2021 Reviews – Raya and the Last Dragon

So, here’s what happened – when this movie was released, I felt like Soul was only just in the rear-view mirror and I could use some time to cleanse my palate. Remember when Disney and Pixar movies were once a year at the most? They were always something I treasured looking forward to, and gave me something to anticipate. I figured I’d save Raya and the Last Dragon for a rainy day, and considering Victoria is currently in its… what… sixth lockdown(?), there doesn’t seem like a finer rainy day than right now. I did try to enjoy Raya and the Last Dragon a little earlier, but silly me forgot about Disney’s Premier Access paywall, so I skipped that and watched The Mitchell vs. the Machines instead. But now, there’s nothing standing between me and Disney’s latest entry into the Animated Classics vault.

Many moons ago, dark swirling clouds of terror called the Druun, swept across the lands of Kumandra, turning all living things to stone; until the ancient mystical dragons drove them away, by creating a united magical orb of power. All life was restored, except for the dragons themselves, who remained as stone for reasons unknown. That same magical orb now sits in Heart; one of five lands divided, as the people cannot agree where best the orb should stay for safe keeping. Chief Benja, and his young daughter Raya, plan to reunite the five territories as one, inviting their respective leadership to Heart to share a meal. As Raya trusts Princess Namaari of Fang with the orb, she reveals its location to the others, creating a squabble that breaks the orb and unleashes the Druun once again. Six years go by as Raya searches for the legend of the last dragon in the hope that she can help create a new orb, or mend the old one, to reverse the damage and return peace again to the region.

How much of this legend is true? Raya and the Last Dragon is based off mythologies from Southeast Asia, replicating clothes, weapons, foods, music and dragons from the region to create this fantasy tale. This is one of the reasons why I loved Disney as a child, I’ve just realised – learning about the terrain of the jungle from Tarzan, the Gods of Olympus in Hercules or the Huns out of Mulan; although these movies only provide a rudimentary introduction to deep stories and history of the world (often changing details to make material more child-friendly), it’s more than you may get elsewhere, in school and so forth, because there’s just so many other things to learn. Part of me feels like we’re not allowed to do this anymore – isn’t it cultural appropriation to take an Asian mysticism and produce an American multi-million-dollar movie? I looked down the list of credits, from producers to composers and so on, and I don’t see Southeast Asian names across the board. Don’t cultures have to tell their own stories now? But I don’t completely know what I’m talking about, and I don’t want to get bogged down in nonsense; as long as there is the appropriate validation and respect, which I find there is more often than not, I want to feel okay with world-conscious narratives that celebrate diversity in this manner of animation.

And speaking specifically, Disney have done it again! Considering the mass of animated features that arrive in our cinemas these days, Disney still manage an aura with their experience that’s above all else. I say this continually with Disney or Pixar productions, but the animation is the best it’s ever been again, and it continues to stagger me how far the medium has come – someday soon I’m going to show my niece or nephew the first ever Toy Story movie, and say, ‘you see that animated blotchiness; we thought that was supreme in our time. And look how it’s paved the way.’

Raya is a very engageable character, but I couldn’t put my finger on Sisu the dragon for a long time – is she charismatically energetic like the genie from Aladdin or tonally annoying, in her whimsy attitude to trust, like the goat in Ferdinand (which is not a Disney movie, I know, but you can always remember the worst, can’t you?)? After a while I stopped trying to figure it out, (I don’t need to rank and file everything at any given time, brain), and I came to think of Sisu as her own colour in the crayon box, or more plainly, her own unique personality in Disney’s pantheon of comedic partners – a welcome addition too. It’s refreshing to get a completely new character, and I think Sisu is a success. Awkwafina has come a long way since rapping about her vag on the internet (it’s like an operatic ballad, or so I hear), and now she sits comfortably in the house of mouse alongside Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy; some of the best comedic actors of all time. On the other hand, I don’t know why con-baby – like, why, just why? – but I guess it might be to keep those little kiddies entertained; seeing a cute and cuddly baby that reminds them of their dolly, while all the other characters are talking about deeper issues. She’s not for me, a thirty-year-old man; she’s for the toddlers of the audience, and I can accept that. But I actually seriously dug Tuk Tuk; just when you think Disney might run out of animals to turn into doe-eyed food-obsessed side-kicks, along comes the rolling armadillo. He sort’ve fell into the crowd as our band of heroes grew bigger, but it was all to serve a bigger purpose, so what are you going to do?

Often, I find the villain holds a conflicting understanding of the same problem to our hero, but I thought Virana, the Chiefess of Fang, wasn’t understanding the situation at all – she wants Kumandra restored, but she wants the rest of the people to know she did it, because they blame her for the Druun’s return, and so she needs to capture the dragon for it to be on her side… that’s a little muddled, I think. What if in the six years since the Druun were released, the region of Fang has fared the best as an island, and being in a dominant position, Virana doesn’t want to fix Kumandra at all. A conflict occurs between mother and daughter, because Namaari has seen the suffering in the outside communities first hand, and she has always thought that Fang’s resentment of Heart has come through not sharing their prosperity through the orb, and now Fang is doing the same. In actual fact, we’re probably not given enough information regarding how the regions are set up, because, as one from the visiting parties to Heart shouts out, it’s all well and good for Heart to talk of trust and unity when they have the orb. When Namaari says that Fang hasn’t had rice for a while, I’m like hold up, we need to investigate that, because if the other communities are poorly afflicted, then you can see how resentment spreads. If the other lands believe the orb brings added prosperity, then why not share it around, like a museum would its exhibitions. I think Chief Benja believes that the orb cannot be moved because where it lay be the only spot to prevent the Druun from coming back; but that turns out to be false since the orb is reunited in Fang, and if the others disagree, then why not experiment the claim. If Chief Benja does believe the orb can’t be moved, then surely the other regions realise the seriousness of keeping the Druun away too. Either way, in the beginning, there seems to be a lot of practical things that Chief Benja and the people of Kumandra need to work out before the idea of Kumandra could be restored again.

Yet, there’s certainly more to love about Raya and the Last Dragon than not. I thought they were bundling the movie’s themes of mutual trust and unity at times, but I have a feeling I’ll nestle up more cosily to this movie on a second go round. Ultimately, I think Raya and the Last Dragon nails the message it wants to achieve through a highly satisfying conclusion, although the movie could have spent a little more time fixing up its backstory and character motivations. But the proof is in the pudding, and the bigger point is, can’t we all just get along – sharing and caring is the key to the world’s prosperity.

4.0