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Review of Raya and the Last Dragon (James Newton Howard)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if 20 to 25 minutes of glorious James Newton Howard
fantasy lyricism are enough of a reward to compensate for instrumental
and structural risks that jeopardize the rest of the score.
Avoid it... if you cannot tolerate Howard's inelegant attempt to infuse techno-electronic elements into the forefront of a fantasy score long enough to parse out its brief melodic highlights.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Raya and the Last Dragon: (James Newton Howard) For
the second time in a year, Walt Disney Studios looked to Asia for its
heroine, finding a pseudo-princess in a mythical realm with dragons and
monsters for the pandemic-delayed Raya and the Last Dragon. The
2021 animated picture tells of land in which humans and dragons together
fight monsters called the Druun which turn the inhabitants to stone
because, well, they're pissed off about something. The dragons sacrifice
themselves in the process of creating a magical orb that can protect the
humans from these monsters. The bipeds, however, are predictably jealous
and stupid, and distrust between the five peoples of the realm causes a
battle over the orb that destroys it, allowing the Druun to do their
thing once again. Raya, the future leader of the Heart tribe, must find
a lone surviving dragon (a cute one perfect for plush dolls, of
course... one must not forget the merchandise) and collect the shattered
pieces of the orb from the other, hostile tribes to fend off the bigger
baddies. Not surprisingly, the film teaches about trust, and a happily
ever after ending is destined to test credibility. The film received
surprisingly consistent praise and became one of the year's top-grossing
entries in its hybrid theatre and streaming debut. The occasion is of
particular importance to film music collectors, as it marks a long
overdue return of composer James Newton Howard to the Disney feature
scene. The composer had a three-picture deal with the studio two decades
earlier that yielded respected scores for Dinosaur, Atlantis:
The Lost Empire, and Treasure Planet. While these films were
not that successful, they represented the bulk of Howard's work for
animation, his career only rarely delving into the genre thereafter.
Several magnificent fantasy scores from Howard since those years primed
collectors to expect a dynamically magical return of the composer to
Disney for Raya and the Last Dragon. The score's creation was
marred by practical issues related to the 2020 pandemic, forcing
shortcuts in the recording process. Along with a significantly enhanced
role for electronics in the work, listeners should expect the unexpected
with the unconventional result. They should also ignore the auto-tuned
disaster of a pop song unrelated to the score.
In very general terms, the music for Raya and the Last Dragon is an intentional hybrid of James Horner's Avatar and Howard's own Waterworld. These inspirations are joined by a heavy influence of techno-electronica layers, the score's action sequences sometimes sounding more appropriate for an urban thriller if not for the extreme exoticism of the supporting instruments. Howard threw all sorts of ethnic accents at this work, not all of them Southeastern Asian by descent, and his vocal layers strive for the high pitched Avatar effect when possible. The orchestra is there, but its dynamic range is lacking, perhaps due to the fact that the score had to be recorded with half the number of usual players, the editors overdubbing their performances to make them sound artificially bigger. The electronics steal the show in this work, however, from the watery, percussion-aided tones from Waterworld's swimming sequence to the jabbing rhythm-setters and obnoxious sound effects that overwhelm many of the action sequences. Some of these passages are either unlistenable, as in the entirety of "Plans of Attack," or humorously ridiculous, as in the opening 40 seconds of "Return" that would serve well as the intro for a rock power anthem. These synthetic layers sometimes merge with percussion for mind-bogglingly awful comedy chases, as in "Noi and the Ongis." The mix of the percussion and electronics is too far forward in many cues, "Fleeing From Tail" one of many moments that makes you wonder if these characters are stuck in a Tron movie. The brass section is dissatisfyingly under-utilized in the score, rarely conveying a truly adventuresome spirit. Howard is among those who believe now that electronics can function well in any context, but unlike Jerry Goldsmith, he hasn't yet really mastered how to make his synthetics sound like an "orchestrated" fifth section of his ensemble. The layering of the mix in this effort is frustrating in most cues, the percussive diversity of passages like "Captain Boun" and "Being People is Hard" also suffering from elements too abrasively pushed in the mix. On the other hand, when Howard is literally emulating that swimming sequence from Waterworld and the romantic Na'vi material from Avatar, this score shifts suddenly into highly attractive material. Sprinkled amongst the hybrid techno-exoticism of Raya and the Last Dragon are several cues from Howard that present the composer at his most lyrically appealing. These passages most often convey the score's two major themes and a collection of mostly singular secondary motifs. The composer chose to structure his ideas in highly cyclical formations, perhaps recognition of the common bond destined for all the characters in the story. The main idea, representing both Raya and the film as a whole is a buoyant, four-note phrase repeated to form the score's sense of optimism and triumph at the end. It debuts on pretty woodwinds at 0:41 into "Young Raya and Namaari" and returns briefly with bubbly, percussive flair at 0:32 into "Enter the Dragon." The theme really congeals at 1:00 into "Running on Raindrops," watery percussion and light choir providing the comparisons to the aforementioned scores. A short, anticipatory crescendo embodies the theme at 3:36 into "Brothers and Sisters," and slight fragments of the melody are twisted to suspense at 0:49 into "The Meeting." Secondary phrasing turns quietly noble at 1:06 into "Return," the identity turning celebratory at 2:54, first in the same fragments and then with the full theme at 3:15. That cue concludes with a lovely woodwind, string, and choral rendition of this idea. The obligatory fanfare closing is afforded the identity at 1:52 into "The New World," presenting a fleeting explosion of great brass layers but the overall effect not rivalling the equivalent exit to Maleficent. The other major recurring theme in Raya and the Last Dragon represents the concept of trust, as conveyed by the lone surviving dragon to Raya to convince her to unite the human tribes as necessary to defeat the monsters. Fragmented phrasing for the idea figures at 4:20 into "Prologue" but makes its poignant debut in full at 1:29 into "Betrayed," where soft, melancholy choral shades for the idea are interrupted by the darkness to come. The theme dominates two later, largely symphonic cues in the score, starting with the deep choral treatment at 0:56 into "Brothers and Sisters" as the dragon laments her lost siblings. From 0:26 to the end of "The Druun Close In," Howard presents his fullest development of this theme in solemn reverence, eventually taking on the personality of the dragon's earlier swimming instrumentation. It's the score's redemptive highlight in many ways. The two major themes of Raya and the Last Dragon offer Howard romanticism at its best, though they alone struggle to carry the narrative of the whole score. The composer struggles in his secondary identities, causing the work to meander aimlessly for long stretches of time. One might assume that Howard graces Sisu, the dragon, with a theme at the outset of "Sisu Swims," the female vocal layers in the cue vaguely new age in character. But outside of some very slight connections to this melody early in "Return," Howard doesn't develop it further. The closing "The New World" cue offers a minute highlighted by solo piano that would suggest a hope theme of sorts, but it, too, is not clearly developed earlier in the score. A chase motif of repeated descending notes at 0:33 into "Fleeing From Tail" is scarcely applied, and a victory motif with the work's brassiest, most adventuresome identity at 3:27 into "Storming Fang" is disconnected from the rest of the work as well. Despite the competent resolution in the final cues, Raya and the Last Dragon is therefore a score with few narrative markers, especially with the composer opting not to tie together the five tribes (or, conversely, distinguish them clearly) in any meaningful musical way. The lack of evident motific development during the action material is particularly discouraging, Howard seemingly content with thrusting the exotic but sometimes bizarre instrumental tone at the listener without bothering to tie it to a larger meaning. It's an occasion in which glitz doesn't cut it, sadly, the rambling electronic and percussive weirdness of the work betraying the mysticism of the topic. That said, Raya and the Last Dragon still offers the Howard collector some automatic highlights. Between "Young Raya and Namaari," "Sisu Swims," "Running on Raindrops," "Brothers and Sisters," "Return," and "The New World," there is 20 to 25 minutes of superb melodic exploration in the work. Some of the music is of the five-star variety, an extension of the romance of Waterworld long sought by the composer's fans. But the rest of Raya and the Last Dragon ranges from forgettable to outright obnoxious, the middle third of the score especially adept at annoying the Howard fantasy enthusiast. Aside from the composer's eclectic, worldly instrumental mish-mash, the mix of the score remains perhaps its biggest detriment, its soundscape sounding small in its orchestral portions and the synthetics punching you in the nose. Artistic risks were definitely taken here, and the rewards for the listener are frustratingly brief. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 69:51
* performed by Jhené Aiko
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for this album.
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