One of the local restaurants is offering Drive In movies to stay afloat. It is a brilliant idea they are in a giant business park with tons of parking. They charge $25 per car and almost everyone orders food.
H saw the advertisement and saw that they were screening Raya and the Last Dragon. K was up for it and I was feeling like a drive-in was within COVID safety limits. Besides who doesn't like going to the drive-in?
The set up was decent. They had a big blow-up screen and a digital project that made for a sharp enough picture. The sound was broadcast over the radio, so if your car's sound system was up to snuff you could get good sound sound. (We had the IONQ which, while not having the Dolby sub-woofer equipped 10 speaker sound system of the bus, provided a pleasant listening experience.) We did luck out in that we were not parked behind one of the many large SUVs in attendance. The IONQ would not have provided a clear view of the screen with one of them parked in front of it.
The movie itself was a solid Disney animated princess movie. It combined the best parts of the new princess tropes. Raya is strong, capable, and independent. The movie does a good job of staying true to Asian cultures. The animation is fantastic. The action scenes are excellent and on par with the ones in the live action Mulan. The comic relief is just right. The one thing that sets Raya apart from other animated princess movies is that it is not a musical. There are no big songs. It is much more like Brave in that respect.
My only criticism of the movie is that it does not spend enough time on character building. We only get very superficial glances at the main characters. There is more to explore between Raya and her frenemy. There is also a more to know about the last dragon.
The food was also excellent. I got some kicking chicken tacos and classically good tater tots with the perfect amount of grease. H got a gluten free chicken pizza with a "you would know it wasn't gluten" crust and the perfect amount of hot spice.
It was a perfect way to spend a COVID evening out.
