Disney and Pixar have ruled for so long when it comes to animated movies. It all started off with stories about prince and princesses, like Aladdin, Snow White, Cinderella, and others. But in all those animated movies, the American culture could be vividly seen. Now with the change of times, we can see a lot of cultural acceptance in the movies around us and animated movies are a huge contributor to that.
Of course, we saw Kung Fu Panda with Chinese culture written all over it, but with the voices of Angelina Jolie and Jack Black you cannot say that it was completely Chinese in nature. Even the Disney attempt to create San Fransokiyo (a portmanteau of San Francisco and Tokyo) in Big Hero 6 was a light attempt to show us the Chinese culture with a little bit of futuristic living style blend in it. Here again there were both American and Chinese actors who lent their voices to the characters.
In addition to this, Mulan and Pocahontas also showed us different cultures in the past, but the actors who voiced the characters definitely did not echo the same gestures shown in the movies as not all of them were Chinese artists.
Recently, we could see how attempts are being made with the animated movies to show dragons, one of the most majestic of the mythical creatures (Don’t forget ‘Toothess’ in How to Train Your Dragon series), and now with Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney took it a step further.
But the latest animated movie by Sony Pictures Animation, Wish Dragon, is a lovely depiction of the Chinese culture with a genuine Chinese cast in the movie. Although the plot of the movie is very similar to all the genie movies we have seen so far (Yes, I’m majorly referring to Aladdin), still the screenplay and characters of the movie will keep you hooked to the screen till the end.
A lovely pink coloured dragon is something you do not see every day. However, the main goon of the movie, Pockets, was not less than a cliché Chinese villain who was bald, wore white suit, and was a master of kung fu (fighting only with his legs and hands in his pockets). He somewhat reminded us (“us” being those who are old enough to make the connection) of the Rush Hour first instalment’s Sang aka Kenneth Leung.
An awesome attempt made by Sony Pictures and hoping to witness more such amazing efforts by Disney and Pixar as well to make us acquainted with various cultures of the world. This may look like a small effort, but it can have a huge impact on the children especially during the current times where patience, tolerance, and egalitarianism are the vital ingredients for a healthy personality.
Recommending all the parents to watch the brilliantly warm hearted pink dragon, Long Zhu, with their kids and educate them on the importance of friends and family that was highlighted along the movie.