DVDizzy Forum

D82 wrote:Do you happen to have the full image in that size, Sotiris? I've tried to find a hi-res version of that concept art, but I haven't found any with the same quality as yours.

Here you go!

D82 wrote:Of course, this is just a concept art, so maybe she doesn't end up looking exactly like that, but I personally like Raya's design there. She looks more mature than most female Disney leads to me. Similar to Pocahontas in that regard, and I like that. I don't think she resembles any previous Disney character too much. I find her outfit and its combination of colors nice too. And she definitely looks more like a warrior than any other Disney heroine.

I like Raya's design too; she looks like a cross between Mulan and Pocahontas. I'm withholding final judgment though until model sheet or the CG model gets released because concept art like this isn't reliable when it comes to character design. I don't mind her outfit, it has a certain Star Wars aesthetic to it, but I would like to see her in something more traditional at some point in the film.

Sotiris wrote:Here you go!

Thank you so much, Sotiris! That's a really high-res image!

I like Raya's design too; she looks like a cross between Mulan and Pocahontas. I'm withholding final judgment though until model sheet or the CG model gets released because concept art like this isn't reliable when it comes to character design. I don't mind her outfit, it has a certain Star Wars aesthetic to it, but I would like to see her in something more traditional at some point in the film.

ugh I forgot about that. They'll try to rework the concept art design to fit into the more cookie cutter big eyed doll like CGI models. Hopefully they'll make a new unique model for her and not try to reuse a model from a previous character.

Prince Kido wrote:

Clindor wrote:Awkwafina also introduced a concept art of the human form of her character right after this one. She had white hair and a funny crazy gaze indeed

How old Sisu looks like in her human form please?
Slashfilms mention she looks like an "old woman"...but comparing to Raya whom I guess must be in her twenties, how much old would you think approximatively?
Is she beautiful, or weird, or old like a witch? And does she have the same color scheme as her dragon form?

Also, comparing to the official released concept-art, do you remember how looks like Raya in a close-up face and without her hat please?
Does she look that realistic or more "disneyish" in her final design please?
Well, if you can remember of course...

Thank you ^^

Hello Prince Kido, I’m so sorry but I’ve been visiting the parks for several days and also the Disney Company in Burbank right after the Expo and so I completely missed this message .. but of course I can answer these questions of yours!

So I would say it is really difficult to put an age on Sisu, and probably because of her very unique design... and here is why: I would say she definitively looks more like (and will give you the feeling of) a crazy old lady and also a witch (her body is stooped, almost folded in two, it doesn’t seem like if she could walk or stand properly, and her facial expressions would make you think she is demented in the way only an old lady could be ^^ ~ less innoncent) EXCEPT THAT she doesN’T have a single wrinkle!.. and her face skin is probably as smooth as the one of a teenage girl...

Somehow the Disney artists succeeded in designing a character that leaves you with the feeling that she has been living around for hundreds/thousands of years! but at the same time that has also kept deceiving looks that make her seem younger in apparence that she probably truly is.

The only physical feature that would make you think she’s old are her white/grayish hairs... but even then... you wouldn’t consider Princess Kida from Atlantis as an elderly person despite her advanced age, would you?

In the way she smiles she reminds me a lot of Rapunzel! (especially if you remember that Tangled poster with a white background, where she and Flynn Rider show their heads from one side of the poster, make some kind of big smile, and break the fourth wall by looking straight at the audience) only Sisu looks crazier and her smile design is more exaggerated to be less princess-ish... (it shows her teeth)

She’s not ugly. Or seemingly old. She looks definitely looks wierd.
And compared to Raya, it looks like they could be sisters (based on this only picture). The age is in the attitude.. not in the physical features.

Her clothes don’t have the same color scheme as her dragon form.. at all! They look far more realistic as the ones Raya wears.. with the addition of a esthetically nice fur collar. (She also wears some kind of cape as the one the witch from Brave has.)

There you go..

Regarding Raya’s design, I would say she definitively has the design of an animated movie’s character, no mistake can be made and actually not that much realistic.. BUT I’d say this is a kind of animated design Disney hasn’t been used to do that much so far.. or more precisely NOT regarding their CGI animated features.

The artists really took a strong decision over her face shape (which is something I would more expect Pixar artists to do) and as a result, she has actually a rather long face I would say. The shape of her face is very OVAL to put it accurately ... believe me, much more than what the official released concept art would make you think it is! That’s the thing that really struck me the most when they showed us two frames with final rendering from the movie in some kind of pre-show for the entire panel at the Expo. In the very first frame, she only appears from behind wearing her hat, and I first thought it was a guy ^^ Because of the shape of her face/body (very thin and rounded at the same time). Which is something we’ve not been used with Disney for a female lead.

In some way, I’d say they did their best to suggest something utterly different from the design of another Asian female heroine: Mulan.

EDIT: Actually, I just realized who Raya’s design reminds me of! ... If you saw Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings, her face shape reminds me a lot the two evil aunts in that second movie.. That would be a good comparison!

That's all really interesting, Clindor! Thanks for sharing all those details! I like that Raya will look very different from other Disney heroines. And Sisu's human design sounds really weird. I'm really curious to see both designs. Can I ask you one question? Does Sisu resemble Awkwafina when she's in her human form? I think they really captured her expression when she's in her dragon form.

Out of the 4, I'd say Raya looks the most detailed. Better than Anna "aka the Rupunzel Clone", and they didn't even bother to show the faces of Moana/Maui. Tangled's Concept is my favorite

D82 wrote:That's all really interesting, Clindor! Thanks for sharing all those details! I like that Raya will look very different from other Disney heroines. And Sisu's human design sounds really weird. I'm really curious to see both designs. Can I ask you one question? Does Sisu resemble Awkwafina when she's in her human form? I think they really captured her expression when she's in her dragon form.

Not that much.. I’m not too much familiar with the actress but based on multiple pictures I saw of her on the Internet: no! Probably the animators captured Awkwafina’s facial expressions to emotionally feed the character, but when it comes to her design, I’d say she is very Rapunzel-ish with a darker skin complexion (yeah, I can already hear people blaming Disney for recycling the same design again since Tangled) while Raya looks more like the 3 sisters from Kubo.

And the little boy we saw from the clips showed that day looks like a South Asian version of Miguel from Coco, only more playful .. and he was playing panpipes (basically same instrument as the one Peter Pan uses in Disney’s 1953 animated movie.)

Thanks for your reply, Clindor! The way they chose her to be in her human form (to look young and old at the same time) sounds really curious. I wonder how it'll work in the movie.

The little boy is the only other character they showed at the Expo, right? Or did they show other members of the crew of misfits Raya joins in the film?

Thank you so much for all those descriptions and details Clindor, I truly appreciate and this is kind of you (and don't mind the late answer at all! ).
Everything sounds very interesting. Wait and see more within the next months... ^^

You’re welcome!

I also think this movie is going to be nothing less than EP-IC. It certainly felt so!

Quite honestly, I’m a huge Frozen fan. Yet the morning of the panel, Frozen II felt like an average okay sequel, made to please the fans at best, fight the criticism made against the first movie and take advantage of the success of the franchise to make more money. But Raya and the Last Dragon felt like a gigantic project! The next big step forward for Disney animation!

Clindor wrote:You’re welcome!

I also think this movie is going to be nothing less than EP-IC. It certainly felt so!

Quite honestly, I’m a huge Frozen fan. Yet the morning of the panel, Frozen II felt like an average okay sequel, made to please the fans at best, flight the criticism made against the first movie and take advantage of the success of the franchise to make more money. But Raya and the Last Dragon felt like a gigantic project! The next big step forward for Disney animation!

That's good to hear. Thank you

Frozen II felt like an average okay sequel, made to please the fans at best, flight the criticism made against the first movie and take advantage of the success of the franchise to make more money.

well not all the fans, huh? While I like the mystical forest aspect, I do feel that the plot seems... lacking. It needs a more antagonistic aspect then just Elsa fighting natural disasters and finding out about her parents and powers while the other characters follow her around the forest...eh okay...feels like a 90's era DVD sequel plot.

for Raya I need more info, especially what the antagonists will be here(hopefully we get a proper villain this time and they're done with the twist/non-villains, though I have a feeling that trend will continue as long as the films remain financially successful. I really do like the southeast Asian aspect and I'm hoping there's more SE Asian folklore creatures and dragons.

unprincess wrote:

Frozen II felt like an average okay sequel, made to please the fans at best, flight the criticism made against the first movie and take advantage of the success of the franchise to make more money.

well not all the fans, huh? While I like the mystical forest aspect, I do feel that the plot seems... lacking. It needs a more antagonistic aspect then just Elsa fighting natural disasters and finding out about her parents and powers while the other characters follow her around the forest...eh okay...feels like a 90's era DVD sequel plot.

They might have closed Disneytoons, but just brought the DTV concept over to WDAS. It is something I felt with Ralph breaks the Internet as well. To be honest the original Frozen felt complete and I never felt there was a need for a sequel.

unprincess wrote: for Raya I need more info, especially what the antagonists will be here(hopefully we get a proper villain this time and they're done with the twist/non-villains, though I have a feeling that trend will continue as long as the films remain financially successful. I really do like the southeast Asian aspect and I'm hoping there's more SE Asian folklore creatures and dragons.

I feel like they moved onto "The Villain is redeemed by the end" which they started with Moana.

^yeah though its more like "fix the corrupted antagonist" than "redeem the villain". Likewise with Frozen 2, something is wrong with the elements and Elsa has to go to the Enchanted Land to figure out how to undo whatever's wrong with them.That's why I wrote non-villains, they're villains except... not really.

good catch on the DTVs, seems we may not have really seen the end of them. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if much of DisneyToons studios just got absorbed into a 2nd nameless unit at WDFA to work on sequels.

Disney seems to really be afraid to create true villains these days since they won't even create villains that need to be redeemed so much as characters who went on the wrong path and must be saved from corrupting factors outside their influence (Elsa, Te Fiti).

I wonder if more people will be added to the cast ? I hope there are more speaking characters than just Raya and Sisu.

DisneyFan97 wrote:I wonder if more people will be added to the cast ? I hope there are more speaking characters than just Raya and Sisu.

There are obviously going to be more characters. For one, there's Raya's little brother whose voice actor hasn't been announced yet.

At D23, Lee introduced “Raya and the Last Dragon” (November 25, 2020), a Southeast Asian fantasy/adventure, directed by former animators Paul Briggs and Dean Wellins (“Big Hero 6,” “Frozen”), produced by Osnat Shurer (“Moana”), and scripted by Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians”). It’s about lone warrior Raya (Cassie Steele) from the kingdom of Kumandra (five lands surrounded by a dragon-shaped sea), who teams up with a band of misfits to find the legendary dragon to save their kingdom from dark oppression. They discover Sisu (Awkwafina, from “Crazy Rich Asians”), a dragon trapped in a human body, and battle to bring light and unity back to their world.

“I’m excited for ‘Raya’,” said Lee, who enjoyed escaping the complexity of the story room to be able “to come in with outside perspective and help.” She’s bringing in Chris Buck, her directing partner on “Frozen” and “Frozen 2,” to be a part of the “Raya” Story Trust, which is evolving. “Obviously you have different projects and different writers,” she said, “and it’s great to get their voices in the room, but we try to keep the table at about 25, because there comes a point where the room becomes too big.”

Source: https://www.indiewire.com/2019/09/froze ... 202177340/

You know what? I've come to think that this is the first time in a decade that we're getting two WDAS features with human female leads/Princesses in a row (unless you'll count the gap between Brave and Frozen ). Which reminds me how it was last decade when we got The Princess and the Frog and Tangled right afterwards. I wonder if we'll going to get a teaser of Raya early next year, to recreate the buzz and synergy of WDAS habit of repetition.