- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,396
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
I went into Raya and the Last Dragon totally cold. No trailers, no reviews, nada. So I had zero expectations.
In ye olden days, Disney (via hand-drawn cells) was capable of producing shorts on a continuing basis, but features on average one per year in the 1940s, dropping five total in the 1950s, three in the '60s, four in the '70s and onward at an equal rate -
until CAPD animation arrived with The Little Mermaid, afaik, also the first to be shot on Eastman Color negative, and not SE. Anything hand-drawn or in a 2D format seems to have ended at least a decade ago, with the latest digital incarnations coming to the fore.
That era also moved the features up to one per year, with the general quality of the animation improving along the way.
One thing now seems to presumably be set in stone, and that's the appearance of (at least) lead characters, ie Disney "princesse," of which Raya seems to fit that bill.
Watching Raya, I couldn't get over the fact that she looked (aside from some basic cultural features) akin to virtually every other Disney "princess" of past films.
And by that I mean the "Big Eyes" look.
For those unaware, see Tim Burton's 2014 Big Eyes, with Amy Adams as Margaret Keane.
It's an interesting phenomenon, and seemingly the current Disney standard issue appearance.
While that concept was going through my mind, I realized that I was totally enjoying Raya. The reality is that it's quite an extraordinary animation experience. The details, depth and color are what's the word?
Magisterial.
So as Disney's candidate for next year's Academy Award for animation, it's a film well worth your time, and as a 4k Blu-ray, one of the finest yet produced.
Probably because it's derived from a true 4k DI.
HDR works beautifully, and the Dolby Atmos track is properly room-filling.
Nice to have a film that both kids and adults can watch, and the positive message doesn't hurt either.
Image – 5
Audio – 5
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors - Yes
Highly Recommended
RAH
In ye olden days, Disney (via hand-drawn cells) was capable of producing shorts on a continuing basis, but features on average one per year in the 1940s, dropping five total in the 1950s, three in the '60s, four in the '70s and onward at an equal rate -
until CAPD animation arrived with The Little Mermaid, afaik, also the first to be shot on Eastman Color negative, and not SE. Anything hand-drawn or in a 2D format seems to have ended at least a decade ago, with the latest digital incarnations coming to the fore.
That era also moved the features up to one per year, with the general quality of the animation improving along the way.
One thing now seems to presumably be set in stone, and that's the appearance of (at least) lead characters, ie Disney "princesse," of which Raya seems to fit that bill.
Watching Raya, I couldn't get over the fact that she looked (aside from some basic cultural features) akin to virtually every other Disney "princess" of past films.
And by that I mean the "Big Eyes" look.
For those unaware, see Tim Burton's 2014 Big Eyes, with Amy Adams as Margaret Keane.
It's an interesting phenomenon, and seemingly the current Disney standard issue appearance.
While that concept was going through my mind, I realized that I was totally enjoying Raya. The reality is that it's quite an extraordinary animation experience. The details, depth and color are what's the word?
Magisterial.
So as Disney's candidate for next year's Academy Award for animation, it's a film well worth your time, and as a 4k Blu-ray, one of the finest yet produced.
Probably because it's derived from a true 4k DI.
HDR works beautifully, and the Dolby Atmos track is properly room-filling.
Nice to have a film that both kids and adults can watch, and the positive message doesn't hurt either.
Image – 5
Audio – 5
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors - Yes
Highly Recommended
RAH
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