In a realm known as Kumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon.
Chuck says:
Astonishingly beautiful and genuinely moving, Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon is one of the strongest entries from the Mouse House in many years, a vibrant, hopeful film that touches on a myriad of timely themes and wisely avoids many of the missteps that made last year’s misguided live-action remake of Mulan a rather lackluster affair. Exciting, funny, and poignant, the movie has an epic feel to it but is grounded by a most appealing lead character, a young woman who is not only tough, charming and smart, but who also, despite living in an age of cynicism, has just enough faith in people to help her bridge the divide that has separated the citizens of her once proud nation.
A great deal of exposition is thrown at the viewer during the first five minutes, so much so that moms and dads may have to sum things up for the smaller ones in the audience. The long and short of it is there was once a glorious nation called Kumandra, a paradise on Earth where dragons worked in harmony with its citizens. However, the arrival of the Druun, a mindless plague brought to life that spreads like wildfire and turns everything it touches to stone, separates the country into five factions as they each combat this threat in different ways. Their efforts prove futile but the remaining dragons sacrifice themselves, putting their souls into a powerful gem that keeps the threat at bay, now guarded by Benja (voice by Daniel Dae Kim), his daughter Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) and the other members of their tribe. Unfortunately, this talisman is stolen and the titular heroine must go on an epic journey to recover it. Helping her is the resurrected dragon Sisu (Awkwafina), who’s far more than she appears to be.
Yes, it’s a formula film, a recipe Disney has followed to repeated box office success and critical acclaim for years. Be that as it may, the ingredients used this time around are fresh and innovative, so much so it almost makes everything that’s old about the story seem new again. Credit directors Don Hall, Carlos Lopez Estrada and their army of animators for creating a truly stunning series of set pieces that impress from its most minute details to its grandest vistas. They set the bar high with the opening scene that captures the scope and despair of one of the blasted landscapes out of the Mad Max universe, only to follow up with sequences set in lush ornate gardens, massive realistic flowing bodies of water and sumptuous palaces, all punctuated with elaborate, thrilling martial arts sequences.
Raya is a visual stunner from start to finish but it would have been an empty exercise if not for the moving screenplay by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim. Though it does follow the Disney template, the duo is able to inject a sense of urgency to the story, giving it heft and a sense of timeliness. Describing the world as “broken,” Raya must find a way to reinstill a sense of trust between the factions that have developed. Tribalism threatens to destroy them all unless they put their differences aside and come together.
It’s no accident that the film’s most powerful metaphor is the sight of people who’ve been turned to stone by the Druun, “a plague born of human discord.” Trust, redemption, and hope are at the center of Raya, which powerfully reminds us of the danger of living in a broken world. Here’s hoping the movie’s younger viewers heed its warning and correct the mistakes we’ve made that have left us dispirited and fractured.
4 Stars
