Raya And The Last Dragon (2021) - Trust Issue!

 

★★★☆☆

Trust, as you know, is hard to earn and keep. It takes quite a lot of time and effort to build it bit by bit, but it can be all gone in a flash! And there's no way to regain it intact because once it's broken, there's always going to be some doubt involved. Yet the world as you know it that seems to be running without a problem is, as a matter of fact, built on trust. Without it, things like relationships, love, families, commitments, religions, agreements, deals and stuff, are all going to fall apart. So yeah, trust issue really is a big deal in human world. 'Raya And The Last Dragon', the latest animated feature from Disney, is a film about that if you're still wondering!

As you might've figured, things by Disney tend to be too good or ideal to be real, which is different from those by Pixar that tend to be cruel and telling the truth. Set in a fantasy world of Kumandra, 'RATLD' is made to 'educate', that it's not that the world's broken so we don't trust each other. It's because we don't trust each other anymore so the world's broken! Right, it sounds like bullshit, but the world it creates is somewhat interesting despite not anything we haven't seen before, where the dragons are to keep prosperity and harmony while the Druun, the villains like there always should be, are to destroy it! People in Kumandra are busy fighting over the power of the Gem left by the last dragon while the Druun keep making it lifeless by turning things to stones. So here comes the moral, we must learn to trust each other again in order to save the world!

As an animated film, 'RATLD' looks nice and watchable with some impressive characters and voice-overs, plus exciting chases and fights, but the storyline is straightforward and faltering. Kumandra is divided into five tribes after the great battle but descriptions of those are little, and therefore quite forgettable! In a 'fairy tale' like this, a happy ending ought to happen with no surprise, regardless of how impossible that is in life! 'RATLD' is easily a fun ride but for sure I'm not going to catch it twice!

In reality, peace's built on check and balance instead of so-called mutual understanding or kindness or unconditional trust. To have check and balance, you need to build your own muscles, military power in other words, to raise the price of war against each other. The higher the price, the lower the chance of starting a war. That's the way peace will be achieved and maintained. Talk of trust is absolutely bullshit if two parties don't share the same faith or values. How could you possibly trust a dictator with his promise to protect human rights and freedom? How could you possibly trust a party that doesn't believe in God or the spirit of contract to not turn his back on God or breach a contract? What happens in 'RATLD' is pure fairy tale, which is comforting to watch but by no means feasible. There's peace only when the strong manage to stay humble, trustworthy and faithful. That's exactly why men can never get to have real peace!