dimensional caricatures rather than three-dimensional characters; personalities that are only good for the occasional jokes that will make the little ones laugh. And their performances really look like they’re not enjoying themselves. The animation also fails to breathe any life into the film. Every animal in this world is animated, but even though they retain the look of traditional animation, they are puffed up to look like 3D graphics. I’m sure that this was done to try and make them gel better with the live action world, but all I could focus on was my brain unable to figure out if they were real or cartoons. They look more like balloons than flesh and blood animals, and it’s very distracting (not that the actual movie is much more interesting). It’s clear that the studio was only interested in pleasing the kids rather than making a compelling movie. Many jokes in this movie is some kind of gross out gag that will have kids laughing while leaving their parents dry heaving. That definitely won’t stop it from being a hit, but with studios like Pixar making films that are silly fun for kids while also emotionally complex for adults, it’s depressing that some studios still think the big money ticket is something like this. The new Tom & Jerry is a largely unpleasant family film that stays true to the spirit of the iconic duo, only when it seems vaguely interested in doing so. It is made to please the absolute lowest common denominator of filmgoers, with nothing of real substance below the surface. That may be what you’re looking for if you want to take the children to something new at the movies. However, many of the original Tom & Jerry shorts are available to stream on HBO Max, and they’ll also have your kids laughing as many of the bits still hold up well today. Just keep that in mind. |