Raya and the Last Dragon
In the past decade, Disney has been getting away from their traditional “princess” narrative in their animated films, and honestly, it’s been wonderful to see. It’s not just that the characters seem to be more adventurously written, or less interested in romantic relationships with a “prince charming,” but their priorities are less about themselves and more about the world around them. Add to that the increasingly impressive art of the animation, and a new and unique “Golden Age” of Disney animation is upon us.
“Raya and the Last Dragon” is another example of that separation from the typical narrative, and it is a wonderful one. It’d be enough to watch this just for the animation and James Newton Howard’s score, but like “Moana,” it has a heroine whose story is simple- to connect the pieces of an ancient relic, and hopefully, bring the people of her world together. The character’s success or failure resides in her own strength, and the ability for her to trust the path she’s on. She also gets a dragon along the way, and that’s pretty helpful, as well.
Kumandra is a world where man and dragons lived together, until one day, the dragons sacrificed themselves to defeat the Druun, monsters whom could turn their victims into stone. 500 years later, there are five lands of man, each skeptical of the other, especially when one- the Heart Land- has been in possession of a jewel with the power of the dragons, and seems to have thrived compared to the others. They are the Guardian of the Dragon Gem, and as the film begins, Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) is training to become that guardian with her father, Chief Benja (Daniel Dae Kim). Chief Benja has invited leaders of the different lands- Fang, Tail, Talon and Spike- to break bread, and hopefully, broker a peace among them. Unfortunately, the Chieftess of the Fang Land (Virana, voiced by Sandra Oh) and her daughter (Namaari, voiced by Gemma Chan), have other ideas, and when they break into the Dragon Gem vault, the gem cracks, and each land takes a piece, but not before the Druun returns, turning most- including Chief Benja- into stone. Cut to six years later, and Raya is riding Tuk Tuk across an empty landscape. She is trying to locate the pieces of the gem, in hopes of reuniting them, and reversing what the Druun did. Along the way, she manages to summon a water dragon (Sisu, the last of the dragons, and voiced by Awkwafina) to help on her quest.
The story is fairly standard family adventure fare, as are its themes of trusting others, and believing in yourself, but it’s the beautiful animation (co-directed by Don Hall and Carlos Lopez Estrada, along with Paul Briggs and John Ripa) and voice cast that makes this such a winning effort from Disney. The opening frames of an older Raya rolling in a desert evoked the “Mad Max” films, and the more traditional animation styles they use for the flashbacks, are worth checking this film out alone for, but there’s some exceptional action set pieces and character animation in this film that make it one of the best efforts in recent years from Disney. The cast brings the heart to the film, starting with Marie Tran and Awkwafina, and also including Chan, Oh, Dae Kim and Benedict Wong. This one got me right in the heart, and is another wonderful example of Disney reinventing why it became a powerhouse in animated films.
