Once in the land of Kumandra all lived in peace with the Dragons, but then the evil Druun came and began to wipe out the masses, turning Dragons and people into stone while consuming their souls. Sisu a magical water Dragon and the last of her kind using a magical dragon gem combined with all the powers of her siblings wipes out the Druun and saves humanity, but at the cost of her and all the other Dragons lives. For years the people of Kumandra split into factions divided while all biting at the teeth to get some of the Dragon gems power. Their world is spread out amongst a giant Dragon shaped river with settlements built alongside it being Fang, Heart, Spine, talon and lastly Tail as you travel from east to west. For 500 years they live like this in peace but also on the brink of hostility and warfare when the chief of the Heart tribe calls all to his home to enjoy a meal, in dreams of bringing back the Kumandra of old.
Chief Benja (Daniel Dae Kim) of the Heart Tribe has been training his young daughter Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) to be a guardian of the Dragon Gem, all the while still dreaming of a time where Kumandra was one, and at peace with each other. Chief Benja proceeds to live out his dream and invites the five tribes to all come together for a meal cooked with different ingredients all from each territory, with hopes to begin breaking down the walls of hatred and animosity towards one another. While Raya and her new friend from the Fang tribe Namaari (Gemma Chan) are off away from the adults and their parents making friends with one another Raya decides to show Namaari the Dragon Gem, in hopes of earning some trust and good friendship with someone who is supposed to be in her hated rival tribe.
While Raya and Namaari seem to be hitting it off well Raya is walking her into the sacred Dragon Gem room, when all of a sudden Namaari betrays her trust and attempts to fight Raya off and steal the Gem for Fang and her mother who is their chief. In the midst of the fight all of the other tribes including Benja arrive on the scene and an all out brawl begins. In the resolution of all the madness, in the collective groups own stupidity and selfishness, they break the Dragon Gem releasing the Druun upon the world again. Chaos ensues and many lives are lost including Raya’s beloved father Chief Benja who she calls “Ba”, though this begins to happens all over Kumandra, where many other people bare the same fate and pain. With the Gem broken into five shards each tribes chief claimed a piece and escaped, fueling more hatred and animosity for years to come. As Raya begins to set out into this new world she hears of a rumor that the legendary last dragon Sizu’s body floated away and rests at the end of one of the hundreds of rivers that root off of the Dragon’s body that is one giant body of water.
It is here that Raya begins her adventure to redemption, after searching for years and years at the ends of hundreds of rivers in Kumandra, Raya seems to have discovered what could be the last hope humanity has to bring everyone back, and restore balance peace and trust to Kumandra. Meeting all new friends, foes and strangers along the way through the five different territories Raya needs all the help she can get to bring down the Druun and get back her Ba.
My Thoughts:
I surprisingly enjoyed this movie more than I had anticipated, this is due to some Disney movies falling short of sometimes being creative and adventurous enough to really excite me but I thought this movie was a healthy mix of a classic but fresh take on a genre well saturated with other Disney movies that are similar to this one. Although this film seemed to have a fun creative edge to it that was truly carried well by awesome animations and display full of vibrant colors. The soundtrack created by James Newton Howard was also incredible as per usual with Disney, where they don’t miss the mark with most of their scores.
Main writer Paul Briggs and directors Don Hall and Carlos Estrada did a great job blending together a story full of action edging towards violence with talk of hand fighting and weapons, to also making it stick with that cute heartfelt emotional story where it’s mostly about everyone working together in the end to make the world a better place, we’ve seen this before. Though here that washed out concept gets completely overshadowed with a really cool fantasy world that builds this idea in your mind that it would be a cool fun place to live when all is good in the world. They play the balance of light hearted fun, stress, drama and action just right to make you feel like all is going well with the story and characters, but in the back of your mind there is just enough optimism to think something bad can go wrong at any moment.
This genuinely is one of the most eye catching animated movies I have seen in quite some time as just when you think it can’t get better technology just keeps on progressing and Disney Animated Studios just continues to lead the industry in this kind of production. The environment and world they lay out before your eyes is epic, and seeing the dragons bounce around the sky with all of the different colors and hues blending with nature, it paints a very pretty picture that is quite hard to take your eyes off of. In a short time they are able to develop this world that you feel you already know so well and can understand the distinct differences and geography and culture between the different tribes along the great Dragon River. You can really tell that the people behind the animation for the movie really put the time into study asian culture and the environment in which to create a plot around this plot structure as well.
Conclusion:
As far as encompassing the genres of adventure, action and staying within the barriers of a Disney movie I think Raya and the Last Dragon fits all perfectly. Never did you feel that the violence or action was half baked, not necessary or cheap, but that it was only driving the adventurous side of the story even more. Helping this movie separate itself from a whole list of animated Disney movies that lack excitement, innovation or creativity, ones that just stick with the formula of success that has worked for the basic films over the years to make money.
I believe this movie is a healthy representation of Asian culture blended within a western American one where both sides can relate and enjoy the mutual representation of their people and way of life on the big screen. Even though this is fantasy and not reality this and other types of movies like this are artists, writers and other creators interpretation on the history and folklore of their homes and other countries. Lots of countries besides American, especially asian countries take their history and culture quite seriously since they have been around much longer and have much more deep, well connected roots into their society and upbringing.
I think that if it would have enough good solid fresh content they could try to do a sequel with this but I am not sure in what direction it would be good for. I don’t think that directors and writers should stretch and wear out movies into franchises if the content is not there, but this film was good enough to warrant at least something else like this in the future. If anything I just want to see more of the Paul, Don and Carlos’s work because this was a pleasant surprise.
Raya and the Last Dragon was released on Digital HD by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on April 2, 2021, with DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray releases set to follow on May 18, 2021