Walt Disney Animation Studios made another excellent combination of fantasy. action, and fun with ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’. I thought the titular dragon was voiced by Fran Drescher and the music was by Hans Zimmer or someone else, but nevertheless, I liked the voice casting, story, humor, and music.
Sisu, voiced by Awkwafina, and Raya, voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, in 'Raya and the Last Dragon'. Photo courtesy of Disney.
Set during ancient times, the land of Kumandra is divided when Sisu, the last of siblings of dragons, voiced by Awkwafina, puts her magic into a gem and uses it to banish the Druun, evil spirits that turns people to stone, and the people fight to gain its power. When the struggle ends up turning her father, Chief Benja of the Heart Tribe, voiced by Daniel Dae Kim, to stone, the gem’s guardian, Raya, voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, seeks to revive him with the help of Sisu and a small army of survivors who lost their families to the Druun, but first they need to find the missing pieces of Sisu’s gem.
The plot seems similar to other Disney works, specifically the power struggles in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘Moana’, with the latter being led by a female protagonist. Yet, it’s told well as Raya works to revive her father, end the war with the Druun, and finds a new family of sorts in her army. Sisu lightens things up with her blue and fluffy unicorn-like appearance, sweet nature, occasional rhyming, and ability to manipulate weather.
Raya was quite the adventurer as a kid, given how she overcame booby traps and was able to best her father in martial arts to prove her worth of being guardian of Sisu’s gem. It was also funny watching her bond with her steed Tuk Tuk, voiced by Alan Tudyk, and with Namaari, adult voiced by Gemma Chan, young voiced by Jona Xiao, daughter of Virana, chieftess of the Fang Land, voiced by Sandra Oh, over being “dragon nerds”.
I really enjoyed the chemistry with Raya’s army. Like Luke needed Han Solo, she ended up having to pay Boun, a 10-year-old shrimp boat captain, voiced by Izaac Wang, to get her and Sisu to Talon, an island that looks like Macau, to get a piece of the gem. It was funny watching him charm them with his shrimp cooking.
There was this brief comic book scene where Boun showed himself outsmarting enemies. He has a comical imagination and the animation was clever.
At Talon, Raya got outsmarted by an infant con artist, Little Noi, voiced by Thalia Tran, and her adoptive monkey brothers, which was hilarious. Don’t be fooled by her cuteness. Then it was warm to watch their latest addition, warrior Tong from the Spine Land, voiced by Benedict Wong, get soft by Little Noi.
Raya, Sisu, Boun, Tong, Little Noi,her adoptive monkey brothers, the Ongis, and Tuk Tuk are ready for battle in 'Raya and the last Dragon'. Photo courtesy of Disney.
As for the not-so-funny moments, Naamari showed herself to be quite the brutal warrior boss. Let’s just say you do not want to get on her bad side. Perhaps that buzzcut shows she means business.
Namaari, voiced by Gemma Ghan, from 'Raya and the Last Dragon' was once a dragon nerd. Now she's a tough-as-nails warrior. Photo courtesy of Disney.
If you like peril and sword fighting, you’ll enjoy seeing Raya defend herself against the Druun and Naamari.
Though not as brutal as some of them, Raya was quite distrustful of her new comrades at first. One might say her heart got turned to stone as a kid, thanks to the Druun. When I saw her 6 years after the Druun attack on her land, she strolled on Tuk Tuk like a drifter in a Western movie.
On the upside, Sisu helps lift her spirits. She made a good point about how trust is the real magic in the world, and trust is what will reunite all five tribes into Kumandra.
Tran, Awkwafina, and Wang had a lot of passion in their voice acting. As I said earlier, the whole time, I thought Awkwafina sounded like Fran Drescher. Chan was very convincing in her role as she sounded like someone not to be trifled with.
I didn’t recognize Wong’s voice at first, but he sounded like a soldier haunted by a war he lost, but once again, it was funny how he softened up later.
Aside from Raya’s capabilities and the charm from Sisu and the gang, another thing I loved about this film was the score by James Newton Howard. It sounded like he was influenced by the score from ‘Kung Fu Panda’ or ‘The Dark Knight’ with flutes, violins, keyboards, percussion, sanxians, and a choir used throughout the film’s tense and exciting moments. The lyrics to Jhené Aiko’s “Lead the Way” in the end credits describe that trust is the way for us to live our lives, and as long as we do that, there’s nothing we can’t do.
Just like the 2020 ‘Mulan’, it’s great that a predominantly Asian cast gets to tell the story about Chinese culture, and most of them get to be the heroes. The film can also be a lesson about humanity needing to trust rather than turn on each other and making families out of people who empathize with their life stories, whether in good or bad situations.
In conclusion, Disney’s ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ flew to amazing horizons.
You can stream it on Disney+ with Premier Access or see it in theaters. If you do the latter, please comply with COVID-19 safety precautions.
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