Thanks for watching, guys! Even though I was pretty lukewarm on the movie, to be honest it was still crazy fun to edit the gorgeous footage from recent Disney Animation. What's your favorite recent Disney Princess movie? If you wanna check out my Patreon...you can do that! Every video has been going up on Patreon several days (and sometimes weeks) early as of late, plus unscripted monthly rambles, and BTS content about my current documentary series. Go support here: www.patreon.com/user?u=1017531
Got a chance to see it on IMAX along with the GLORIOUS short Us Again which a true beauty. The short was honestly better than the film, still loved Raya tho
@@majormotionjpeg Agh! I saw the movie in IMAX too and that short was just glorious. Thanks for reminding me. As usual, I was practically in tears by the end. Such a great concept
Bro tangled is so underrated...The story, the music, the romance, the characters, literal perfection. It's become a tradition of mine to watch it at least a few times every year 😅
I think Moana not having a love interest is fine because she has a strong platonic relationship with Maui that anchors (ahaha) the stakes in something to latch onto
But it's also anchored a lot in her relationship with herself and her identity. Her low point is when Maui tells her she's the wrong person to save her village and she believes him: she's always had doubt in her abilities, and he confirmed her fears. Then her grandmother reminds her she has done incredible things, and it's that faith in herself and overcoming of self-doubt (even against massive odds) that underscores the dramatic final battle and ultimate climax. Maui admits he was wrong to doubt her, but she has already come to that conclusion and is more happy to have his friendship than his validation.
@@maxmarks3503 It's Incredibly Not . I suggest watching the Full movie and avoid believing biased UA-cam reviews comparing it to Avatar before forming your own opinion. The "Tribes" theme, Weapons, Martial arts, Water Dragon folklores, Floating Houses/Markets that're in this movie are all real things that exists in all parts of SEAsia and is far from fiction/fantasy. It's not fair to say they copied a culture that they own. Not to spoil anyone but the plot is also original and is very different from Avatar: Avatar isn't about looking for an Ancient(500 year old) Water Dragon to stop a Plague that turns people into stone. P.S I won't be coming back to this comment. Have a good day Friends.
One thing I've realised recently is that the reason Endgame's final act works so well (for me) is that I buy how much these characters matter to each other, not because Thanos is about to end the world. The whole plot and themes of the movie hinges on you buying that these characters genuinely feel like they failed people they care about. The biggest moment people remember from that battle is the heroes returning, and the heroes that remained reacting to that, not Thanos losing.
It worked great until Captain Marvel came, I feel. She didn't have any relationship with anyone in the battlefield. I don't think she was even needed in the movie at all.
I don't think it's about superheroes being too good for relationships. I think it's that they have not yet figured out how to have relationships in their plots without it seeming like the feminine character 'requires' the masculine character. I think they want to figure it out, as most story tellers know full well that people care much less about the fate of the world than they do the fate of their loved ones. Humans are people-focussed. But how to have an emancipated relationship that's also tied to the plot, that's something story tellers are still struggling with. So to avoid controversy, they just avoid it altogether until they can figure out how to do it right.
I completely agree. I remember seeing frozen 2’s trailer and almost laughing at how absurdly epic they were trying to be for a sequel to a fun, sweet, animated musical with a talking snowman. Almost wanted an epic movie trailer voice to say “this isn’t your kids Frozen! Frozen 2: Global Meltdown”
I loved Raya and I didn't even realize it had the same plot as Guardians/Endgame lol. But also it's no coincidence that Disney wants everything to be like Marvel considering it's been the biggest thing on earth since 2012
I haven't seen 'Raya and the Last Dragon' but it's noteworthy how the climax of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' with Quill grabbing the Power Stone to prevent it from destroying Xandar, but we also see him hallucinating his last moments with his dying mother. In the sequel, we see Ego's extensions spreading across planets but the bigger tension comes as we see Quill's friends, or rather family, slowly being swallowed by Ego.
Bro! I thought I was the only one who noticed the Thor and Guardians connections. Love the new style of videos! Those posters in the back are getting me hyped for a Disneyland vid lol
It’s not a good thing. Let marvel be marvel. I thought Raya was lame because the plot was sooooooo generic and there are so many jokes that are clearly directed to kids. I guess that’s the target audience, but I was only impressed by the way they animated Raya’s dad’s face as he talked. That was good
Yeah I definitely am inclined to agree about your comment about relationships. At the end of the day, these are human characters, and in order for the stakes to feel high, we need to be able to connect with the characters. The parallels between Endgame and Raya are definitely noticeable on your account, but the key difference is that the stakes of Endgame are also rooted in what failing would mean for each and every character. Tl;dr relationships are important, either platonic or romantic hahah
I don't think a story has to have a romance to be good, but you're definitely right that it needs relationships. Marvel built up almost all strictly friendships up until Endgame, which is why we cared about the whole "end of the world" scenario. We cared about all of them. I normally don't care about Star Wars plots because the plot is usually "the Death Star is going to blow up whole planets of people we don't know" and the story is so plot heavy that characters don't get enough time to breathe and grow relationships. A lot of people liked Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben together, which I personally think would have been great if the relationship had had multiple movies and so much more screen time to change and grow into something healthy instead of toxic (which it was). I know not everyone agrees with that. But yeah, Star Wars doesn't ever leave room to breathe between action, so of course that didn't happen and why no one really likes the new trilogy. Plus people are typically super critical of Star Wars anyway.
I’m loving this new era of your channel. I did enjoy Raya, but I get the criticism of Disney Animation taking too much from the MCU’s influence into their movies. That’s not to say it can’t be done well or to be disrespectful to amazing cast and crew who worked on the movies, but it does feel very obvious where it’s influences are coming from. That’s a similar problem I had with Scoob where it waste it’s potential to tell a unique Scooby Doo Mystery in favor for superheroes esque elements. Even Pixar wasn’t safe with having Chris Pratt and Tom Holland be the leads of Onward. Anyways, still can’t wait for the next video Houston.
After recording this video, I thought I should’ve talked about SCOOB! It’s such an obvious example of a movie where the superhero vibes homogenized and nullified the entire character and feel of an existing series. Glad you enjoyed, man!
Great video! Totally agree. I remember watching Frozen 2 and I couldn't stop thinking about Thor Ragnorok and even God of War to some extent, but I couldn't figure out why. I think you hit the nail directly on the head. Also Tangled is in fact my favorite modern Disney movie too, it's crazy how no one really talks about that movie, and yet most people agree that it's probably the strongest film in this era of Disney.
I think this is also why the MCU "universe building" works so well. You have all these characters, and all of these lots of movies and series establish relationships, not only between the viewer and the characters but also between the different characters.
I liked Tangled because Rapunzel was essentially a prisoner who had to find the courage for a glimpse of her freedom. The trepidation she showed felt real and resonated with me. I think the reason why the Elsa and Raya wasn't as enjoyable is because we can't connect to them. There are no vulnerability or character growth. They are both just natural bad asses who can overcome all no matter what. It becomes hard to develop connections or to root for them.
I couldn't point out why exactly Raya left me feeling nothing...the animation was amazing, the worldbuilding fantastic (though too similar to Last Air-Bender), but there was just something that felt too familiar for me to really care. You've made sense of my mixed feelings towards this film, and Frozen 2 as well.
Have yet to see Raya ($30 is way too much), but your point about "a lot of cool concepts, but relationships are lacking" is definitely a lot of why I really didn't like Frozen 2. With Frozen 2, I contributed that to the infamously messy production, and the team constantly changing things deep into production. Not sure if that would be the case with Raya though. It's also why I think Pixar is still definitely king here. While the Disney animated films that have released in the last couple years have been really meh, I have really enjoyed Onward and Soul, and both of those have very strong relationships that are at the root of the climactic stakes.
Brave is another example of focusing more on what the character can do individually. Even though it's still grounded with the mother- daughter relationship
Personally I didn't get Marvel movie vibes from Raya and The Last Dragon. Throughout the whole movie I kept turning to my dad and my sister and said "This is really reminding me of Star Wars"-or-"This is really reminding me of Indiana Jones"-or-"You know this is a lot like Crouching Tiger..." and I think that really sums up about how I felt about the whole movie. It was kind of a throw back to martial arts/action movies and a little bit of the western genre as well. It felt like something that would come out of classic Hollywood (classic to me I'm only sixteen) and that's really why I loved the movie. It's an actual modern update to movies that don't necessarily have to be update and I found that both awesome as well as entertaining. Sure the plot is a little cliché and worn out, but for all those elements to be reinstated in the world building, characters, etc-the simplistic plot needs to be used so we don't have to focus extremely hard on it.
I agree: in fact, the movie is intentionally an homage to martial arts stuff ... As for the "cliché" aspect: every story since forever is clichéd, it's inevitable (not necessarily a bad thing).
i feel like there should be a space for movies the way disney used to make them (not just princess movies but movies like lion king, aladdin, treasure planet, etc) that isnt so heavily inspired by the superhero genre. i enjoy marvel movies but i kinda agree when they say the mcu has kinda killed creativity in cinema. now everything feels like it's trying to be an action movie with quippy dialogue, constant jokes, and world ending stakes with no focus on relationships.
The recent Disney animated features have also severely lacked an outright, charismatic villain. That's a core relationship of tension that drives the films, and Tangled was the last film to have a great villain.
i didnt enjoy frozen 2 nearly as much as i enjoyed the first one and i couldnt quite pin point why and this video explains it perfectly. it focuses too much on spectacle and world-ending stakes and in turn sacrifices character and human connection/relationships.
Interesting points in regards to Tangled (my favorite as well) and the Endgame/Guardian aspects from Raya. One flaw in your...not "thinking"...but criticism perhaps: you're not a 6 year old girl who has watched that movie 4 times over the last handful of days because she loves it so much. These movies aren't just for us adults...though that's interesting, again, in regards to your Endgame point because my 6 year old has really been on an Avengers: Endgame kick the last couple months since it's on TBS/TNT all the time, lately.
These sit down conversational style videos are really good stuff! I'm getting tired of watching plain reviews from other channels so this is always refreshing,
They also ruined Tangled and the relationship between Flynn and Rapunzel in the series. They reduced Flynn to the dumb boyfriend side character who was just there to make stupid jokes, while the whole focus was on the new BFF/sister character cassandra. they gave all the development only to her and focused only on her relationship with Rapunzel while Flynn was only there to be stupid. I Hate the series because of this. In the movie Flynn and Rapunzel were one of the only Disney couples where both sides where completely equal and developed like when they both saved the other at the end. In the stupid series all the focus is only on the sister, female friedship relationship which they stole from frozen while the romance is completely sidelined and the love interest is only the dumb boyfriend side character. I hate it! Its like men and women can't be equal anymore in recent Disney movies. There always have to be two female leads who are superior while the love interest is just the stupid side character. Ugh, I hate that they did that to tangled!
Haven't seen Raya, but I totally agree with all this. I think that these things are part of why the Mandalorian works so well. Like the rest of Disney star wars, there isn't a focus on romance, but unlike the sequels, the focus of the story IS a relationship - just the found family/father-son kind. And all the stakes are tied up in that, rather than in Saving the World. Which makes the story so much more accessible and easy to care about.
My take away is that what has happened with anime for the last 30 years is now happening with Western animation. That is to say, now we have filmmakers and TV show makers making stuff inspired by other films and TV. Which itself isnt exactly knew. As “original” as Scorsese and Spielberg and other old guard filmmakers can claim to be, their filmography’s are inspired by media and stories that they loved as kids. But a lot of great works are inspired by a breathd of knowledge of stories in addition to just living life. Why is it that Pixar is almost consistently making fantastic and some of the best animated films? Becuase as much as they’re animators, their movies are moreso inspired by life. Their stories hit home cause its not just reimagining or solely taking inspiration from other works of fiction but taking inspiration narratively from life, from the real world, etc. hell you can especially cite this with creators like Hideo Kojima. He makes video games but his games can be decades old and always socially relevant because Kojima always keeps up with the news, is always eager to learn about other peoples & cultures, & takes the right lessons from the movies and shows he watches. Thus resulting in narratively powerful and socially ahead of the curb video games (see how Sons of Liberty and Death Stranding predicted alot regarding America). Back to the anime example, Hayao Miyazaki cited anime directors only taking inspiration from other anime rather than going out and observing and experiencing life. This being the reason why a Miyazaki anime film feels lifelike and different from a majority of televised anime. There’s a really humorous example on the Spirited Away DVD where Miyazaki was instructing his animators to draw a scene by comparing it to how snakes move yet should also growl and move like a dog. Nobody in the room (all younger animators) knew what hed meant. They were sheltered indoor people and didnt have pets. So Miyazaki took everyone to a pet shelter and had the animals handled and move the way he was describing. Thus they could see what he meant now that they stepped out of the studio. I bring all this up because now it seems a lot of writers and animators arent as much living life and taking inspiration and lessons from life but rather from other media. Media and stories can be powerful and are rightfully inspiring. But a lot of the times creatives merely what worked on the surface with certain media rather than going deeper. Its why GOTG2 is to me a much stronger movie than other Marvel films. Its not the basic element of ragtag group made into a superhero team why it works. Its about character, introspection, and why they are who they are. Sorry for the word vomit. I was thinking about the video this morning and had a bit to say ^^;
OMG I did not see the connection between Raya and Guardians of the Galaxy! The thing that tripped me up was that the way that people were turned into stone with the hope of bringing them back reminded me way too much of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Yes, I know that's a common trope, but I couldn't help but chuckle at the connection, and that was one of the few times I did chuckle during the movie.
Indeed! ... Tangled is amazing and not enough people talk about it... It’s quite sad how these companies are scared to take any risks at all though, it often makes something that could have been great or even groundbreaking in some areas mediocre at best.
This was such an interesting take. I was so hyped the first time I saw "Raya" in theaters that it didn't really hit me until my second viewing that something felt a bit..... off🤔 about it all. You nailed what I think I was subconsciously noticing during that second viewing. Now that I think about the "Marvelfication" of recent Disney animated movies, it's also interesting to think about how the marketing on the movies over the past decade or so has fluctuated between having a title like "Tangled" (instead of "Rapunzel") and a heavy focus on the Flynn Rider character in the marketing to focusing almost exclusively on Olaf in the early promo for the first "Frozen" before it exploded to switching gears by full-on selling the second movie off the back of Elsa to actually using the character names of Moana and Raya in the titles of their respective movies. Even just the six years between the two "Ralph" movies caused Vanellope to be a lot more present in the advertising for the second film. Also, "Zootpia" split the marketing between Judy & Nick pretty evenly........ I feel like there's something in all that that goes hand-in-hand with this commentary, ya know? 🧐
Funny I didn’t think as much of Guardians plot watching this movie as much as I though of MLP’s friendship is magic theme. Forgiving the baddie girl and trusting in each other and the combined magic of the dragons reminds me of that thing they do in the MLP series as well.
this video reminds me of this passage from “the hero with a thousand faces” by joseph campbell ! ! “Typically, the hero of the fairy tale achieves a domestic, microcosmic triumph, and the hero of myth a world-historical, macrocosmic triumph. Whereas the former-the youngest or despised child who becomes the master of extraordinary powers-prevails over his personal oppressors, the latter brings back from his adventure the means for the regeneration of his society as a whole.” Disney’s more recent princess films seem to put salient emphasis on traversing through the latter macrocosmic scenario course ( which most ppl seem to agree as being best adapted by the mcu films ) & i feel like that encanto was so well received because the creators choose to set the story against a more microcosmic framework . . Mcu films feel more akin to the framework of “myths // legends” while disney films in the collective mind are probably THE most widely referenced for & associated w/ the schematic structure of fairytales, and bc of that, the framework of microcosm works better for them.
I wholeheartedly agree . Even Mulan, which has world saving, or "China" saving stakes, is still about Mulan's relationship with her Father, Mushu, the soldiers, and Shang. It's all about the relationships.
@@kennethlau8990 I just mean that you need something to care about to actually route for them to save the day. If it's not the characters then maybe you care about the country/world they live in. But I didn't think Raya made me care for the characters or the world she lives in. Stuff just happens.
@@genesisp3884 Then you haven't been paying attention to the movie. The whole movie is centred around reunuiting broken tribes (and the intro made it very clear they were once one).
Okay, so minor dig I need to say this as I think it's important even if it's something of a tangent. It isn't really a response to the review just a pet-peeve of mine that I want those discussing media to hear: The stone in this movie is not a macguffin. I will repeat this, the stone... is not... a macguffin. A macguffin is an object that serves as the catalyst of the plot or is the source of characters' motivation but that is where it's importance ends. It is why things happen and nothing more. For the sake of brevity I'll use one example; in "Psycho" the protagonist, Marion Crane, is a secretary at a real estate firm who when tasked with depositing a stack of forty grand (in *cash* ) from a client she instead skips town with it. This money is macguffin because it's the thing that begins the film's plot and nothing more. Marion steals the money and that's what leads to the events of the story as well as the investigation from a PI, and the money is now completely superfluous from here on end. Another key detail to qualify for a macguffin is that the macguffin has to be interchangeable. The cash Marion stole was 4,000 but it could've been five, or three. It could have not been cash, it could've been any other valuable item like a purse full of diamonds, or an antique pearl necklace, or a hundred year old painting. Or it could've been nothing at all, she could've not imbezzled or even stole anything. She could be cheating on her taxes or in some other debt, the point is any type of crime could've been committed to get the plot started but the one that happened in this movie in this chosen version of events was embezzlement of $4,000. Now that I've said that it should be perfectly clear my point. The magic stone that everyone wants in this story despite having plenty of parallels to the trope is objectively and categorically not a macguffin. It is an item with a physical and practical function in which is explicitly explained and shown in use. It has an explicit origin and purpose that is unambiguous to why people covet it and a justification for why it is fought over. There is nothing else like it and it irreplaceable, it is necessary for both the beginning and conclusion of the plot and it is written with deep thematic parallels to the film's messages of trust and co-operation. This is stone is not a macguffin. The reason for this tirade I'm sorry that this isn't truly relevant for the video as a whole but the problem is that we misuse terms like this all the time and I think it's a problem for online discussion of art and media when mistakes like this have become normalized. It also annoys me when people criticise macguffins for being superfluous when that's absolutely the point. They aren't supposed to matter beyond their plot functions and while I'm not accusing anyone of malpractice here I feel as though our misunderstanding of what a macguffin actually is has led to possible long-term bad faith criticism that's in desperate need of correction.
Thanks for the perspective! I've read some things about the "real" definition of macguffin in the past and it's funny how in the post-Marvel world it's shifted and become a way to describe "infinity stones and deathly hallows" rather than something like The Maltese Falcon. It's interesting how words evolve in their meaning; like, at this point I feel like so many people have used "macguffin" in the newer sense that it's essentially taken on that newer meaning now. But it's always good to remember the original context/definitions we've completely erased.
@@houston-coley Thanks for replying to this and wild I do agree that this is probably just a case of the definition evolving with times in my personal opinion this is a case of it doing the opposite. Like because we don't have a proper word for this variation we're just using it as a placeholder until we come up with a new one... but then we forgot to come up with the new one. The reason why I find this personally dangerous is because macguffin is becoming a dirty word, for many it's just bad writing or too cliché or whatever and since it's so misused then we might be tainting the reputation of a potentially valuable trope... And in turn failing to engage with media by a fake reputation not by it's own merits. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I kind of don't want to teach bad lessons to our kids who will be writing stories after us you know. Because we changed the definition of a trope, decided it's bad and now told the next generation not to write that... I mean I'm babbling but how many good stories would benefit from the use macguffins proper now just won't because of our mistake?
I'm so happy you made this. Thought i was the only one noticing that current Disney's version of princesses seem obnoxious compared to classic ones. They are trying too hard to virtue signal. Though thats a problem with Disney as a company all around (With Marvel and Star Wars as well).
Loved the video! Came in skeptical of the title but was thoroughly convinced by the end. I would argue that a lot of the Marvel movies that they are drawing inspiration from (especially Guardians) nail the emotional & relationship aspects of the film (and even have romantic subplots!) It's unfortunate that they took the spectacle / vibe / plot without really examining what made those movies and previous Disney princess movies special.
Every studio, nay every company, has one goal: To find the product formula that can be repeated and essentially just print money endlessly. The Hero's Journey / Monomyth model has been refined since Star Wars hit it big in 1977, and this is how it ooks now. Just look at how different the first three Iron Man movies are from not just other Marvel movies, but from each other. They still experimented. Now, every movie is a reshading of Iron Man 1, because that worked best. They will ride this train till the wheels fall off, mark my words...
I think with all you've mentioned about relationships, that's the exact reason why I really loved the recent DC output. 2/3 members of the trinity have these really fulfilling relationships that allow them to grow as people while also not reducing them to purely romantic characters.
Really enjoying your return to youtube, I'll admit the bible video wasn't my thing but the 'sit down and talk' format is great, you got some good perspectives.
The Disney Girlboss Cinematic Universe (DGCU) But seriously, loved hearing your thoughts abt Raya! I personally wish we could get another love story from Disney Animation (or even any new recent animated movie?) cause I think they can be done so well through the medium + they've kind of fallen out of fashion, at least from what I've seen. Anyway, great video!
I didn't really mind how this movie apes Marvel movies, in my mind where it failed is that the characters were very 2-dimensional and not very interesting. The boy in the boat was the closest to having a real personality but the rest of them were very flatly written and the reason i couldn't connect to the movie.
When you point it out it’s definitely apparent that they’re going for super hero vibes, but I’ve been enjoying the modern Disney princesses because of that
I noticed a tapering off of my own interests of recent original Disney animated films due to their kind of copy-paste nature, (apart from genre, setting, and characters) but I've never noticed just how likened they are to marvel movies. Even just down to the raising of stakes, they feel a lot more impersonal and separated from movies with intentionally large stakes like a Big Hero 6 (at least the from my perspective). To that end and covering so much more, great video, Houston!
Yeah! Like theres no relationship! To me personally, I dont care if the relationship isn't romantic, it just has to feel like...y'know.... *a relationship*. The characters need their human connections as stakes. Like marvel movies it no longer feels like a deep-seated friendship, connection or care between people but instead as you mentioned: it's just a buddy up. The relationship doesn't have to be romantic, it just has to feel real.
Great video, this one and your Kung Fu Panda got me to sub. Been thinking just a bit about a slight rewrite to Raya, what about when at the fight in Spine, all the soldiers run when they see the dragon but Namaari stays and Raya's team end up capturing her. The next 10-15 minutes are spend with Namaari and Raya developing a friendship, Namaari can apologize for the past, she was just doing what her mother told her to, yada yada. Then once they get to Talon, Namaari goes to ask for the stone and the rest plays out as is. The betrayal would hit harder, the fight and anger would feel more justified for Raya, and surrendering her stone at the end would be a way bigger thing
I don't necessarily agree with your point that Disney movies are becoming Marvelized. Yeah maybe there's inspiration with certain iconography but Marvel didn't invent third act spectacle or certain character tropes. I also just really loved Raya and Frozen II and disagree that their finale are all spectacle. Frozen II is still about the connection between the characters but them understanding that they have purpose beyond just being together. The characters love each other enough to act outside of each other's best interests. Frozen II is what happens after happily ever after. That's what I think is what's so great about both films is how subversive they are with classic Disney tropes and how they expand upon the characters with relationships and as individuals. Raya is honestly my favorite Disney movie since The Lion King. Sure it has some pacing issues but I didn't take issue with its repetitive nature and macguffin plotline. If anything the macguffin plotline allowed us to experience the excellent world building more. Plus, I think the stones extend beyond just being a standard magic macguffin. They represent a nature resource that the different communities fight over and what causes their divide. Sure the movie may not be rooted in relationships like past Disney films but I still think it's about relationships. Its about starting them or repairing them. Maybe the characters don't know each other super well but they have more in common then they don't and when there's a great threat they have to reach out and trust each other if they've opened up to it. So I still think these modern Disney films have more going on beyond the grander spectacle at hand. They may not be rooted in relationships in the traditional sense but they are in a newfound sense which I think is refreshing. In fact The Lion King which you mentioned does have a grand finale but that isn't one that revolves around a relationship. That's about Simba coming into his own and taking responsibility for his role in the circle of life. Making things right. So Disney's been doing this long before recent entries.
See I thought that the grounded emotional core of Raya was her just trying to de-petrify her father. The scene at the end where all the characters reunite with their families made me SOB. Funnily enough, I actually found Moana to be very paint by numbers and basic and part of that was before while there's no love interest, I didn't find her friendship with Maui to be as good as the one with Judy and Nick in Zootopia. But it was refreshing to see someone who compared Raya to Marvel and not ATLA
Raya’s setting is a lot more similar to Avatar the Las Airbender ( which everyone had pointed out since the first trailer was out ). I honestly don’t know how Black Panther’s world is similar at all except at a very broad stroke. Also the fetch collection quest is hardly an Endgame thing. It’s a trope with a pretty long history behind it. Raya and the other characters might have been inspired by GotG , but the setting and the story are not. And you’re probably the first one to complain about the romance in Raya and Moana, while conveniently forgot about Kristoff’ and Anna in Frozen. Frankly that romance is a lot deeper and better than many of the romance in earlier Disney Princess movies.
I was scared I was the only one who didn't like Raya that much. For me it's in the characters and the writing, because they don't feel as a unit and lack characterization. It's like Disney doesn't know how to write their characters without using songs.
Ironically, I hadn’t even thought about that element! Songs get us so much closer to the heart of a character. Maybe that’s part of why I didn’t feel quite so connected to Raya’s ensemble.
I think it's a pity to believe that romantic love is the only kind of relationship worth caring about in a movie. There's the relationship between Anna and Elsa, Master Shinfu and Tai Lung that are the first that come to my mind. Elsa doesn't have a love interest bc there's no place for it in the story. It's not about she cannot have one, it's about she doesn't need to in order to reach the goal of the movie.
These two movies are both examples (along with the Mulan remake) of women-centric stories, where the main character needs to have special powers in order to get anything done. They're not so much "girl power" movies as they are "girls with power." Not the type of thing we're asking for as parents of daughters.
Thanks for watching, guys! Even though I was pretty lukewarm on the movie, to be honest it was still crazy fun to edit the gorgeous footage from recent Disney Animation. What's your favorite recent Disney Princess movie?
If you wanna check out my Patreon...you can do that! Every video has been going up on Patreon several days (and sometimes weeks) early as of late, plus unscripted monthly rambles, and BTS content about my current documentary series. Go support here: www.patreon.com/user?u=1017531
Epic victory nice bro I love your work and videos ahahahha you are rlvery smart and handsome brother keep going 👍 💪 🙌 💙
Got a chance to see it on IMAX along with the GLORIOUS short Us Again which a true beauty. The short was honestly better than the film, still loved Raya tho
@@majormotionjpeg Agh! I saw the movie in IMAX too and that short was just glorious. Thanks for reminding me. As usual, I was practically in tears by the end. Such a great concept
Great content. I truly think you have a future in this you make great engaging videos
Have you seen Alita Battle Angel, please do a video for the Alita Army.
Bro tangled is so underrated...The story, the music, the romance, the characters, literal perfection. It's become a tradition of mine to watch it at least a few times every year 😅
And so is the animated series tbh
I think Moana not having a love interest is fine because she has a strong platonic relationship with Maui that anchors (ahaha) the stakes in something to latch onto
Yes!
But it's also anchored a lot in her relationship with herself and her identity. Her low point is when Maui tells her she's the wrong person to save her village and she believes him: she's always had doubt in her abilities, and he confirmed her fears. Then her grandmother reminds her she has done incredible things, and it's that faith in herself and overcoming of self-doubt (even against massive odds) that underscores the dramatic final battle and ultimate climax. Maui admits he was wrong to doubt her, but she has already come to that conclusion and is more happy to have his friendship than his validation.
Agreed! Not sure if I didn’t make it clear enough, but I don’t think Moana struggles with any of the problems that the more recent movies have.
Zootopia is also a great example. Tons of action/snarky banter, but the heart of the movie is Judy and Nick's relationship.
Zootopia's my favourite recent Disney film
yes!!
Raya felt like a season of TV stuffed into a 90 minute movie.
That's because it's incredibly derivative from Avatar: The Last Airbender
@@maxmarks3503 It's Incredibly Not .
I suggest watching the Full movie and avoid believing biased UA-cam reviews comparing it to Avatar before forming your own opinion. The "Tribes" theme, Weapons, Martial arts, Water Dragon folklores, Floating Houses/Markets that're in this movie are all real things that exists in all parts of SEAsia and is far from fiction/fantasy. It's not fair to say they copied a culture that they own. Not to spoil anyone but the plot is also original and is very different from Avatar: Avatar isn't about looking for an Ancient(500 year old) Water Dragon to stop a Plague that turns people into stone.
P.S I won't be coming back to this comment. Have a good day Friends.
@@reportrito8846 I watched the full movie. Didn't watch any reviews. It's basically if Avatar and Marvel movies had a baby. Still a fun movie though
@@JustAFrame Thanks for explaining how Avatar copied Naruto.
Can people stop with the whole "iT sHoUlD'vE bEeN A tV sHoW" argument. It's like the default NPC response to the film.
One thing I've realised recently is that the reason Endgame's final act works so well (for me) is that I buy how much these characters matter to each other, not because Thanos is about to end the world. The whole plot and themes of the movie hinges on you buying that these characters genuinely feel like they failed people they care about. The biggest moment people remember from that battle is the heroes returning, and the heroes that remained reacting to that, not Thanos losing.
It worked great until Captain Marvel came, I feel. She didn't have any relationship with anyone in the battlefield. I don't think she was even needed in the movie at all.
I don't think it's about superheroes being too good for relationships. I think it's that they have not yet figured out how to have relationships in their plots without it seeming like the feminine character 'requires' the masculine character. I think they want to figure it out, as most story tellers know full well that people care much less about the fate of the world than they do the fate of their loved ones. Humans are people-focussed. But how to have an emancipated relationship that's also tied to the plot, that's something story tellers are still struggling with. So to avoid controversy, they just avoid it altogether until they can figure out how to do it right.
I completely agree. I remember seeing frozen 2’s trailer and almost laughing at how absurdly epic they were trying to be for a sequel to a fun, sweet, animated musical with a talking snowman. Almost wanted an epic movie trailer voice to say “this isn’t your kids Frozen!
Frozen 2: Global Meltdown”
Stakes must be rooted in relationship... dang straight. You articulated exactly why I was meh about Raya.
Not really. Raya is actually rooted in relationships. Plus, it is anything but meh for me.
I loved Raya and I didn't even realize it had the same plot as Guardians/Endgame lol. But also it's no coincidence that Disney wants everything to be like Marvel considering it's been the biggest thing on earth since 2012
Wait, my favorite content creator on youtube is uploading consistently again? BIG W.
3 Videos in the span of a week, I respect the hustle!
I haven't seen 'Raya and the Last Dragon' but it's noteworthy how the climax of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' with Quill grabbing the Power Stone to prevent it from destroying Xandar, but we also see him hallucinating his last moments with his dying mother.
In the sequel, we see Ego's extensions spreading across planets but the bigger tension comes as we see Quill's friends, or rather family, slowly being swallowed by Ego.
Bro! I thought I was the only one who noticed the Thor and Guardians connections. Love the new style of videos! Those posters in the back are getting me hyped for a Disneyland vid lol
GET HYPED INDEED! I'm still trying to figure out a whole *series* of videos about theme park design sometime.
@@houston-coley Please do! The Disney Parks have so much going on right now.
It’s not a good thing. Let marvel be marvel. I thought Raya was lame because the plot was sooooooo generic and there are so many jokes that are clearly directed to kids. I guess that’s the target audience, but I was only impressed by the way they animated Raya’s dad’s face as he talked. That was good
What? "Lame"? "Generic"? "For kids"? It literally had a lot of violence! I think you saw a different movie altogether.
Ironically I think the best Marvel movies are movies that center around relationships too!
Yeah I definitely am inclined to agree about your comment about relationships. At the end of the day, these are human characters, and in order for the stakes to feel high, we need to be able to connect with the characters. The parallels between Endgame and Raya are definitely noticeable on your account, but the key difference is that the stakes of Endgame are also rooted in what failing would mean for each and every character. Tl;dr relationships are important, either platonic or romantic hahah
So happy to be getting videos from you again
My thoughts exactly. The stakes of Frozen 1 worked SO much better because it was mainly focused on the relationship between Anna and Elsa
I don't think a story has to have a romance to be good, but you're definitely right that it needs relationships. Marvel built up almost all strictly friendships up until Endgame, which is why we cared about the whole "end of the world" scenario. We cared about all of them.
I normally don't care about Star Wars plots because the plot is usually "the Death Star is going to blow up whole planets of people we don't know" and the story is so plot heavy that characters don't get enough time to breathe and grow relationships. A lot of people liked Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben together, which I personally think would have been great if the relationship had had multiple movies and so much more screen time to change and grow into something healthy instead of toxic (which it was). I know not everyone agrees with that. But yeah, Star Wars doesn't ever leave room to breathe between action, so of course that didn't happen and why no one really likes the new trilogy. Plus people are typically super critical of Star Wars anyway.
I rarely comment, although I enjoy your videos, but I thought you should be told that this one was particularly insightful. At least I thought it was.
I’m loving this new era of your channel. I did enjoy Raya, but I get the criticism of Disney Animation taking too much from the MCU’s influence into their movies. That’s not to say it can’t be done well or to be disrespectful to amazing cast and crew who worked on the movies, but it does feel very obvious where it’s influences are coming from. That’s a similar problem I had with Scoob where it waste it’s potential to tell a unique Scooby Doo Mystery in favor for superheroes esque elements. Even Pixar wasn’t safe with having Chris Pratt and Tom Holland be the leads of Onward. Anyways, still can’t wait for the next video Houston.
After recording this video, I thought I should’ve talked about SCOOB! It’s such an obvious example of a movie where the superhero vibes homogenized and nullified the entire character and feel of an existing series. Glad you enjoyed, man!
I love this new format that you're doing, it's great and you always cover topics your passionate about!
Great video! Totally agree. I remember watching Frozen 2 and I couldn't stop thinking about Thor Ragnorok and even God of War to some extent, but I couldn't figure out why. I think you hit the nail directly on the head.
Also Tangled is in fact my favorite modern Disney movie too, it's crazy how no one really talks about that movie, and yet most people agree that it's probably the strongest film in this era of Disney.
I think this is also why the MCU "universe building" works so well. You have all these characters, and all of these lots of movies and series establish relationships, not only between the viewer and the characters but also between the different characters.
I liked Tangled because Rapunzel was essentially a prisoner who had to find the courage for a glimpse of her freedom. The trepidation she showed felt real and resonated with me. I think the reason why the Elsa and Raya wasn't as enjoyable is because we can't connect to them. There are no vulnerability or character growth. They are both just natural bad asses who can overcome all no matter what. It becomes hard to develop connections or to root for them.
Actually there is CLEARLY vulnerability and character development, if you pay attention and not scroll through your phone while the movie's on.
I couldn't point out why exactly Raya left me feeling nothing...the animation was amazing, the worldbuilding fantastic (though too similar to Last Air-Bender), but there was just something that felt too familiar for me to really care. You've made sense of my mixed feelings towards this film, and Frozen 2 as well.
You've clearly watched a different movie. 'Cause Raya left me all teared up on the inside.
Have yet to see Raya ($30 is way too much), but your point about "a lot of cool concepts, but relationships are lacking" is definitely a lot of why I really didn't like Frozen 2.
With Frozen 2, I contributed that to the infamously messy production, and the team constantly changing things deep into production. Not sure if that would be the case with Raya though.
It's also why I think Pixar is still definitely king here. While the Disney animated films that have released in the last couple years have been really meh, I have really enjoyed Onward and Soul, and both of those have very strong relationships that are at the root of the climactic stakes.
Brave is another example of focusing more on what the character can do individually. Even though it's still grounded with the mother- daughter relationship
Personally I didn't get Marvel movie vibes from Raya and The Last Dragon. Throughout the whole movie I kept turning to my dad and my sister and said "This is really reminding me of Star Wars"-or-"This is really reminding me of Indiana Jones"-or-"You know this is a lot like Crouching Tiger..." and I think that really sums up about how I felt about the whole movie. It was kind of a throw back to martial arts/action movies and a little bit of the western genre as well. It felt like something that would come out of classic Hollywood (classic to me I'm only sixteen) and that's really why I loved the movie. It's an actual modern update to movies that don't necessarily have to be update and I found that both awesome as well as entertaining. Sure the plot is a little cliché and worn out, but for all those elements to be reinstated in the world building, characters, etc-the simplistic plot needs to be used so we don't have to focus extremely hard on it.
I agree: in fact, the movie is intentionally an homage to martial arts stuff ... As for the "cliché" aspect: every story since forever is clichéd, it's inevitable (not necessarily a bad thing).
I’m really enjoying your recent videos!!
Houston, have you seen the 2011 Winnie The Pooh movie? It’s one of my personal favorites and really underrated.
i feel like there should be a space for movies the way disney used to make them (not just princess movies but movies like lion king, aladdin, treasure planet, etc) that isnt so heavily inspired by the superhero genre. i enjoy marvel movies but i kinda agree when they say the mcu has kinda killed creativity in cinema. now everything feels like it's trying to be an action movie with quippy dialogue, constant jokes, and world ending stakes with no focus on relationships.
I can't believe its taken me so long to notice the Origami Yoda books on the shelf.
Video soon?!?!? 😏
@@houston-coley don't give me hope...
@@psychogoji lmao
The recent Disney animated features have also severely lacked an outright, charismatic villain. That's a core relationship of tension that drives the films, and Tangled was the last film to have a great villain.
Not true.
i didnt enjoy frozen 2 nearly as much as i enjoyed the first one and i couldnt quite pin point why and this video explains it perfectly. it focuses too much on spectacle and world-ending stakes and in turn sacrifices character and human connection/relationships.
Interesting points in regards to Tangled (my favorite as well) and the Endgame/Guardian aspects from Raya. One flaw in your...not "thinking"...but criticism perhaps: you're not a 6 year old girl who has watched that movie 4 times over the last handful of days because she loves it so much. These movies aren't just for us adults...though that's interesting, again, in regards to your Endgame point because my 6 year old has really been on an Avengers: Endgame kick the last couple months since it's on TBS/TNT all the time, lately.
I just discovered you and the second I start binging all your videos you post a new one! Lucky me
Dude. Incredible video. Glad to see you uploading consistently again! Very engaging video!
really great points, enjoyed the analysis
Tangle has good relationships because it takes the time to flesh out Flynn/Eugene and Repunzel. It's not just a token love interest.
I stumbled upon this channel just to hear a guy praise kung fu panda. It seems I found a gold mine.
Yes! Glad to see that you’re making UA-cam videos again! Don’t be afraid to get a little crazy and start making more episodes on your podcast too
These sit down conversational style videos are really good stuff! I'm getting tired of watching plain reviews from other channels so this is always refreshing,
They also ruined Tangled and the relationship between Flynn and Rapunzel in the series. They reduced Flynn to the dumb boyfriend side character who was just there to make stupid jokes, while the whole focus was on the new BFF/sister character cassandra. they gave all the development only to her and focused only on her relationship with Rapunzel while Flynn was only there to be stupid. I Hate the series because of this. In the movie Flynn and Rapunzel were one of the only Disney couples where both sides where completely equal and developed like when they both saved the other at the end. In the stupid series all the focus is only on the sister, female friedship relationship which they stole from frozen while the romance is completely sidelined and the love interest is only the dumb boyfriend side character. I hate it! Its like men and women can't be equal anymore in recent Disney movies. There always have to be two female leads who are superior while the love interest is just the stupid side character. Ugh, I hate that they did that to tangled!
Haven't seen Raya, but I totally agree with all this. I think that these things are part of why the Mandalorian works so well. Like the rest of Disney star wars, there isn't a focus on romance, but unlike the sequels, the focus of the story IS a relationship - just the found family/father-son kind. And all the stakes are tied up in that, rather than in Saving the World. Which makes the story so much more accessible and easy to care about.
No, a story of saving the world works better, because it gives much more tension. It would not work in Raya because it's not SUPPOSE TO.
My take away is that what has happened with anime for the last 30 years is now happening with Western animation. That is to say, now we have filmmakers and TV show makers making stuff inspired by other films and TV. Which itself isnt exactly knew. As “original” as Scorsese and Spielberg and other old guard filmmakers can claim to be, their filmography’s are inspired by media and stories that they loved as kids. But a lot of great works are inspired by a breathd of knowledge of stories in addition to just living life.
Why is it that Pixar is almost consistently making fantastic and some of the best animated films? Becuase as much as they’re animators, their movies are moreso inspired by life. Their stories hit home cause its not just reimagining or solely taking inspiration from other works of fiction but taking inspiration narratively from life, from the real world, etc. hell you can especially cite this with creators like Hideo Kojima. He makes video games but his games can be decades old and always socially relevant because Kojima always keeps up with the news, is always eager to learn about other peoples & cultures, & takes the right lessons from the movies and shows he watches. Thus resulting in narratively powerful and socially ahead of the curb video games (see how Sons of Liberty and Death Stranding predicted alot regarding America).
Back to the anime example, Hayao Miyazaki cited anime directors only taking inspiration from other anime rather than going out and observing and experiencing life. This being the reason why a Miyazaki anime film feels lifelike and different from a majority of televised anime. There’s a really humorous example on the Spirited Away DVD where Miyazaki was instructing his animators to draw a scene by comparing it to how snakes move yet should also growl and move like a dog. Nobody in the room (all younger animators) knew what hed meant. They were sheltered indoor people and didnt have pets. So Miyazaki took everyone to a pet shelter and had the animals handled and move the way he was describing. Thus they could see what he meant now that they stepped out of the studio.
I bring all this up because now it seems a lot of writers and animators arent as much living life and taking inspiration and lessons from life but rather from other media. Media and stories can be powerful and are rightfully inspiring. But a lot of the times creatives merely what worked on the surface with certain media rather than going deeper. Its why GOTG2 is to me a much stronger movie than other Marvel films. Its not the basic element of ragtag group made into a superhero team why it works. Its about character, introspection, and why they are who they are.
Sorry for the word vomit. I was thinking about the video this morning and had a bit to say ^^;
OMG I did not see the connection between Raya and Guardians of the Galaxy! The thing that tripped me up was that the way that people were turned into stone with the hope of bringing them back reminded me way too much of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Yes, I know that's a common trope, but I couldn't help but chuckle at the connection, and that was one of the few times I did chuckle during the movie.
Your intro is so peaceful and lovely!
Where can I get the Kelly Marie Tran shirt? Love her
It’s from SuperYakiStuff! Not sure if they still have them in stock. But they have loads of other fun niche shirts and stuff.
@@houston-coley thanks!
Indeed! ...
Tangled is amazing and not enough people talk about it...
It’s quite sad how these companies are scared to take any risks at all though, it often makes something that could have been great or even groundbreaking in some areas mediocre at best.
This was such an interesting take. I was so hyped the first time I saw "Raya" in theaters that it didn't really hit me until my second viewing that something felt a bit..... off🤔 about it all. You nailed what I think I was subconsciously noticing during that second viewing.
Now that I think about the "Marvelfication" of recent Disney animated movies, it's also interesting to think about how the marketing on the movies over the past decade or so has fluctuated between having a title like "Tangled" (instead of "Rapunzel") and a heavy focus on the Flynn Rider character in the marketing to focusing almost exclusively on Olaf in the early promo for the first "Frozen" before it exploded to switching gears by full-on selling the second movie off the back of Elsa to actually using the character names of Moana and Raya in the titles of their respective movies. Even just the six years between the two "Ralph" movies caused Vanellope to be a lot more present in the advertising for the second film. Also, "Zootpia" split the marketing between Judy & Nick pretty evenly........ I feel like there's something in all that that goes hand-in-hand with this commentary, ya know? 🧐
That's on the marketing team, not on the actual movie itself.
Funny I didn’t think as much of Guardians plot watching this movie as much as I though of MLP’s friendship is magic theme. Forgiving the baddie girl and trusting in each other and the combined magic of the dragons reminds me of that thing they do in the MLP series as well.
this video reminds me of this passage from “the hero with a thousand faces” by joseph campbell ! !
“Typically, the hero of the fairy tale achieves a domestic, microcosmic triumph, and the hero of myth a world-historical, macrocosmic triumph. Whereas the former-the youngest or despised child who becomes the master of extraordinary powers-prevails over his personal oppressors, the latter brings back from his adventure the means for the regeneration of his society as a whole.”
Disney’s more recent princess films seem to put salient emphasis on traversing through the latter macrocosmic scenario course ( which most ppl seem to agree as being best adapted by the mcu films ) & i feel like that encanto was so well received because the creators choose to set the story against a more microcosmic framework . . Mcu films feel more akin to the framework of “myths // legends” while disney films in the collective mind are probably THE most widely referenced for & associated w/ the schematic structure of fairytales, and bc of that, the framework of microcosm works better for them.
I wholeheartedly agree . Even Mulan, which has world saving, or "China" saving stakes, is still about Mulan's relationship with her Father, Mushu, the soldiers, and Shang. It's all about the relationships.
Not every story has to focus on relationships or that will derail the plot. Plus, Raya literally showed quite enough relationships.
@@kennethlau8990 I just mean that you need something to care about to actually route for them to save the day. If it's not the characters then maybe you care about the country/world they live in. But I didn't think Raya made me care for the characters or the world she lives in. Stuff just happens.
@@genesisp3884 Then you haven't been paying attention to the movie. The whole movie is centred around reunuiting broken tribes (and the intro made it very clear they were once one).
I really liked this movie, but your definitely right about the GOG, Black Panther, and Endgame comparisons
Okay, so minor dig I need to say this as I think it's important even if it's something of a tangent. It isn't really a response to the review just a pet-peeve of mine that I want those discussing media to hear:
The stone in this movie is not a macguffin. I will repeat this, the stone... is not... a macguffin.
A macguffin is an object that serves as the catalyst of the plot or is the source of characters' motivation but that is where it's importance ends. It is why things happen and nothing more.
For the sake of brevity I'll use one example; in "Psycho" the protagonist, Marion Crane, is a secretary at a real estate firm who when tasked with depositing a stack of forty grand (in *cash* ) from a client she instead skips town with it. This money is macguffin because it's the thing that begins the film's plot and nothing more. Marion steals the money and that's what leads to the events of the story as well as the investigation from a PI, and the money is now completely superfluous from here on end. Another key detail to qualify for a macguffin is that the macguffin has to be interchangeable.
The cash Marion stole was 4,000 but it could've been five, or three. It could have not been cash, it could've been any other valuable item like a purse full of diamonds, or an antique pearl necklace, or a hundred year old painting. Or it could've been nothing at all, she could've not imbezzled or even stole anything. She could be cheating on her taxes or in some other debt, the point is any type of crime could've been committed to get the plot started but the one that happened in this movie in this chosen version of events was embezzlement of $4,000.
Now that I've said that it should be perfectly clear my point. The magic stone that everyone wants in this story despite having plenty of parallels to the trope is objectively and categorically not a macguffin. It is an item with a physical and practical function in which is explicitly explained and shown in use. It has an explicit origin and purpose that is unambiguous to why people covet it and a justification for why it is fought over. There is nothing else like it and it irreplaceable, it is necessary for both the beginning and conclusion of the plot and it is written with deep thematic parallels to the film's messages of trust and co-operation. This is stone is not a macguffin.
The reason for this tirade I'm sorry that this isn't truly relevant for the video as a whole but the problem is that we misuse terms like this all the time and I think it's a problem for online discussion of art and media when mistakes like this have become normalized. It also annoys me when people criticise macguffins for being superfluous when that's absolutely the point. They aren't supposed to matter beyond their plot functions and while I'm not accusing anyone of malpractice here I feel as though our misunderstanding of what a macguffin actually is has led to possible long-term bad faith criticism that's in desperate need of correction.
Thanks for the perspective! I've read some things about the "real" definition of macguffin in the past and it's funny how in the post-Marvel world it's shifted and become a way to describe "infinity stones and deathly hallows" rather than something like The Maltese Falcon. It's interesting how words evolve in their meaning; like, at this point I feel like so many people have used "macguffin" in the newer sense that it's essentially taken on that newer meaning now. But it's always good to remember the original context/definitions we've completely erased.
@@houston-coley Thanks for replying to this and wild I do agree that this is probably just a case of the definition evolving with times in my personal opinion this is a case of it doing the opposite. Like because we don't have a proper word for this variation we're just using it as a placeholder until we come up with a new one... but then we forgot to come up with the new one. The reason why I find this personally dangerous is because macguffin is becoming a dirty word, for many it's just bad writing or too cliché or whatever and since it's so misused then we might be tainting the reputation of a potentially valuable trope... And in turn failing to engage with media by a fake reputation not by it's own merits. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I kind of don't want to teach bad lessons to our kids who will be writing stories after us you know. Because we changed the definition of a trope, decided it's bad and now told the next generation not to write that... I mean I'm babbling but how many good stories would benefit from the use macguffins proper now just won't because of our mistake?
Is it bad that I really want an avengers style disney princess team up movie?
Tangled is Disney's last great movie in decades
I'm so happy you made this. Thought i was the only one noticing that current Disney's version of princesses seem obnoxious compared to classic ones.
They are trying too hard to virtue signal. Though thats a problem with Disney as a company all around (With Marvel and Star Wars as well).
"Virtue signalling"? Sensed some unnecessary partisan grumbling.
Loved the video! Came in skeptical of the title but was thoroughly convinced by the end. I would argue that a lot of the Marvel movies that they are drawing inspiration from (especially Guardians) nail the emotional & relationship aspects of the film (and even have romantic subplots!) It's unfortunate that they took the spectacle / vibe / plot without really examining what made those movies and previous Disney princess movies special.
I don't really know anything about anime, but from what I understand of it, Raya seems more like an anime show than a movie, let alone a Disney movie.
In a good way, I presume. 'Cause, there's great anime (Studio Ghibli, for example).
Every studio, nay every company, has one goal: To find the product formula that can be repeated and essentially just print money endlessly. The Hero's Journey / Monomyth model has been refined since Star Wars hit it big in 1977, and this is how it ooks now. Just look at how different the first three Iron Man movies are from not just other Marvel movies, but from each other. They still experimented. Now, every movie is a reshading of Iron Man 1, because that worked best. They will ride this train till the wheels fall off, mark my words...
You are reading my mind 😮
I think with all you've mentioned about relationships, that's the exact reason why I really loved the recent DC output. 2/3 members of the trinity have these really fulfilling relationships that allow them to grow as people while also not reducing them to purely romantic characters.
Totally agree!
I just love a good story
All Spectacle, little sincerity. All Iron Man Jr., no Peter Parker
THANK YOU I AGREE SO MUCH
I feel the same way
Really enjoying your return to youtube, I'll admit the bible video wasn't my thing but the 'sit down and talk' format is great, you got some good perspectives.
The Disney Girlboss Cinematic Universe (DGCU)
But seriously, loved hearing your thoughts abt Raya! I personally wish we could get another love story from Disney Animation (or even any new recent animated movie?) cause I think they can be done so well through the medium + they've kind of fallen out of fashion, at least from what I've seen. Anyway, great video!
I didn't really mind how this movie apes Marvel movies, in my mind where it failed is that the characters were very 2-dimensional and not very interesting. The boy in the boat was the closest to having a real personality but the rest of them were very flatly written and the reason i couldn't connect to the movie.
The Star Wars movies under Disney definitely feel more like Marvel movies.
Interesting observation
Agree
Disney: it's not a stealing if you steal from yourself.
When you point it out it’s definitely apparent that they’re going for super hero vibes, but I’ve been enjoying the modern Disney princesses because of that
"I feel that"..."maybe that's on me?"
....ya think?
I noticed a tapering off of my own interests of recent original Disney animated films due to their kind of copy-paste nature, (apart from genre, setting, and characters) but I've never noticed just how likened they are to marvel movies. Even just down to the raising of stakes, they feel a lot more impersonal and separated from movies with intentionally large stakes like a Big Hero 6 (at least the from my perspective). To that end and covering so much more, great video, Houston!
Zootopia, Moana, Encanto, and even Raya would all like to disagree.
Yeah! Like theres no relationship! To me personally, I dont care if the relationship isn't romantic, it just has to feel like...y'know.... *a relationship*. The characters need their human connections as stakes. Like marvel movies it no longer feels like a deep-seated friendship, connection or care between people but instead as you mentioned: it's just a buddy up. The relationship doesn't have to be romantic, it just has to feel real.
You're wrong, the movie has very fleshed-out relationships, not some mere "buddy" adventure (a concept they even mocked in one scene in the movie)
Already a new video!? Thank you for this food.
Does @houston or any of you know where his twitter went? It used to be @blockbustedpod and I really enjoyed following it!
It’ll be back soon Amelia!!
Everytime i was about to comment something, you mentioned what i was going to say.
My master plan to preemptively plagiarize Chris Merlo has finally paid off!
The apocalypse is topical.
Great video, this one and your Kung Fu Panda got me to sub.
Been thinking just a bit about a slight rewrite to Raya, what about when at the fight in Spine, all the soldiers run when they see the dragon but Namaari stays and Raya's team end up capturing her. The next 10-15 minutes are spend with Namaari and Raya developing a friendship, Namaari can apologize for the past, she was just doing what her mother told her to, yada yada. Then once they get to Talon, Namaari goes to ask for the stone and the rest plays out as is. The betrayal would hit harder, the fight and anger would feel more justified for Raya, and surrendering her stone at the end would be a way bigger thing
No, sounds too convoluting and straining the pacing.
Is it just me or was the climax not virtually identical to the climax of 'Guardians of the Galaxy'?
I don't necessarily agree with your point that Disney movies are becoming Marvelized. Yeah maybe there's inspiration with certain iconography but Marvel didn't invent third act spectacle or certain character tropes. I also just really loved Raya and Frozen II and disagree that their finale are all spectacle. Frozen II is still about the connection between the characters but them understanding that they have purpose beyond just being together. The characters love each other enough to act outside of each other's best interests. Frozen II is what happens after happily ever after. That's what I think is what's so great about both films is how subversive they are with classic Disney tropes and how they expand upon the characters with relationships and as individuals. Raya is honestly my favorite Disney movie since The Lion King. Sure it has some pacing issues but I didn't take issue with its repetitive nature and macguffin plotline. If anything the macguffin plotline allowed us to experience the excellent world building more. Plus, I think the stones extend beyond just being a standard magic macguffin. They represent a nature resource that the different communities fight over and what causes their divide. Sure the movie may not be rooted in relationships like past Disney films but I still think it's about relationships. Its about starting them or repairing them. Maybe the characters don't know each other super well but they have more in common then they don't and when there's a great threat they have to reach out and trust each other if they've opened up to it. So I still think these modern Disney films have more going on beyond the grander spectacle at hand. They may not be rooted in relationships in the traditional sense but they are in a newfound sense which I think is refreshing. In fact The Lion King which you mentioned does have a grand finale but that isn't one that revolves around a relationship. That's about Simba coming into his own and taking responsibility for his role in the circle of life. Making things right. So Disney's been doing this long before recent entries.
the end of the world has no weight if the character has nothing in it to care about
See I thought that the grounded emotional core of Raya was her just trying to de-petrify her father. The scene at the end where all the characters reunite with their families made me SOB. Funnily enough, I actually found Moana to be very paint by numbers and basic and part of that was before while there's no love interest, I didn't find her friendship with Maui to be as good as the one with Judy and Nick in Zootopia. But it was refreshing to see someone who compared Raya to Marvel and not ATLA
I agree with the Raya thing.
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Great video!
Raya’s setting is a lot more similar to Avatar the Las Airbender ( which everyone had pointed out since the first trailer was out ). I honestly don’t know how Black Panther’s world is similar at all except at a very broad stroke.
Also the fetch collection quest is hardly an Endgame thing. It’s a trope with a pretty long history behind it.
Raya and the other characters might have been inspired by GotG , but the setting and the story are not.
And you’re probably the first one to complain about the romance in Raya and Moana, while conveniently forgot about Kristoff’ and Anna in Frozen. Frankly that romance is a lot deeper and better than many of the romance in earlier Disney Princess movies.
Friendships *are* relationships, and this aro/ace is glad to be getting a break from the comphet hegemony.
I was scared I was the only one who didn't like Raya that much. For me it's in the characters and the writing, because they don't feel as a unit and lack characterization.
It's like Disney doesn't know how to write their characters without using songs.
Ironically, I hadn’t even thought about that element! Songs get us so much closer to the heart of a character. Maybe that’s part of why I didn’t feel quite so connected to Raya’s ensemble.
I think it's a pity to believe that romantic love is the only kind of relationship worth caring about in a movie. There's the relationship between Anna and Elsa, Master Shinfu and Tai Lung that are the first that come to my mind. Elsa doesn't have a love interest bc there's no place for it in the story. It's not about she cannot have one, it's about she doesn't need to in order to reach the goal of the movie.
I loved the concept of Raya but they play it sooo safe that it kinda didn't go anywhere. Saying that I'd still love a sequel.
They didn't play it safe at all, actually. In fact, all of the characters just freaking DIED in the end (before returning, I know).
These two movies are both examples (along with the Mulan remake) of women-centric stories, where the main character needs to have special powers in order to get anything done. They're not so much "girl power" movies as they are "girls with power." Not the type of thing we're asking for as parents of daughters.
And that's a good thing. To try something fresh and new.
Definitely a fan of Tangled.
I agree and disagree, but mostly agree I can’t explain it 😂 I haven’t see Rya but I see where you are connecting the dots from and it makes sense
Damn, you are uploading frequently. Not complaing obviously