Have you ever thought about being a lone rider in a dystopian world trying to save the one you love the most? A world broken because of fear. Raya and the Last Dragon is a movie released in 2021 produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios that captures your attention with beautiful, vivid images. It is a very realistic movie that is in many ways the same as our world. The theme in this movie is to have trust in people and that when we work together we are stronger. This movie, directed by Don Hall and Carlos López, has many flaws, but the theme is what really makes it worth watching. It starts off by showing us Raya, the main character, riding through a desert alone in an empty world. We then get to see a flashback of her childhood which shows us how her father, Chief Benja of Heart, deemed her worthy to be a guardian of the dragon gem. Raya then explains how the five lands, Heart, Talon, Tail, Spine, and Fang were all connected once as Kumandra. The people of Kumandra lived happily with the dragons only to have a horrible monster called the Druun come and turn everything they touched into stone, including the dragons. Then Sisudatu, the last dragon, combined her powers with her siblings to create the dragon gem and blasted the Druun away. Everyone who was turned to stone came back–except the dragons, and all that was left of Sisu was her gem which humans fought to possess. 500 years later, a war broke out between the five lands, and the dragon gem was broken into five pieces. Each land took one. That also brought back the Druun who turned Raya’s father into stone. In the flashback, we see that the war between the five lands started because Chief Benja trusted that the five lands would want to come together and become Kumandra again. Raya decides to trust her father and makes friends with Nammari, the princess of Fang, who tells her that Sisu might still be alive at one of the ends of the many rivers. Out of trust, Raya brings Nammari to the place where the dragon gem was placed only to find Nammari using her to get the dragon gem. In the process of taking it, they break the gem. From that point forward, Raya begins looking for Sisu and the rivers’ ends so that she can find some way to revive her father. This movie has a great theme, but there is still more to it! This movie connects a lot to the real world. We often don’t trust each other because of fears, traumatic events, or betrayals in our past. Perhaps the Druun doesn’t just exist in Raya’s world but also ours. The Druun is like a part of us that doesn’t trust anybody and is full of hate and fear instead of trust and love. The point of this movie is to show us that we need to overcome our inner Druun to be really successful and content in our lives. It also does a good job of showing two characters who are surprisingly similar, but not exactly the same. Chief Benja, Raya’s father, was a very hopeful and brave person who thought he could bring together the world by taking the first step. He was unfortunately turned to stone before he could tell Raya, but then Sisu came along and finished the job for him. Sisu was the one that finally got Raya to trust their greatest enemy and to take the first step in saving the world. Chief Benja and Sisu both have a selfless and hopeful personality, despite the fact that one is a dragon and the other is a human. It is very entertaining to see how a human and a dragon can be so similar and how a movie can connect so much to our world, which is why you should watch this movie and experience these things yourself. While this movie has many good things, there are also some bad sides to it. One of the bad things is that the movie moved at a very fast pace. Every event, whether it is happy or sad, doesn’t give you any time to feel with the character. After each heartbreaking event, there is no time to stop and soak up all the sadness, and it is hard to feel what the main character is feeling. Even in happy or funny scenes, we don’t have time to feel the moment of joy or the feeling of accomplishment a character is feeling. Sisu, the last dragon in this movie, also seems to act too quickly, which makes the movie seem kind of silly and unwise. For example, on their ride to Spine, Raya just told Sisu how there is no point in trusting anyone because the world is broken. When their ship gets to Spine, Sisu races in front of Raya so she can show her that people can be trusted and ends up being trapped. This move is silly and unwise because Sisu has been asleep for 500 years and knows nothing about what happened and how mean people can act. Despite the fast pace of this movie, it still shows the theme very clearly, which is why you should watch this movie. Even though we did not have time to feel the world inside the movie with the main characters, we still see very clearly how Raya transformed after she was revived by taking the first step to show her friends the importance of trust. In the end, she saw what her father (as well as Sisu) wanted her to do and helped them make their dreams come true. She saved the people of her world, and she saved the people she loved most. Raya and the Last Dragon is a story of our world that has been changed into a more fantastical version.
Spaced Out, Reviewed by Arjun Nair, 11
“There’s nowhere to hide on the world’s first moon base. After all, it’s only the size of a soccer field.” Yet, this doesn’t stop misfortune from rendering someone missing. With the Moon Base Alpha (MBA) base commander, Nina Stack, nowhere to be found, chaos spawns between the residents on the moon. Spaced Out by Stuart Gibbs is an astonishing novel where the mystery never ends. At only twelve years of age, Dashiell (Dash) Gibson is the best detective they’ve got. No one on the base has found footsteps darker than he has. While this confounding enigma takes place, an alien from a distant species, Zan Perfonic, remains in contact with Dash. Rather than traveling to the moon in an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO), Zan “thinks” itself to the moon. Zan connects its mind to Dash to project an image of itself before him, but no one else can see it. The only other human being that Zan had come in contact with before was Dr. Ronald Holtz, a brilliant scientist who played a key role in the creation of MBA. Unfortunately, Dr. Holtz was murdered by a fellow resident on the moon because of his contact with an alien. Despite this incident, Zan communicated with humanity again, an action that the rest of its species did not approve of. On the other hand, the people at MBA were beginning to believe that Nina had ventured out onto the lunar surface. Due to MBA’s small size, she could hide nowhere. After discovering more and more clues about Nina’s mystifying disappearance, Dash and the other Moonies began to get closer to unraveling a seemingly never-ending riddle. Once they solved the puzzle, they realized that the answer was hiding in plain sight. This book reminded me of the Chandrayaan-3 space mission, an Indian rocket sent to the moon recently. Unlike many that have been sent to the moon in the past, the rocket went to the south pole of the moon, a place that is yet to be explored by the human race. This mission is similar to Spaced Out because it shows that humanity is one step closer to eventually creating a moon base in real life, just like Moon Base Alpha (MBA) in Spaced Out. Overall, Spaced Out by Stuart Gibbs is a spectacular novel that exceeded my expectations. The author did a brilliant job creating this book, and I recommend it to other middle-aged readers around 10-14. Spaced Out by Stuart Gibbs. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2017. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
Incredibles 2, Reviewed by Wilson Chen, 11
I was attracted to Incredibles 2 ever since I saw the vibrant poster. I couldn’t help but investigate the family of superheroes running at the train, all while holding a baby, who was astonishingly shooting lasers at a frightened raccoon. When I squinted even closer, I saw even more superheroes lurking in the background. The mysterious figure over the iconic Incredibles logo only added to the anticipation of watching this movie. When I finally got the chance to see it a couple of months later, it exceeded my extremely high expectations … by a lot. Incredibles 2 is an electrifying movie directed by Brad Bird, a famous director who shares an Oregon upbringing with me. Bird’s exceptional talents won him two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and many Best Original Screenplay nominations. He also directed Ratatouille and The Iron Giant, which paved his path to later directing Incredibles 2. Incredibles 2 is a sequel to the movie Incredibles, and both revolve around the Parr family (a.k.a The Incredibles). After Helen accepts a job in order to regain public trust for superheroes, Bob struggles to simultaneously deal with Dash’s math homework and Violet’s boyfriend, who had his memory wiped after discovering Violet’s role as a superhero. Brad Bird manages to fit the entire story in only 1 hour 58 minutes! This allows you to watch it, even if you don’t have a lot of time. One of my favorite parts about the movie is the vivid designs and stunning animation. One of the advantages Pixar had with this film was its team of highly talented animators, which enabled them to have more flexibility over character designs. Another great part about this movie is the variety of characters. Brad Bird also introduced six new “superheroes” to Incredibles 2 with the names of: Screech, He-Lectrix, Reflux, Brick, Krushauer, and Voyd. These additions provide the movie with a rich array of characters and personalities. They play an important role in the final battle, since their abilities are used for good and bad, giving the viewer both perspectives on superpowers. My favorite character in the movie is Jack-Jack (the baby). He has a variety of superpowers such as multiplying himself, turning into a purple demon-looking thing, and becoming a human torch. Even though this movie was a smashing success, I believe there were some parts that could have been done better. One of the criticisms I have is the repetition of superpowers. For example, Mr. Incredible and Brick share the same ability, making each one less special. In the film, Voyd, Elastigirl, and Screech all survived a free fall at some point. Another main problem in this film is the sheer amount of characters. It can help make the movie diverse, but ruin it at the same time. Incredibles 2 cannot focus on one group of people without leaving the others behind. Therefore, they don’t really spend a lot of time on an individual character. This blocks the viewer’s ability to go in-depth on the characters they like. Some characters only appear once or twice in this movie, even though they are really well written and have a unique personality. Overall, this is a fantastic film. It uses high-tech animations and technologies to create a visually pleasing effect. The thrilling plot keeps you on your toes throughout the entire movie, while maintaining a humorous outline at the same time. Even though I believe there are some things they could have improved on, it still deserves a standing ovation at the end. This movie is perfect for people who like superheroes, comedy, and a whole lot of action!
