So this past weekend I finally got around to watching Raya and the Last Dragon with my brother. And, naturally, I had some thoughts.
Raya and the Last Dragon was a March premiere access release movie on Disney+ that was made available to stream the same day that it came out in theaters. If you have a Disney+ membership and are able to swing the hefty $30 premiere access fee, you can watch this film currently on the platform without having to leave the comfort of your own home or go to the movie theater. If you are currently not able to swing the (expensive) premiere access fee, then you can still go to the theater and see the film, or you can simply wait until June 4th when the movie is available on Disney+ without the premiere access surcharge.
I finally took the time to watch this movie this past weekend because not only did the movie look interesting and unique in comparison with other big Disney films, but because I wanted to know what the plot of the movie was. Try as I might, but I could not discern what the story of the movie was just from watching the trailers for the film. So naturally, I was curious. Going into this movie I knew that the visuals would be stunning and the animation would be immaculate, but I was cautiously optimistic about the story quality of the film. On more than one occasion I have left a Disney movie thinking that the story left a lot to be desired (I'm looking at you, Frozen.).
However, after watching this movie, I have to say that I did not have that problem with this film. I would even caution to say that the film is good. Dare I say, pretty good in fact.
Perfect? Far from it. But definitely watchable, and possibly even re-watchable.
The following categories are the areas where I think the film excels, and where I think the film could use a few improvements.
Category 1: World-Building- B-
One of the first things that you will notice about Raya and the Last Dragon's universe is how dragon centric the entire world is.
Each village in this movie is named after a different part of the dragon's body (as represented on the map below), which when combined make a unified dragon, known as Kumandra. The five villages are Fang, Heart, Talon, Spine, and Tail. Raya, our main character throughout the movie, is from Heart, which is the sole proprietor of the only Dragon Stone in existence.
The first 15 minutes of this movie are dedicated to explaining this universe and how everything works in great detail to catch the viewers up to speed. This is presented by flashing back to Raya's past in order to give us her perspective on the five villages, and what makes each of them different. Once we are all caught up on the different tribes and what they are like aesthetically, the movie flashes forward to the present day, where Raya is travelling to all of the different regions in order to complete her quest. While I appreciate that I was never really lost on the whole world building aspect of the movie, I do almost wish that there was more time dedicated to each tribe's culture and how each region is different from one another, aside from aesthetically.
For example, early on in the movie it is mentioned by a character from Fang that rice isn't readily available for them like it is in Heart, where Raya is from. This is never fully explained or even mentioned again, but it is a worldbuilding detail that kind of got dropped out of nowhere.
I feel like this movie would have done better as an extended series or even an anthology series (like Infinity Train *cough, cough*) in which we explore the different regions of Kumandra and get to fully dive deep into the history and lore of each region. Experiencing the locations through Raya's perspective is nice, but it can feel limiting when the character is on a time-sensitive mission.
Category 2: Plot- B
Throughout this film, I was strangely reminded of the universe of Moana and the universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender. This could just be because they share certain elements like the boat adventure and the shapeshifting aspect of the main supernatural character from Moana, and the actual plot of Avatar: The Last Airbender. (See the Honest Trailer for Raya and the Last Dragon, which made this comparison before I did).
(LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD)
Without getting into too many spoilers for the film, just suffice it to say that the Dragon Stone that resides in the Heart village is one of the central conflict pieces in the movie, and all of the other villages in Kumandra want it. Early on in the movie the Dragon Stone is split into several pieces that are then taken to the different regions of Kumandra, kept by each village's chief. From that alone, you can probably piece together what has to be done in order to unite the Dragon Stone once more.
As I mentioned previously, this movie would have likely been better suited to be made into an animated epic along the lines of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I would definitely watch a spinoff show about the thieving baby, Noi, as she grows up in the Talon community. I just think that Raya's plot was perhaps a little too complex for a movie of this length, and a little derivative of other works that felt similar.
Category 3: Themes- C-This is one of the aspects of the movie that fell short for me. The main theme of the movie is about forgiveness and trust, and how those are the things that will unite people and make the world a better place.
While I agree with these themes in principle, in practice, I feel like the movie did a bad job of making those themes realistic and believable in the film.
(MORE LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD)
One of the main conflicts in the movie is between Raya and Naamari, a girl Raya met when they were children. Without spoiling too much, I will just say that Naamari betrayed Raya when they were younger, leading to consequences that essentially caused the end of the world, and the loss of Raya's father for several years.
In this circumstance, if I knew a girl who betrayed me so badly that it brought about the end of the world and the loss of my only parent, I don't think you could convince me to be the bigger person and not murder her.
However, because this is a Disney movie, and because Naamari seems like a conflicted villain who didn't mean to cause the end of the world and the loss of Raya's father, we are meant to sympathize with her and want Raya to forgive her and be friends with her by the end of the movie.
I DID NOT.
The entire time that Naamari was onscreen, I was livid. If I had been in Raya's position in any point in the film, I truly believe I would have stabbed Naamari, and the movie would have been over. Some things just aren't forgiveable, and I think the film wants us to look over the fact this person caused the end of days just because they "didn't mean to."
Sometimes intentions don't matter if real harm is caused. This is why involuntary manslaughter is a crime and not just a "whoopsie-doopsie."
I also think that the movie wanted us to sympathize with Naamari in a way that didn't quite work, because the entire time the movie paints this whole feud between them as a two-sided thing, when it's very clearly one-sided. Naamari is to blame for most of what happens in the movie, but Raya shares the burden of the plot by "being too trusting." In reality, the entirety of the conflict can be hung squarely on Naamari's shoulders, and frankly, the movie didn't redeem her in enough time at the end for me to care about the moral that was learned about trust or whatever.
I think this comment from GingerBean on YouTube left under Saberspark's video on Raya and the Last Dragon summarizes my feelings on this theme perfectly:
Category 4: Animation- A
It's almost boring for me to compliment the quality of animation that is in this Disney movie, because of course they've got it down at this point. Every animated Disney movie that's come out since the Disney Renaissance has been beautifully animated.
However, I will say that this movie made history as the first Disney film to be made at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down Disney Animation Studios for some time. Even with that hurdle, the animators made a movie that looks utterly amazing. It was almost like this movie was completed under normal circumstances and the world wasn't burning around them.
Even with all of that, though, I will say that I was impressed with the way that the fight scenes were animated in this movie, specifically the fight scenes between Raya and Naamari. The animators made Raya skilled in Southeast Asian fighting styles like Muay Thai and Arnis, and they were intense and captivating to see on the screen. I especially liked the unique details that they put into the fighting scenes, like Raya's dragon sword that she inherited from her father.
Obviously the animation was flawless and I have no complaints about this aspect of the movie.
Category 5: Diversity- C+
Raya and the Last Dragon's universe is based on the cultures of Southeast Asian communities from Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar, which is definitely a region that is underrepresented in media, especially Western media.
I really do applaud Disney for trying to represent these communities in their latest animated film, and while I am not a member of any of these communities, I can understand how someone from those communities would be disappointed by this movie's representation of them.
I'm not qualified to speak on how accurate the representation in this film is to Southeast Asian culture, but I can definitely say that it is a little weird that nearly all of the voice cast for this movie is East Asian, and not from the community that they're attempting to represent.
Aside from Raya, played by Vietnamese- American Kelly Marie Tran, every other character in this movie is played by someone who is not of Southeast Asian decent. I can understand how this can be frustrating and disappointing to those who do not see themselves or their culture represented authentically on-screen. There was an attempt, but the entire casting department could have been a little more careful about their choices.
If the movie really wanted to be diverse, I would recommend including more LGBTQ+ people in the film.
Simply put, Raya should have been gay.
If you watched the relationship between Raya and Naamari, you would understand.
Raya and Naamari's relationship felt queer coded from the beginning of the movie. It’s in everything from their interactions, to their haircuts, to the fact that when Naamari was hunting Raya at the beginning of the film my brother literally said, "[Naamari's] only interacted with this girl once, why is she so obsessed with [Raya]?"
Throughout the movie Raya and Naamari have big Korra and Asami energy from The Legend of Korra- where the romantic/sexual tension is always just under the surface of their interactions but never overt enough for a general audience to catch on (Although I definitely picked up on it.).
If Disney really wanted to be as diverse and inclusive as it claims to be, Raya should have been gay, and she should have ended up with Naamari in the end. (It would have thrown off the story a little bit, but it really would have made more sense for Naamari to be following Raya around in the first act if she secretly had a crush on her.)
If you've seen this movie and don't agree with what I'm talking about, try watching it again, but imagining Naamari as a boy. If Naamari had been a boy, it would be obvious that they had sexual chemistry. Nothing else would have changed, but I feel like more people would see the relationship as inherently romantic because it was heterosexual, which is what we normally associate with romance.
Either way, my pitch to improve this movie overall is to make Raya gay and to make Naamari more sympathetic and less likely to shift the blame for things that are clearly her fault.
Category 6: Kid-Friendliness- C+
As with all of the Disney movies that I've done reviews for, I have to give Disney credit for making a movie that is perfectly suitable for children. Although I will say that this movie somehow feels more intense than either Big Hero 6 or Frozen, if only for the fact that the stakes of this film feel somehow more grounded in reality.
The divisiveness of the tribes and the fact that no one feels safe trusting anyone else feels like a real-world problem that is a little more pressing than an "eternal winter" or "a giant wormhole swallowing the city." The climactic ending of this movie is a direct result of infighting between different tribes of the same nation, which is honestly prescient considering the current global and national crises that we’re in right now.
One of the more chilling scenes in this movie (for me, anyway, after all, this movie is for children), was when we meet Tong in the Spine village. (SPOILER AHEAD) We quickly find out that he was the only survivor of his village because everyone else he knew was turned to stone. Somehow this chilled me because it made the conflict of the movie feel real. The Druun had wiped out everyone but him, and he was lonely.
This film is appropriate for children because while kids are smart enough to grasp the (admittedly very obvious) themes of unity and peace that the film was going for, there are also colorful dragons with magical powers in the movie to take the edge off. A movie about a bunch of warring factions without the dragon magic, though, would be better suited for a YA dystopian novel than a Disney movie. (Although admittedly, I'd probably read that book).
Overall, Raya and the Last Dragon was a good time. I cried at the end of the movie, which is always a good sign of a feel-good film to watch with your family (and it's also a pretty good indicator that I'm a sucker for an emotional Disney film). I would give this movie a B-, but mostly because I think it could have used just one more draft in the writer's room to really drive home the overarching conflict between Raya and Naamari. Perhaps I would have given this movie an A if there was a gay romance between the two like so many people on Twitter have already speculated about.
