Raya and the Last Dragon Review

As time goes on, I’ve become more and more disillusioned with Disney as a company. The sheer scale of their monopoly is terrifying to me, and their business practices are a detriment to creativity at best, and a threat to our entire culture at worst. I think this, combined with a general decrease in quality, accounts for the reason why I find myself less and less excited for their work. Their 3D era has been one of increasingly diminishing returns, with the last three years only bringing Ralph Breaks the Internet and Frozen II, both of which were received with a reception that was lukewarm at best.

Every now and then, though, they still have the ability to dazzle, and to me Raya and the Last Dragon is this increasingly rare exception. This film was an absolutely blast to watch, and a thoroughly enjoying adventure that I look forward to watching again some day. I’m going to try my best to see it in ways that don’t directly finance Disney in the future, but… in the meantime, I can say that I genuinely enjoyed it – though it’s certainly not without its flaws.

The plot follows the titular character Raya, who was born and raised in a fractured world. Centuries ago, an army of mysterious entities called the Druun invaded the land of Kumandra, turning its people to stone. It wasn’t until the last dragon, Sisu, sacrificed herself to harness the power of the dragon gem to banish them and return the people to life that they were defeated. But in the wake of Sisu’s sacrifice, the dragon gem remained, and the people of Kumandra tore themselves apart fighting over it. Now, Kumandra exists in the form of five smaller nations that exist in various stages of unrest; Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon and Tail. Six years before the start of the story, conflicts between these nations result in the breaking of the dragon gem once again, allowing the Druun to return to the world. The only way Raya can stop them is by finding Sisu, who may still be alive after all, and restoring the pieces of the dragon gem to banish the Druun once again.

In what is not going to be a spoiler at all if you’ve seen literally any trailer, poster or promotional material for this film, she does find Sisu pretty quickly. At first I wasn’t sure about Sisu; the first half hour or so of her presence has her delivering a few too many “relatable” jokes that broke my suspension of disbelief a bit (if you’ve seen the trailer, the “group project” joke is an example of this”). As the film goes on, though, the relationship between Sisu and Raya becomes the emotional backbone of the story, and Awkwafina’s performance becomes the film’s anchor. I really, thoroughly enjoyed both characters, and loved watching them grow and interact with each other. Hell, I’ll just say it; Sisu was great, and I know her design got a lot of flack before the film’s release but I really don’t mind it all that much.

Along the way, they meet up with a ragtag group of ruffians and misfits from across the five nations that, while not being nearly as well developed as Raya and Sisu, are all likeable, charming and/or funny in their own right (except for maybe the baby, she gets somewhat annoying at times). I really enjoyed watching this ensemble get together and grow closer to each other, and the world they inhabit is no less interesting. While the pace of the film is a little too hectic, and they wind up jumping from place to place a bit too quickly, the variety of locale and the post-apocalyptic, run-down nature of it all is a breath of fresh air for Disney, whose worlds have been becoming increasingly clean and sterile over the past few years.

In general, there’s a darkness to this film that hasn’t really been present in a Disney film since the 90’s, with the stakes being actual death in certain parts, and actual fight choreography in the battles between Raya and her villain, Namaari. Namaari herself is one of the more memorable villains in recent years for Disney, with a complex relationship with our hero and motivations that go beyond mere self-interest and greed.

This provides a pretty good segway into my critiques of the film. I think a big part of why I enjoyed it so much is my bias towards animation involving dragons, and I really liked the two leading characters enough to get me emotionally invested where I might otherwise not have. The themes of the film on their own have quite a few problems. The story is explicitly political in a way Disney rarely, if ever, is, with the villain’s arc in particular involving an inability to reconcile the leader she wants to be and the confrontational foreign policy her people already have. Raya’s personal arc involves a lack of trust that resulted from her being viciously betrayed, and the way in which this plays off of Sisu’s kind, trusting nature is at times brilliant. But when this simple theme of trust is applied to a complex geopolitical landscape, things get messy. Perhaps we could benefit from a more childlike view of the world, and I certainly wouldn’t expect Disney to provide genuine sociopolitical insight, but the idea that a lack of trust is the only thing that plays into conflicts like these and not, say, greed or dishonesty or nationalism or anything else is a little naïve, and it even gets to places like specifically blaming Raya at times for the rift between her and Namaari when it is very clearly and explicitly Namaari’s fault.

Furthermore, the film is filled with tropes and much of its story and presentation isn’t particularly original – though this didn’t bother me as much because it’s a Disney movie, and I’ve generally accepted that they rarely push the envelope as much as they could when it comes to originality. More importantly, the one way in which Raya and the Last Dragon is entirely unique compared to other Disney films is also critically flawed. Raya and the Last Dragon is the first Disney film to pull from Southeast Asian influences, and while I’m not at all in a place to analyze that, other people are, and have found it somewhat lacking – see this Vox article for more details.

Raya and the Last Dragon, despite its great protagonists and beautiful animation, is probably a film that a lot of more seasoned animation buffs might find a little underwhelming, and that’s something I have been seeing across the internet. I can’t really lie and tell you that I agree though. I agree with the various genuine criticisms I’ve seen, including but not limited to the ones I’ve listed above, but I also had a genuinely great time with it. It’s a fun adventure romp with a genuinely compelling bond between its two protagonists, and flip flops from a sort of Avatar: The Last Airbender inspired tale of a ragtag group of heroes seeking to unite a divided world to other, more surprising tones such as a fantasy Uncharted-esque heist caper. Though at the end of the day it’s themes may be lacking and the worldbuilding flawed, I really enjoyed this one.

It is, of course, still worth being wary of giving Disney money. As much as I enjoyed this film I can’t recommend that other people see it, at least not now. The extra $30 you have to pay is a ridiculous scam on Disney’s part, and it’s not something they should be rewarded for – I regret even being a bystander to someone else buying it to watch with me. Find a way to watch it without paying, or wait until you don’t have to anymore. If you can do that, it’s a pretty good time.