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New Escapist Column! On “Raya and the Last Dragon” and the New Cinema of Reconciliation…

Posted on March 13, 2021 by Darren

I published a new In the Frame piece at The Escapist this evening. Given the release of Raya and the Last Dragon last week, it seemed like an appropriate time to discuss an interesting and emerging trend, what I call “the New Cinema of Reconciliation.”

The past five years have been extremely turbulent and difficult for the United States and the wider world, and so there is an understandable yearning for a return to normality, a palpable desire to believe that things could go back to normal and that the damage down to the social fabric could be repaired. This is a major recurring motif in films aimed at younger audiences, from Trolls World Tour through to Wonder Woman 1984. However, Raya and the Last Dragon illustrates how complicated this can be.

You can read the piece here, or click the picture below.

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New Podcast! The Escapist Movie Podcast – “Does Raya and the Last Dragon Capture that Classic Disney Magic?”

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Darren

The Escapist have launched a movie podcast, and I was thrilled to join Jack Packard for the ninth episode of the year. We discuss Coming 2 America and Raya and the Last Dragon.

You can listen to back episodes of the podcast here, click the link below or even listen directly.

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Non-Review Review: Raya and the Last Dragon

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Darren

Raya and the Last Dragon offers a reminder of just how quietly and efficiently Disney have managed their animated properties.

For a while at the turn of the millennium, the company seemed to struggle to defines its place among younger and hungrier animation studios like Pixar or Dreamworks. The company responded with a push away from the princess-centric movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas and Mulan that had anchored their renaissance-era output, pivoting sharply: first to animated movies aimed at boys like Atlantis and Treasure Planet, and then to computer-animated adventures like Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons and Bolt.

Raya hope?

However, towards the end of the decade, the company arguably found its feet again, with a wave of somewhat traditionalist stories. The Princess and the Frog is often treated as the end of an era of hand-drawn animation, but it also marked a rejuvenation of the classic “princess” movie. It was followed by Tangled, Frozen, Moana and Frozen II, all of which were computer-animated takes on a familiar Disney archetype.

Raya and the Last Dragon is a reminder of just how sturdy that old “princess” movie template is, demonstrating the hard work that the company has put in to keep its oldest archetype both resonant and recognisable.

Continue reading →

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New Podcast! The Escapist Movie Podcast – “If You’re Not Watching The Expanse, You’re Missing Out”

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Darren

The Escapist have launched a movie podcast, and I was thrilled to join Jack Packard for the fourth episode of the year. We talked about the upcoming Spy Kids reboot, the planned release of Raya and the Last Dragon, and we expounded on The Expanse.

You can listen to the episode directly here, back episodes of the podcast here, click the link below or even listen directly.

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