Raya and the Last Dragon (+ Us Again)

If there’s one thing that the COVID-19 pandemic altered for the foreseeable future, it’s film distribution. With the closure of many theaters, both temporarily and permanently, many studios quickly resorted to releasing movies digitally at a quicker pace than before the pandemic set in, chief among them Disney and Warner Bros. Disney opted for the Premier Access model for some of their films, where you have to pay a $30 fee on top of a Disney+ subscription for a limited time before being re-released for free on said service. One such films released this way was their latest installment in the Disney Animated Canon, Raya and the Last Dragon. Since I have a Disney+ account, this movie was on my radar, however, I decided to wait three months for it to be available for free before watching it, since I find the Premier Access model a little ridiculous. Now that I have seen it, while I generally enjoyed it, I’m not sure it would have been worth the Premier Access price.

500 years ago, humans and dragons lived in harmony in the dragon-shaped land of Kumandra. This changed, however, when it came under attack by the Druun, evil spirits who turned both dragons and humans into stone. The remaining dragon, Sisu, concentrated her magic into a gem to revert this, however, she vanished and the dragons remained petrified, causing Kumandra to be split into five distinct tribes: Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail. Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) of the Heart tribe is set to become the new guardian of Sisu’s gem, however, things go awry during a meeting meant to unite the tribes when she trusts Namaari (Jona Xiao (younger), Gemma Chan (older)) of the Fang tribe with the secret of the stone, only for Namaari to turn on her. After the stone breaks into five pieces, the Druun attack once again, leading Raya on a six-year search for Sisu.

Sisu (Awkwafina, left) meeting Raya (Kelly Marie Tran, right) for the first time.

The storytelling is good and has some genuinely emotional moments, though it does get a little predictable at times. Regardless, there are consistent themes of trust and harmony, which play very heavily into the character dynamics and the character development of both Raya and Namaari. There is also some interesting world-building in that we get a general idea of how some of the different tribes work and how some people managed to defend themselves from the Druun, though it seems like there’s some potential for it to be explored further.

I am aware that comparisons have been made to the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender on account of some superficial similarities, such as the concept of several interconnected nations being thrown into chaos and the inclusion of an Aang-like character (Sisu). However, I instead found myself drawing comparisons to the anime/manga series Dr. Stone by Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi. The setup involving the Druun petrifying humanity is very similar to the premise of Dr. Stone, in which humanity is mysteriously petrified for 3,700 years, only for a teenager named Senku to awaken from his petrified state and begin the process of reviving other people and reintroducing science to the world. The main antagonist of Raya also has a scene where they question trying to bring everyone back from their petrified state, which, while brief, falls somewhat in line with the ideals of Dr. Stone’s initial antagonist, who only wants to revive people selectively and doesn’t want science to come back to its full power.

While I have your attention, watch Dr. Stone.

The animation is a highlight, with some very impressive visual effects for dragon abilities and a great level of detail in the environments and designs without clashing with its visual style. If there’s one thing I take some issue with, however, it’s the dialogue. While the dialogue is very well-written, it seemed out of place to have some more “modern” speech patterns in a fantasy period setting, coming off as sounding closer to Shrek-era Dreamworks Animation films. Awkwafina’s performance as Sisu brings to mind Mushu from Mulan (1998) and the Genie from Aladdin (1992) simultaneously, though I had a harder time figuring out which was the more apt comparison due to a combination of both the delivery and how much of her dialogue was ad-libbed.

In the theater, Raya and the Last Dragon was accompanied by a short entitled Us Again, in which an elderly mixed-race couple is given a chance to relive their youth during a rainstorm. The short lacks dialogue, instead relying entirely on body language and a really good soundtrack to get the plot across, since much of it involves dancing. These two aspects are pulled off spectacularly, and can really tug at the heartstrings in the span of only six minutes.

Raya and the Last Dragon is a vast improvement over Frozen II, with some interesting ideas and a well-executed message, though I can’t help but think my opinion might have been a little different if I had paid Premier Access prices for it. Still, I would easily recommend this movie for Disney+ subscribers and Dr. Stone fans, and also to watch Us Again alongside it for the full experience.