Disney’s newest release “Raya and the Last Dragon” is a hit with critics and viewers alike. Photo from metacritic.com.
“Raya and the Last Dragon,” the most recent feature-length animated film from Disney+, follows the theme of distrust and builds an immersive new world inspired by Southeast Asian culture through beautiful animation and fun choreography.
“Raya and the Last Dragon” is heavily influenced by Southeast Asian culture and features Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess who is kick ass.
The movie was created and heavily influenced by its Asian creative team and voiced by Asian actors and actresses such as Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Sandra Oh, Daniel Dae Kim and more, taking strides in representation. Co-written by Vietnamese-American screenwriter Qui Nguyen and Malaysian screenwriter Adele Lim, with artistic direction led by Thai-American Head of Story Fawn Veerasunthorn, the influence and inclusion of Asian professionals in this movie is a step worth noting by Disney.
Culture in this movie is a huge part of why it is so enjoyable to watch. The feeling of respect in moments where humans come face to face with a dragon for the first time is animated and portrayed in a way that’s impactful for the audience.
However, concern has been expressed over the lack of Southeast Asian voice actors in the cast, as most are East Asian, alongside the blend of influences from several Southeast Asian countries into a single story here. This caused it to be criticized for not being representative of any specific culture.
This movie follows Raya, who is trying to find the last dragon, Sisu, after the world is overrun by the Druun, who represent the distrust in the world of Kumandra and turn people and dragons into stone. The Druun, who had been previously defeated by Sisu, were brought back into the world when the dragon gem used to defeat them is broken as a cause of the greed and jealousy by the five tribes.
This gem is broken when Namaari, a young girl from another tribe, manipulates Raya into showing her the gem so that her tribe can steal it. The altercation between Raya and Namaari plays out as a rivalry throughout the movie which is resolved in the end when Raya learns to trust again.
After this, the world is even more separated and desolate than it had been previously as a majority of the human race is turned into stone by the Druun while Raya searches for Sisu to fix the world again. Sisu, however, teaches Raya and others along the way that lost trust in each other and fear is truly what brought the Druun back into the world.
This is represented through the creation of the gem by the last surviving dragons, preceding the events of this movie, which signified the trust and unification of the dragons in Sisu to defeat the Druun the first time.
The world creation and animation in this movie is beautiful. From the animation of the water, to how dragons use the water to fly by jumping on what looks like lily pads of water in the air and to the fight choreography between characters, everything in this movie is very visually appealing.
Each tribe has their own culture, livelihood and specific terrain. There are struggles between all of them for different resources and tensions between them all as jealousy and distrust continue to consume the world Kumandra.
Costuming in this movie is another enjoyable aspect, as each tribe has its own colorful wardrobe reflective of their cultures.
This movie was a decent watch, definitely family friendly and has a good take away in a time where there is such distrust in our world. Was it worth $30 on Disney+ that you need to see as soon as possible? I would say not. However, the movie will be available to stream widely on April 2 if you’re itching to watch a new movie then, or if you have a Disney+ subscription, you can wait a few months to see it without the added paywall on June 2.