Starting with the positives, I'll just say right now I really really enjoyed this film. This was a fresh, exciting and fun film to watch that I think a lot of people will enjoy as well.
What I loved most though is how creative and imaginative this film is. While there are aspects to it that aren't entirely original, there's plenty of moments that feels new and has fresh ideas to explore. This also feels like an ambitious which you don't really get from animated features.
At the beginning, we learn about what this film is about, there's plenty of interesting worldbuilding and it just feels like the writers knew what they were making, like they really thought this film through and had a clear vision. There's clear motivations, a straightforward story and it all feels like one whole cohesive and a well crafted story.
The characters are fantastic and fun to watch. Raya herself gets some strong character development which I'll elaborate on more later but you understand why she is the way she is and she is voiced greatly by Kelly Marie Tran who I hope gets more roles in the future. She was unfairly treated during her star wars days and the trolls who horribly abused her the way they did should be ashamed of themselves.
Awkwafina is just flawless as Sisu and really steals the screen. She's just so likable and charming to watch and I loved her characters design. I don't know why but there's just something about the way her character looked that always made me laugh but not only that, her characters naivety just helps make her cute and even more likeable. That's probably the best thing about the characters. They're all just so likable and get their moment to shine. Even the minor characters and also the villain of the film get a some great development so they don't feel one dimensional or forgettable.
But the one thing that I noticed and what made me grow enjoy this film even more was that this is a thematically rich film as it focuses on the theme of Trust and that is references at so many points throughout the film and helps with the development of characters. It's how you understand Raya, it's how it makes Sisu a more fun character to watch, it even drives the story forward at times and makes the films conclusions more ballsy and ambitious. That is how you have a great usage of a films main theme.
This film is also beautiful to look at. The animation is gorgeous to watch and has a nice aesthetic to it. This is probably one of the best looking animated films and there's different types of animation used throughout which makes sense storyline wise.
Finally I was very impressed with the marketing as it hides a major plot point of the story that I didn't see in the trailer I watched. I even watched one of the other trailers to it and it hid that main segment to the story really well. I love that we can still get trailers that don't spoil the film.
As we get to the negatives, honestly I only have one and that is the story can feel predictable at times. The first 25% of the film is where you feel it's predictability the most but it also happens frequently throughout the film.
Overall this was a nice surprise and fun film to watch. It has great characters, a great story, beautiful animation and a theme that helps tie it all together.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
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