1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Did you miss out on Raya and the Last Dragon when it was released? Did it pass you by?

I wouldn’t be surprised if you said yes, given that it was released during the COVID-19 pandemic! Raya and the Last Dragon was supposed to be released in November 2020, but it was delayed until March 2021. It was released in theatres at that time in some countries, including the US, as well as on Disney+ at an additional cost as part of the Disney+ Premier Access service. This was the second Disney movie to be released on that platform, after the live-action adaptation of Mulan in September 2020. Raya and the Last Dragon was then available free to the majority of Disney+ subscribers from June 2021.

I watched it for the first time shortly after this date, and after this week, I have now only watched it twice. I remember I liked the film the first time, and I liked it even more this time round.

Raya and the Last Dragon is not a princess movie, despite the female main character, nor does it involve any songs. This is no longer uncommon for Disney; they have been moving away from their well-used formula of the Broadway-style fairy-tale for at least the last decade. Raya and the Last Dragon was generally well-received, however, as Disney’s other release of 2021, Encanto, made such a storm, Raya and the Last Dragon, unfortunately, seems to already have been forgotten, though I would hope that it will make a comeback of some sorts in the next few years.

PLOT

Raya and the Last Dragon begins with a young woman travelling through a desert on the back of a rolling bug. She recounts the story of her land, Kumandra, which five hundred years ago, was threatened by dark forces called Druun. The “last dragon”, Sisu, put all her energy into a single gem, which destroyed the Druun, reviving the land’s people who had been turned to stone by the Druun, however, the same does not happen to the dragons who shared the same fate. This magical gem was coveted by the five separate areas of Kumandra: Heart, Tail, Talon, Spine and Fang, with Heart gaining possession of the gem.

Then, we see a young girl, Raya, being taught how to be “The Guardian of the Dragon Gem”, protecting it from being stolen by others, by her father, the Heart Chief, Chief Benja. He believes that the five areas should become one again and start trusting each other. His first step to gaining peace is to invite the other four lands and their people to Heart. The people are suspicious of why Heart has summoned them there, but Raya breaks the ice by bonding with the daughter of Fang’s Chief, Namaari, over their shared love of dragons. Raya is given Namaari’s necklace of the dragon, Sisu, so in return, Raya takes Namaari to see the dragon gem, however, Raya is double-crossed, and Namaari alerts the Fang warriors to the gem. At the same time, everyone else fights over the gem, causing it to fall to the ground and smash, which releases the Druun again. Each land grabs a section of the gem and flees. Raya’s father is hurt in the fight, and sacrifices himself to the Druun to save Raya, by throwing her into the river, as Druun are repelled by water. She is alone.

Six years later, we return to the opening scene in the desert. The woman is Raya, and her rolling bug is her friend, Tuk Tuk, part pill-bug, part armadillo, part pug, apparently! Raya has travelled to the end of every river in Kumandra, as it is rumoured that Sisu, the last dragon, resides at the end of one of them. Raya’s final visit is a river in the desert land of Tail. She sets up a shrine and prays to Sisu, who reveals herself. Sisu is real after all! Raya asks Sisu to make another gem, but as Sisu didn’t create the gem, just “turned it in”, and her siblings created it, she cannot do it. The two set off, instead, to find the other pieces of the gem and reassemble them to thwart the Druun once more. As they retrieve the first piece from Tail, within a booby-trapped cave, Namaari and Fang’s warriors come to stop them, and figure out why Raya is stealing gem pieces. Raya, Sisu and Tuk Tuk get away and board a boat, run by Boun, a child, orphaned by the Druun’s curse. He has been operating a restaurant on this boat, but happily takes Raya and Sisu to Talon for extra money! Boun joins them on their quest.

At Talon, Raya goes to find the next piece of gem, but is conned by a baby, again, orphaned by the Druun, and her trio of ongis friends (monkey-like animals), who steal her gem pieces. Raya wastes time retrieving them but succeeds. She then “hires” the con artists to distract the Chief of Talon to get the next gem piece, but find he was turned to stone. The new Chief, Dang Hu, has captured Sisu, who has shape-shifted to a human to conceal her identity; the new Chief wants the gem pieces and won’t release Sisu until she tells her where they are. Raya comes in to save Sisu and steals away Talon’s piece at the same time; they are free to keep going on to Spine. At Spine, they meet a warrior, called Tong, who is the only remaining member of Spine. Raya and Sisu have fallen into a trap and been captured by him, but he seems more bothered about having the company than actually wanting to kill them for trespassing! When Fang’s warriors arrive to stop Raya again, Tong releases the next gem piece and is told to leave with the others while Raya distracts Namaari. As Namaari and Raya fight, Raya is quickly overwhelmed. Sisu regains her dragon form and goes in to the fight to save her. Namaari is stunned to see Sisu in real-life, with Sisu believing there is some good in her; Raya isn’t so sure. They both escape.

Sisu asks Raya to try to restore peace with Namaari by returning her dragon necklace to her. In return, Namaari surrenders the final gem piece, but then pulls out a crossbow, aiming it at Sisu, as her mother, Fang’s Chief, has asked her to steal the other gem pieces, as well as Sisu, so Fang can be the holder of the full and complete gem. Sisu pleads with Raya to let her talk with Namaari, as she believes Namaari does want to help. Raya then attacks Namaari with her sword, believing Namaari will shoot. Namaari does, but only out of surprise, with the crossbow hitting Sisu, killing her; Sisu falls into the water. Namaari runs back to Fang. With the last dragon gone, all the water of Kumandra, which had been protecting some from the force of the Druun, drains away, so the Druun can now attack fully again. Raya, overcome with anger and rage at Namaari for killing Sisu, goes to Namaari to challenge her to a final duel. The duel goes on as the Druun start attacking Fang’s land, with Tong, baby Noi, Boun, and the ongis helping Fang’s people escape. Namaari tells Raya that she is also to blame for Sisu’s death, for not trusting her. Raya relents, and goes to help the others with the evacuation of Fang, with Namaari following suit.

However, the Druun start to gain ground on the group, with them falling into a crack in the ground. They are surrounded. Raya then remembers what Sisu told her; that on the day the gem was forged by the last dragons, they created the gem with their powers before entrusting it to Sisu to stop the Druun. It was trust, not magic, that stopped the Druun. Raya hands over her piece of gem to Namaari and is soon turned to stone. Boun, then Noi, then Tong follow with Namaari left holding the five gem pieces, using them to fight back the Druun. She sees an opening above her and goes to escape, but sees the others as stone, and decides she must reassemble the gem. She quickly does, and joins the others to be petrified as well. When all looks lost, the gem’s magic awakens sending a powerful wave of energy throughout Kumandra, destroying the Druun once and for all.

A rainstorm begins, reviving all the people of Kumandra. We then see that, unlike five hundred years ago, the dragons are revived as well and return. They come together to revive Sisu, with the group reuniting with her, happy to be back together again. Boun, Noi and Tong return to their prospective areas of Tail, Talon, and Spine to be reunited with their family members, with Sisu and Raya returning to Heart to see her father again. Sisu tells Chief Benja how his daughter has unified Kumandra, with everyone from the other areas convening at Heart as evidence of this. Kumandra is finally united again.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Raya is at the heart of this story. Raya is still only a teenager, but has to go out on this extraordinary journey to not only save her father, but also her land. She is an incredibly brave, strong character, as we see in the opening sequence, where she is training to be “The Guardian of the Dragon Gem” – she has to navigate all these traps and then fight her father to prove she can do it, and she does, even though I think she’s only twelve-years-old at that point! Raya clearly has trust issues, because of the fact she was betrayed by someone who she thought was a friend, and because her father’s attempts at building trust with the other lands failed and led to the Druun returning to Kumandra. She is much happier going off alone, with just her pet Tuk Tuk as her only companion. However, as more and more people start joining her and Sisu on their journey, Raya learns that she has to start trusting others, because she can achieve so much more by doing that. Raya does learn to trust Boun, Noi and Tong, but when it comes to Namaari, that’s a different story. When Sisu is killed, because of Raya’s distrust and Namaari’s fear, it sends Raya into a rage; it looks like Raya has completely lost any hope of trusting Namaari, but, when push comes to shove, Raya knows trusting is the only way to save Kumandra, and by taking the first step, the rest of her group know that they can trust Namaari too, because they themselves trust Raya. This is where Raya’s journey comes full circle. Within Southeast Asian culture, there is a strong history of female leaders and warriors, with Raya embodying that spirit, including through her clothing which allows her to stay agile, and her hair which is braided to keep her sightline clear. Her name means “great” or “celebration” in some of the languages of Southeast Asia[1].

Raya is voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, who is best known for playing the role of Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). As I haven’t watched the new Star Wars films, I can only assume she’s good in them! Tran does a brilliant job with the character of Raya, as she brings strength, vulnerability, and humour to the character, to make Raya well-rounded and relatable. Tran actually ad-libbed the prayer that Raya speaks when she is trying to summon Sisu. It was incredibly touching and proved to the Disney team that Tran was perfect for the role[2]. Tuk Tuk is “voiced” by Alan Tudyk, but, much like his performance as Hei Hei in Moana (2016), it is a non-speaking role, but, hey, it’s Alan Tudyk – you’ve got to find a part for him in every Disney movie, right?

Looking at Raya’s nemesis, Namaari, she is a victim of her own upbringing, I think. Though Namaari’s mother, Virana, does have a lot of belief in Namaari and clearly brought up her to be confident and self-sufficient, Virana is not particularly maternal. She is quite strict and sure of her own mind, making her a good leader and Chief for Fang, but not a brilliant mother-figure! She has taught Namaari to put the tribe above everything else, even if that means betraying those who are kind to you. This is where Namaari’s problems stem, in that she feels torn between what is good for Fang, and what she actually believes is right. You can see that when Namaari first looks at Sisu, that she goes back to being that little girl who just liked dragons, and that she isn’t an emotionless warrior. Sisu is correct that Namaari would rather have peace in Kumandra than have the endless fighting; she’s just scared. Namaari does assemble the dragon gem again and ultimately saves Kumandra; she just needed Raya to take the first step to show that it is ok to trust, and that it was what they had to do to save everyone else.

Namaari is voiced by English actor, Gemma Chan, who has been known in the UK for some time from her roles in television such as Fresh Meat (2011) and Humans (2014-15), but has gained more recognition for her roles in movies such as Astrid Leong-Teo in Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel (2019). Virana is voiced by Sandra Oh, who is most well-known for starring as Eve Polastri in Killing Eve (2018-22), as well as Cristina Yang in Grey’s Anatomy (2005-14). For Disney, she played the role of the Vice Principal in The Princess Diaries (2001), as well as voiced the part of Ting Ting, the eldest of the emperor’s daughters, in Mulan II (2004).

To get the relationship right between the characters of Raya and Namaari, the team at Disney wanted to look at examples within mainstream films of two female characters being the central relationship of the movie, but they found there weren’t many references that they could use during their early concept work! Frozen (2013) partly does this, though the sisters of Anna and Elsa are separated from each other for most of the movie. They did find that Marvel films contain many strong female action hero types but that, generally, only one appears on screen at any one time, and they also don’t tend to be warm, flawed or funny. Raya and Namaari had to be more than just warrior princesses, so the team looked at their own relationships and looked at the differing backgrounds of the two girls, to see how they were raised to be enemies[3].

Sisu is the other main female character of the film. She is the last dragon of Kumandra, famed for being the saviour of Kumandra from the Druun and lauded as a great legend in the area. Based on the stories, Sisu would seem to be a wise, strait-laced dragon, so imagine Raya’s surprise, when Sisu turns out to be funny, self-deprecating, and kind of accident-prone, barrelling into situations without thinking anything through, and being led by blind faith. Having said that, Sisu is just unsure how to be a dragon within the human world, with Raya trying to make her act like a human for the first half of the movie. Sisu is much happier just being a dragon! Sisu doesn’t think much of herself, saying that her only power is swimming well and that it is her siblings who had all the great power, not her, yet they trusted her to be the one to use the gem to defeat the Druun so she clearly just doesn’t have much confidence! When Sisu dies, a great dragon is lost, and the land of Kumandra knows it, as it drains away all the water. She is revived by her siblings as Sisu is needed in the world, proving that she is a great dragon. Raya learns a lot from Sisu, including how to trust others again, giving her the information she needed to reunite Kumandra.

Sisu is voiced by comedic actor and rapper, Awkwafina, best known for her roles in movies such as Ocean’s 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). Awkwafina also starred as Katy in the Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and voiced the role of Scuttle in the Disney live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (2023). Awkwafina won the award for “Best Voice Performance” for Sisu at the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards in 2021.

For Raya’s “crew”, Boun is the first to join. He is just ten-years-old when his family is petrified by the Druun, leaving him all alone. He knows he has to stand on his own two feet now, which is why he sets about starting a restaurant on his boat called “The Shrimporium”. In a deleted scene, Boun was going to originally run a “Mister Fix-It”-type shop, with him fixing Tuk Tuk’s broken shell[4]. He is a good chef, with the rest of the group very much enjoying his food, and he is more than capable in drumming up business with his cheeky persona. You can see that there is still vulnerability there, though, as he misses his family and wants to be reunited with them again, but isn’t sure when or if it will happen, but Boun knows he can’t spend time dwelling on that and has to get on, whether that’s running his business or helping Raya. Boun is voiced by Izaac Wang, whose first film role was in Good Boys (2019), a comedy produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, so you can imagine what kind of film that is! It’s on my list to watch soon.

Tong, the Spine warrior, is very isolated in Spine, being the last survivor to have escaped the Druun. He looks ruthless, but he is a gentle giant really. It’s clear he has no intention of harming Raya and Sisu when they are caught in one of his traps and would rather just talk to them! He also bonds with Little Noi, probably because, as we learn at the end of the movie, he seems to have a child about the same age as Noi, who was petrified along with the rest of his family. Little Noi is very cute and funny, but we can’t forget that she is first and foremost a con baby! She comes in handy for Raya along with her ongis friends, who are also very cute. They make a strange little con group, but it works for them, and much like Boun, they had to become self-sufficient after the Druun claimed their family, so you can’t blame them. Tong is voiced by actor Benedict Wong, who now plays the role of Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who first appeared in Doctor Strange (2016). Noi is voiced by Thalia Tran, who is due to play Mai in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender for Netflix.

Another actor with a part in Raya and the Last Dragon as well as Avatar: The Last Airbender is Daniel Dae Kim, who voices Chief Benja. Chief Benja is the Chief of Heart and Raya’s father. He wants peace and raises Raya to believe that Kumandra can be united once more. Benja is supportive of his daughter, setting her on the right path of ultimately stopping the fighting and tension between the other four lands. Chief Benja unfortunately is petrified for most of the movie, but it is clear the strong bond him and Raya have. Daniel Dae Kim starred as Jin-Soo Kwon in the TV series Lost (2004-10), as well as Chin Ho Kelly in Hawaii Five-O (2010-17). I know him for playing Jack Kang, leader of Candor, in Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016), the second and third movies of The Divergent Series. I’m still bitter that the final movie was never released, and the series was unfinished…

PRODUCTION

Kumandra consists of five different areas: Heart, Tail, Talon, Spine, and Fang. As Chief Benja states, they are all named after body parts, based on where each land is located along the dragon-shaped river. Chief Benja uses this as evidence to prove that the lands should be reunited once more. Each area has a different landscape. Heart is a lush, green landscape, with a jungle setting; Tail is mostly desert; Talon is based on floating markets of areas like the Philippines; Spine is situated in a cold bamboo forest; and Fang is based within a temple on a series of canals.

Kumandra is a unique, amazing world with the movie only exploring a fraction of the area. The idea of Kumandra is rooted in Asian legends, much like stories such as Game of Thrones are based in Arthurian legend. The team joked that there are perhaps more scenes of characters eating than fighting as this is a big part of South Asian culture which they wanted to include in the movie[5].

To get the feel of Southeast Asia correct, and to be respectful to the eleven countries that make up this region, Disney collaborated with many experts, who had on-going conversations with each other throughout production on the movie, with the organisation being named the “Southeast Asia Story Trust”. It consisted of linguists, choreographers, musicians, architects, martial artists, and cultural experts. This was to ensure that aspects of Southeast Asian culture were represented accurately within the movie. The team at Disney also went on a research trip to Southeast Asia, before the pandemic hit, to see things in person, where they learnt about history, architecture, art, story and traditions, whilst meeting people in person and getting their perspectives and views, and insight into the culture. Sisu, for example, was inspired by Nagas, which are water creatures that honour the elements[6].

The use of martial arts is quite frequent in Raya and the Last Dragon, with different types of martial arts being represented. For example, Benja and Raya’s fighting is based on Pencak silat, an Indonesian martial art, along with the use of Arnis weaponry from the Philippines. Their fighting skills are more balletic with low stances, whereas Namaari’s fighting is based in Muay Thai, also known as Thai boxing, with strong and powerful punches and kicks. She also has two Krabi-Krabong swords, which are used in Thailand as well. Chief Benja has a spiritual blade, with its ability to expand being added as a fantasy element. This sword is passed from generation to generation, being similar to Excalibur in Arthurian legend[7]. Raya then receives this sword from her father, however, in early concepts for the movie, Raya was going to have made a sword herself, made specifically to defeat the Druun, which were going to be physical skeletal-like beings, not the dark energy that they became. Her sword would’ve been legendary across Kumandra, dubbed “the dragon blade”[8].

In terms of software used to animate Raya and the Last Dragon, the team had a bit of help from some previously in-house designed software such as the renderer Hyperion, developed for large-scale scenes in Big Hero 6 (2014), as well as the fur simulation tools used in Zootopia (2016), and the water tools in Moana (2016). These helped showcase the world of Kumandra, and develop the diverse landscapes and characters[9].

The initial idea for the movie came from discussions that some of the team had around what the world their children are growing up in looks like now, as divisions between political and social ideas have become more prominent, with “black and white thinking” taking place over a more inclusive discourse. They wanted to have the concept of a world that was shattered and fractured and have it be brought back together.  Disney were excited to look at a completely new location for their movie, Southeast Asia, which had not been the focus of a Disney movie before. Some of the team grew up in America with Asian heritage, and did not see any representation of themselves on screen; they didn’t want this to be the case for their kids.

The majority of production on Raya and the Last Dragon, almost 100% of it, took place during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Disney had spent time developing the original story in-house beforehand; they had written the script and gone over the storyboarding, but then all of a sudden, everyone working at the Disney Studios offices were told to go home. No-one was sure how this would work, as the collaborative atmosphere of film-making is much more suited to an office atmosphere than the working-from-home setup. The employees received an email one day saying that they needed to take everything they required to work remotely as it would be their last day in the office for a while. Nobody thought it would be longer than about three weeks; they were wrong. The lockdown in California, where the Disney Studios are based, officially lasted from March 2020 until June 2021, with California being one of the last US states to “open up” again.

The first challenge for the Disney workers was for their systems to deal with having more people logged on at the same time, so the bandwidth had to be increased in some cases. The team had to make new workstations for themselves, ensuring they could access all the systems they needed, and trying to get their Wi-Fi to work properly! Video conferencing was another difficulty due to potential freezes and audio-synchronisation issues; it is vital that every frame is viewed within a movie as one second of footage that is not exact can ruin the whole thing. Within a week though, the team were up and running.

Collaboration is key in Disney Animation so working remotely was a concern for creativity and morale. Sometimes new and exciting ideas would happen randomly, in passing in the office, not at set meetings, which became the norm during the pandemic. Now, people were in meetings with around 90-100 people, sitting in front of their computers all day, on Zoom for hours on end, and not seeing anyone from work face-to-face. They soon realised that this was going to be exhausting and make the work harder and less enjoyable, so things like “virtual happy hours” were implemented to keep that sense of community. They also recreated their usual in-office celebrations for milestones and team efforts online instead, as well as having other fun activities. As anyone who has worked remotely will know, you can encounter terrible Internet connection; weird noises from outside spoiling your Zoom calls; as well as random appearances of family members or pets! Luckily, the team were not bothered by this and enjoyed the strange distractions, recounting them as memories of the production process.

The creative team were not the only ones to have to work remotely; the voice actors had to do the same thing, by setting up their own at-home recording studio to record their lines. Disney sent them some equipment along with tips on sound-proofing their rooms. Some of them ended up in closets, and Awkwafina received a sound tent which took up the majority of her living room. Her cat would wander in occasionally during recording sessions!

The pandemic brought the Disney team together, as they rallied quickly and figured out a way to make this movie at home with the same motivation and creativity that they would normally have felt in the office. They wanted to make a great movie, but also help everyone else through this difficult time. The team couldn’t help noticing the similar themes between the pandemic and the messages of Raya and the Last Dragon. The movie is all about trusting others and working together for the greater good, with the Druun being the dark virus that sweeps the land quickly and unapologetically. This was quite reminiscent of the spirit of the scary times of lockdowns where no-one was really sure what was going to happen next, but had to build themselves and others up to deal with it. Though the team working on Raya and the Last Dragon overcame the obstacles of working remotely for an extended period of time to make the movie, they all admitted that they missed working in the office and were desperate to get back there to connect with everyone again[10].

MUSIC

The score for Raya and the Last Dragon was composed by James Newton Howard, who had not composed a score for an animated film since 2002 with Disney’s Treasure Planet; he also scored Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Dinosaur (2000) for Disney Animation. The longest piece of music within Raya and the Last Dragon is the five-minute opening prologue, which incorporates South Asian instruments as well as chanting, setting the adventurous tone of the movie. The whole score is generally inspired by the region of South Asia, without being specifically based in any one country. My favourite pieces are “Prologue”; “Running on Raindrops”, where Sisu is running on the rain; “The Druun Close In”, which is the scene of Raya and the others surrendering their gem pieces to Namaari to defeat the Druun – it’s a powerful scene, and my favourite, but the instrumental is understated and doesn’t take away from the action; and “Return”, which is the sequence where the group return to their respective lands to reunite with family. I like the score for Raya and the Last Dragon, much like I do the other three scores that James Newton Howard composed for Disney. James Newton Howard’s score was nominated for six awards, winning four, including “Theatrical Film” at the 2021 BMI Film & TV Awards, along with “Film Composer of the Year” and “Best Original Score for an Animated Film” at the 2022 International Film Music Critics Association Awards.

The only song in the movie is called “Lead the Way”, written and performed by singer Jhené Aiko. It is played within the End Credits. I like this song as it is a calm pop song, not loud and in-your-face, to match the overall tone of the movie, so that the message and powerful ending can stick with you after the movie is over; it doesn’t distract.

RECEPTION

As previously mentioned, Raya and the Last Dragon was released in some theatres in March 2021 along with the short Us Again, which features an elderly couple learning to dance and love life again after a rainstorm turns them back to their younger selves. Us Again was the first Disney short to be produced since Inner Workings in 2016, and was directed by Zach Parrish who had previously worked on Big Hero 6 (2014).

Many critical reviews of Raya and the Last Dragon were positive, praising the thought-provoking story and brilliantly detailed animation. They were also impressed with the strong characters and the voice work, but did admit that it would likely receive less attention as it was not released in theatres everywhere[11]. Others liked the movie, but could not help mentioning that the voice cast consists of more East Asians than Southeast Asians, which was disappointing to some as it was seen to have ignored the whole region that influenced Raya and the Last Dragon. It was also criticised for using an approach that blended the different cultures of Southeast Asia instead of focusing on specific ones. I understand why this would be disappointing, and where I cannot comment on the voice cast, apart from to say that Disney like to use well-known names for many of their movies to increase their marketing potential, I can say that the likely reason that Disney decided to use influences from many Southeast Asian countries, instead of basing it on one specific area, was to avoid criticisms around why they would have chosen that country and not others, as well as wanting to be more inclusive in their choices whilst not being constrained to a specific area. They probably thought it would be a better approach, which appears to have backfired, but as Disney push for diversity, they open themselves up to criticism and scrutiny. A similar critique came about from the release of Moana (2016)[12]. As so many people of Southeast Asian origin were involved in the making of Raya and the Last Dragon, it is clear that no offence was meant and every effort would have been taken to avoid this reaction.

Yet, Raya will always be Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess, being officially inducted into the Disney Princess clan in August 2022 and named as the 13^th Disney Princess. Kelly Marie Tran became the first Southeast Asian actor to lead an animated Disney feature. The movie was co-written by Vietnamese-American screenwriter Qui Nguyen and Malaysian screenwriter Adele Lim, who co-wrote Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Thai-American Fawn Veerasunthorn was Head of Story on the movie. Adele Lim did state that Raya and the Last Dragon cannot fix everything around representation on screen, but can make a step forward and it can begin to make amends for the historic damage[13].

Unfortunately, though Raya and the Last Dragon was nominated in the “Best Animated Film” category at many award ceremonies including the Academy Awards, Annie Awards, and Golden Globes in 2022, it did not win, losing out to Disney’s other movie of that year, Encanto (2021), for the most part. What can I say, Encanto was just one of those smash hits, almost rivalling the whole Frozen phenomenon! Raya and the Last Dragon did, however, win awards for the soundtrack, as mentioned, as well as for “Sound Editing” at the Golden Reel Awards and “Outstanding Effects Simulations” at the Visual Effects Society Awards.

LEGACY

When Raya and the Last Dragon was first released, Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida did promote the movie in the park in March 2021. A sand sculpture of the movie’s title and some of the characters was built outside of the Flame Tree BBQ restaurant and some limited time snacks were available: a chocolate mousse that resembled Tuk Tuk; a blue ice cream cone in honour of Sisu; and an ice cream sundae with an edible image of Tuk Tuk. Baby Tuk Tuk, who is so adorable, was also featured as part of the Animation Experience at Rafiki’s Planet Watch, where you can learn to draw certain Disney characters[14]. It would seem Baby Tuk Tuk is not still included in the rotation.

In November 2022, Raya herself did make her debut at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom atop the float in the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade[15]. Raya replaced Moana on top of the float, but presently, Moana has reverted back to her place. Raya still features at the front, with Mulan to her left, and Nick and Judy from Zootopia (2016) on the back.

Raya is not yet featured as a meet-and-greet character at Walt Disney World Resort; however, she has been found at both Shanghai Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. Raya began meeting guests at Shanghai from September 2021, and at Disney’s California Adventure in January 2022 as part of their Lunar New Year celebrations. It seems that Raya no longer appears at Disney’s California Adventure and that this was for a limited engagement but hopefully she receives a permanent position at the US Disney Parks sometime soon. It is unclear if Raya can still be seen at Shanghai Disneyland. Still, merchandise relating to Raya and the Last Dragon can be found at shopping locations within the Disney Parks.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It is particularly unlucky that Raya and the Last Dragon was released during the pandemic, with countries releasing the movie on different platforms, which would not have helped its box-office positioning and current reputation. By the time Encanto was released towards the end of 2021, the world was starting to come out of lockdowns, but with Raya and the Last Dragon, some countries, including the UK, were still in lockdown, with cinemas not open, so we had no choice but to watch it on Disney+, or let it be forgotten.

Raya and the Last Dragon has strong characters, a powerful message, and an adventure at the heart of it. I’m hoping in a small way to draw some more attention to Raya and the Last Dragon with this piece, and that I can encourage more people to watch it, because it is a great movie worthy of praise.

And if you don’t believe me, well, as Raya learnt to trust others, you’re just going to have to trust me.

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REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Nicole Clark, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon: Creating Disney’s First Southeast Asian-Centered Movie’, IGN.com, 4^th February 2021.

[2] Credit: Disney, “Taste of Raya”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[3] Credit: Petrana Radulovic, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’s creators struggled to find past films about female friendship’, Polygon.com, 17^th May 2021.

[4] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes – Meet Boun”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[5] Credit: Disney, “Taste of Raya”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[6] Credit: Disney, “Creating Kumandra”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[7] Credit: Disney, “Martial Artists”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[8] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[9] Credit: Disney, ‘Making History While Making ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’, The Walt Disney Company (online), 5^th March 2021.

[10] Credit: Disney, “Raya: Bringing It Home”, from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

[11] Credit: Brian Tallerico, ‘Review: Raya and the Last Dragon’, RogerEbert.com, 5^th March 2021.

[12] Credit: Aja Romano, ‘Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon is a sumptuous fantasy – but it makes a mess of Southeast Asian culture’, Vox.com, 5^th March 2021.

[13] Credit: Kat Moon, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon Introduces Disney’s First Southeast Asian Princess. Advocates Say Hollywood Representation Shouldn’t Stop There’, Time (online), 5^th March 2021.

[14] Credit: Seth Kubersky, ‘New Animal Kingdom Experiences Celebrate Raya and the Last Dragon’, The Unofficial Guide (online), 22^nd March 2021.

[15] Credit: Justin Giglio, ‘Raya from ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ Makes Walt Disney World Debut in the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade’, WDWNT.com, 14^th November 2022.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Disney had only made two other theatrically-released animated sequels before Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018: Fantasia 2000 (1999) and The Rescuers Down Under (1990).

Sequels aren’t something Disney tend to consider, at least not ones that aren’t released direct-to-video as many were in the 1990s and early 2000s. Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, the directors of Ralph Breaks the Internet weren’t even going to make a sequel, after Wreck-It Ralph (2012). Not unless they could find a good enough reason, and a good enough story, to do it.

After some consideration, Moore and Johnston decided that Ralph and Vanellope’s friendship was not finished being explored, especially as Ralph’s final words in Wreck-It Ralph (2012) show that he only doesn’t consider himself to be a bad guy because Vanellope calls him a friend[1]. This paved the way for an opportunity to bring conflict into this relationship, and for each of the two to learn just how friendships can, and do, change.

I watched Ralph Breaks the Internet at the cinema, and was much more interested in watching it than when I first saw Wreck-It Ralph, probably because I already knew the characters and it is based in the Internet, something that the majority of people know plenty about. I thought the whole movie was clever, much like the first movie, because it looked behind-the-scenes of the online world, and came up with concepts for how the people inside the Internet, like Vanellope and Ralph, would see a typical real-world user, and what the users would be seeing.

Though I like the overall concept and feel that this movie delves deeper into emotions and relationships, I do not like it as much as the original Wreck-It Ralph movie. It’s possibly because I have a love-hate relationship with the online world. It doesn’t boil down to much, other than I don’t care for social media, and I don’t want to stare at my phone all day.

PLOT

Ralph Breaks the Internet picks up six years after the events of the first movie. Vanellope and Ralph are still best friends, but Vanellope has become bored with her life and Sugar Rush. One day, a new “game” called “WIFI”, gets plugged in. Surge, the Security Guard, warns all the arcade characters not to enter with Sonic the Hedgehog explaining the basics of Wi-Fi to the others. Vanellope wants to go in, but Ralph doesn’t, and as he knows Vanellope is feeling bored, he decides to build her a new section of track in Sugar Rush. Whilst Vanellope is about to finish a race for an arcade-goer, she spots this new track and goes over to do it, much to the confusion of the real-world player, who tries to move the game’s steering wheel, but it comes off in the process and Vanellope crashes. The arcade-goers tell Litwak about the wheel, but as Litwak tries to force it back onto the console, it breaks in half. The kids find a new steering wheel on eBay – but it’s $200; Litwak can’t afford that. He unplugs the game, but luckily the characters have been watching from the screen, so manage to evacuate to Game Central Station, but they are now all game less.

Many of the Sugar Rush characters find new homes, including all fifteen racers who are adopted by Calhoun and Felix in a surprising move! Ralph is excited to get to spend more time with Vanellope, but Vanellope becomes depressed at not having a purpose without her game. Ralph expects to meet her at Tapper’s later, but she doesn’t come. Felix does though, stressed at having suddenly become a father of fifteen in the last few minutes! He makes a strange noise like “eee-oh boy”, which reminds Ralph of “eboy”, that site the kids were talking about that has the spare part for Sugar Rush. He thinks that if they can get the wheel, then Sugar Rush will be fixed and Vanellope won’t be sad anymore. They both head in to “WIFI”, like they would any other arcade game, but find a boring grey space and nothing else. When Litwak logs on to his Wi-Fi, suddenly the space illuminates in green and a mini Mr. Litwak, his avatar, appears and he goes into a tunnel. Vanellope excitedly follows, and Ralph reluctantly chases after her. They see a huge metropolis, full of skyscrapers, futuristic vehicles, and shiny surfaces.

Not knowing where to go in this Internet world, they meet KnowsMore first, the search engine, who finds their Sugar Rush steering wheel, sending them off to eBay. There, they find many users bidding on items. Vanellope and Ralph figure that all they need to do is come up with a number higher than the other person competing for the part. Instead of jumping up by normal auction amounts like in jumps of $10-$25, the duo just shouts random numbers, so the price rockets from $250 to $1000 to $27,001 – the amount Vanellope and Ralph win it for. But as they head to the cashier, they don’t realise that they need to pay with actual money, which they obviously don’t have. The cashier says they have 24 hours to settle the amount, or they will lose the steering wheel. Vanellope and Ralph encounter a pop-up, called J. P. Spamley, who sends them to his office to learn how to make money from video games. He gives them an assignment to get Shank’s car from the game Slaughter Race. If they can get it, they’ll be paid $40,000 – plenty to cover the cost of the Sugar Rush part. The two head in to Slaughter Race, to find a dirty, rundown city setting. They eventually find Shank’s car in a warehouse. Ralph wants to turn back and forget this whole assignment, after seeing Shank and her crew, but Vanellope comes up with a plan: she will steal the car and Ralph will distract them, pretending to be from the Department of Noise. It works, and Vanellope drives the car off, picking up Ralph on the way out of the game. They come close but Vanellope gets distracted and has to stop to avoid crashing into a bus; the crew surround her and the two are stopped. But though Shank won’t give them her car just to get this part, she is impressed with Vanellope as a racer and comes up with a new idea. She takes a video of Ralph having a leaf-blower shoved in his face and puts it on BuzzzTube, before sending them to meet Yesss, the Head Algorithm who will help them make some money.

With only eight hours to pay eBay for the wheel, Ralph and Vanellope quickly head over to BuzzzTube, where Yesss tells them both that if they can put up enough videos and get enough hearts, those will be converted into real-life money. Ralph starts making videos of just about every trend that we all see on YouTube: make-up tutorials, unboxings, the chilli challenge, screaming goats, that sort of thing. Yesss sends out a whole pop-up army to help the two get enough hearts, with Vanellope wanting to help. Though Ralph doesn’t want to be apart from her, she goes to Oh My Disney to be a pop-up. She does well, but is soon chased away by Storm Troopers for being “unauthorised clickbait”. She takes refuge in a room, and finds she is surrounded by all the Disney Princesses, who don’t like this intruder, until Vanellope assures them she is a princess too, though she doesn’t quite fit into their criteria as she hasn’t been poisoned, imprisoned, enslaved or cursed. The Princesses, after making lounge wear like Vanellope is wearing so they can get out of those restrictive, tight dresses, tell Vanellope that if she wants to figure out her dream, she needs to find “important water” and she’ll start singing, as Vanellope has realised she doesn’t just want this steering wheel.

With thirty minutes left to pay, Ralph can’t get his final video to upload, so goes out on to the BuzzzTube floor to get some more hearts from the users stood there. He succeeds, but also looks at the Comments Section, which has a mixture of positive and negative comments about him. Ralph is visibly upset, but carries on, and though he now has enough hearts, he knows the only important heart is the hero’s medal Vanellope gave him in the first movie. Yesss tells him never to read the comments but also that they now have over $30,000 so Ralph gets over to eBay to pay for the item, calling Vanellope to meet him. Vanellope is sad about going home, and while staring into a puddle, she starts to sing about her love for Slaughter Race, and how she wants to stay there as it feels like home. Vanellope explains how she feels to Shank, but accidentally dials Ralph, who overhears that Vanellope plans to stay in Slaughter Race.

Ralph is upset and sees Spamley again. He asks him if there is anything he can do to cause Slaughter Race to slow down, so Vanellope won’t find it fun anymore. Spamley takes Ralph to Double Dan, within the “dark web”. He gives Ralph a virus, which will find any insecurities in Slaughter Race and multiply them; Dan also tells Ralph that the virus must stay within that game. Ralph sets the virus lose, with the virus multiplying Vanellope’s “glitch” across the game. Shank tells her to get out as the game is about to reboot and as she is not part of the game, she will be deleted. Ralph helps get her out, and Vanellope is upset to have damaged her game, thinking it’s all her fault. Ralph tells her that he is to blame for putting the virus in. Vanellope is furious, feeling betrayed by Ralph, saying she never wants to see him again. She throws his medal down to the bottom of the web. At the same time, the virus has escaped the Slaughter Race game and witnessed this spectacle. The virus multiplies Ralph’s emotional insecurities, making a whole army of needy Ralphs who chase after Vanellope as Ralph is retrieving his medal; the medal has broken in half.

Vanellope sees one of the needy Ralphs and tells him to go away, as she thinks it’s real Ralph. Soon, many Ralphs chase after her, with real Ralph coming to save her. Yesss also comes to the rescue, telling them they need to lead the clones to the Anti-Virus gates to be deleted. This seems to go well, until the Ralphs hit Yesss’s cruiser and it crashes. The Ralphs then create a big Godzilla-King Kong-like monster. Real Ralph tries to stop it by punching it, but it doesn’t work and he is caught. As Real Ralph is about to be crushed to death, Vanellope surrenders herself to the monster, so that it will release Ralph, promising to stay with it for ever. Ralph is horrified, and tells the Ralph monster that it can’t treat its friends like this and that it needs to let Vanellope go for her to be happy; something Ralph is also learning for himself. The Ralph clones are healed and are deleted. As Ralph was still in its hand though, he falls down, looking like he will hit the bottom and die. Until the Disney Princesses swoop in to save “a big, strong man in need of rescuing”! Ralph is safe, and urges Vanellope to start her new life in Slaughter Race, where Shank has now added her to the game’s code. The two have a tearful goodbye, but they both know it’s for the best.

The movie ends with Ralph now having a healthier life with more purpose, like joining a book club, and having a Friday night meet-up at a different arcade game every week. Sugar Rush has also been saved, with those characters having homes again, although it turns out Felix and Calhoun have been very good parents and managed to sort out the Sugar Rush racers’ ego problems, so they are much nicer! Ralph and Vanellope still call each other often, with Vanellope coming to visit Ralph soon during a scheduled upgrade at her game. The two are both moving forward in their lives, but have remained good friends.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Ralph ends Wreck-It Ralph by saying that he is happy being who he is because Vanellope is his friend so he can’t be such a bad guy. That sounds like a nice idea; however, the directors went back to that ending and found that actually Ralph shouldn’t be basing his self-worth on how his friend sees him. This has led to an unhealthy friendship where Ralph has become quite clingy, needing constant reassurance from Vanellope that he is good enough and that they are still friends. Ralph becomes jealous of Vanellope’s friendship with Shank and annoyed that she would even think about leaving him. The team at Disney didn’t want to put a surprise villain into this movie, so they made Ralph the actual villain this time, as well as being the protagonist. The army of clones weren’t a big enough metaphor of danger, so looking at fire ants, they came up with the idea of the clones bunching up together to form a bigger entity, which is how ‘Ralphzilla’ was made. It was Ralph’s insecure emotions being personified as a monster. This idea came in quite late into production so it was a big hurdle for the animators to overcome to get the monster looking just right, but they managed to do it successfully, and made a monster that was both scary for his huge presence, and pathetic for his emotional response! It is great that Ralph finally sees the error of his ways, and tells ‘Ralphzilla’ that he has to stop threatening Vanellope and making her choose between him and what she wants in life; he has to let her go and know that their friendship will survive. It’s a touching moment.

Vanellope starts off the movie wanting to find some adventure in her life as she has become bored with her life in Sugar Rush, having found every bonus level and won every race; she wants something new. Vanellope is excited by this inclusion of “WIFI” to the arcade. Once her game is unplugged, despite being bored, she doesn’t know what she’ll be if she’s not a racer. Once Vanellope enters the Internet and sees all these new possibilities, she realises that she isn’t happy in the arcade, but knows she’d be happy racing in a game like Slaughter Race. Vanellope is scared to hurt Ralph so doesn’t tell him about it, kind of resigning herself to going back to her game initially and then trying to keep her love of Slaughter Race a secret until she can figure out how to tell him. It doesn’t go well, and Ralph feels hurt by her. Once Vanellope sees Slaughter Race glitching from the virus, she feels like she broke the game, but when Ralph tells her he did it out of fear of losing her, she is furious. Despite this, as Ralph is about to be squeezed to death by his own clones, Vanellope sacrifices herself and her happiness to save him, which tells Ralph all he needs to that he has to let her go and by happy, even if that’s not with him. The goodbye the two share is very touching and incredibly relatable as life is full of multiple “hellos” and “goodbyes”. Vanellope and Ralph try extra hard to keep their friendship going, even though it is more difficult long-distance, but they settle into a routine, making sure they find time for each other, to either chat or visit. It’s shows how much the characters grow within this movie. Sarah Silverman and John C. Reilly both return to reprise their voice roles.

Shank is the fearless female lead racer of Slaughter Race. She is cool, strong, and tough. Shank was originally going to be a background gangster, but then it was decided that she should be a role model to Vanellope and therefore becomes a threat to Vanellope and Ralph’s friendship. Shank is a solid and wise character, with a soft side and warmth to her. She tells Vanellope, quite rightly, that she is welcome to race in Slaughter Race with her and her gang, and that there is no reason why her and Ralph can’t still be friends if she chooses to join them. Shank also has her crew of four other members, who aren’t just a thug-like gang, but actually have discussions about whether or not they should be letting players win, and appreciating how much hard-work some of them put into that game. Despite Slaughter Race looking like a horrible place full of crime, the characters with in it are actually surprisingly nice! Shank is voiced by Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who shot to international fame with her role as Gisele Yashar in the Fast and Furious franchise. She currently portrays Wonder Woman within the DC Universe film franchise.

There is a distinction within Ralph Breaks the Internet of the two main types of characters: Netizens, which include Ralph and Vanellope, and Net Users. Net Users are basically the avatars of the real-world Internet users. They stand in for humans, but are not treated as such, which is good because Ralph throws stuff on top of some of the net users, or throws them off their routes. Luckily, they don’t die; it’s just how people get disconnected from the Internet! The Netizens are the workers who help the Net Users, such as the cashiers, or the pop-up people. As the Net Users aren’t part of the story and cannot interact with the Netizens as they would with humans, Ralph and Vanellope can only interact with Netizens, of which there are plenty.

For example, we have J.P. Spamley. He is a Netizen working in “clickbait”. He is the one to direct Vanellope and Ralph to the site where they can earn money by finding video game items for real-world users. He is also the one to lead Ralph into the “dark net” to speak to Double Dan about putting a virus into Slaughter Race. Spamley doesn’t appear too much in Ralph Breaks the Internet, but he seems to me like a Netizen who isn’t sure he’s chosen the right path in life! He is ignored regularly, and is scared of the “dark net”, despite working in that area most of the time! Spamley and his assistant, Gord, do try to save Ralph at the end of the movie, which shows he is a nice guy really, even though Ralph falls straight through Spamley’s car due to his weight! Spamley is voiced by American comedic actor Bill Hader, best known for voicing Fear in Inside Out (2015), starring in Saturday Night Live (2005-13), as well as writing and performing as the title character in hit TV series Barry (2018-present). Hader’s voice role is uncredited.

KnowsMore is another Netizen who doesn’t feature too much in the movie, though he makes an impact. KnowsMore was originally going to be a broken search engine, getting every fourth answer wrong, but in the end, he is a search engine with an aggressive autofill! He warms to Vanellope who is polite to him, but is annoyed at Ralph for his brusque attitude, not understanding how to properly complete a search. Disney designed KnowsMore to look quite cartoony and not overally complex, though his eyes are actually hand-drawn, therefore being a combination of 2D and 3D animation. Alan Tudyk, the voice of King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph, was asked to return to voice a character in Ralph Breaks the Internet, and they felt he’d be perfect for KnowsMore. He needed very little direction and came up with the voice himself.

Yesss is the Head Algorithm of BuzzzTube. She is glamourous, fabulous and big deal on the Internet! She is incredibly helpful to Ralph and Vanellope, by helping them get hearts, even sending out a whole pop-up army to help them. She puts a lot of effort into these two, wanting Ralph to boost his online profile but be able to complete their mission of getting the steering wheel for Sugar Rush so they can go home. Yesss is also instrumental in helping them try to delete the Ralph clones at the Anti-Virus software hub, though this doesn’t end up going to plan. Yesss had many iterations before the version we see today, with them wanting a bold, larger-than-life Kanye West-type of character, before settling on more of an agent vibe. Yesss is voiced by Taraji P. Henson who had a lead role in Empire (2015-20) as Cookie Lyon, as well as starring as Katherine Johnson in the biopic Hidden Figures (2016).

As I’ve mentioned, eBay was created to look like an auction house, with each item having its own auctioneer. Real auctioneers were used to voice these characters, such as Brian Curless, who had won the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in 2017[2].

Unfortunately, two characters from the original movie who do not get enough time on screen in this movie are Felix and Calhoun. They have been married for six years at this point and then decide to adopt the fifteen Sugar Rush racers. Other than that, the two feature at the end of the movie, showing how they’ve become such good parents to the racers that they are no longer egotistical and narcissistic, but kind and caring towards each other whether they win or lose. Felix and Calhoun are explaining the secret to parenting to Surge, the security officer at Game Central Station, but cleverly timed cars racing by mean that we will never know what that is! It is a shame because I love those two characters. They were going to feature in a scene that had to be cut to keep the pace of the main storyline between Vanellope and Ralph. It would’ve been a scene checking in on how Felix and Calhoun were doing, while Ralph and Vanellope were in BuzzzTube. It featured a dinner with the whole family, including the fifteen “kids”. One of them wouldn’t want to eat their vegetables, another didn’t want to drink their milk, and it would essentially have ended in a food fight! Felix and Calhoun would go to their room to get away from them, stating that parenting is awful and hoping that Ralph would get back soon with that steering wheel so the racers could go home[3]! Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer reprise their voice roles.

For the most popular scene in the whole movie, the Disney Princess one, Pamela Ribon, who had previously worked on Moana (2016) had an idea to have the Disney Princesses be in some sort of sorority, and then have this movie make fun of their Disney past. Ribon never believed that Disney executives would sign-off on this sort of scene, so she wrote whatever she wanted to at first. Ribon had wanted this scene to properly induct Vanellope into the Disney Princess sisterhood, as she is a princess that many people can relate to: she isn’t perfect and girly, like most of the others. Ribon was very surprised to find that the directors were happy with this, as they felt that Disney were best placed to do this kind of satire and mockery of their own movies, and as you can go anywhere on the Internet, then why not have Vanellope head to Oh My Disney? This scene ended up being a huge success so I hope Ribon is proud of it. The majority of the original voice actors of the Disney Princesses came back to reprise their roles and were very happy to do so[4]. The funniest voice, though, is probably Kelly MacDonald voicing Merida from Brave (2012) as she speaks with such a strong Scottish accent that nobody can understand her, not even the Disney Princesses who blame it on the fact she is from “the other studio”, i.e., Pixar. It was a clever move. The original voice actors of Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White had to be replaced as Ilene Woods and Adriana Caselotti, the voices of Cinderella and Snow White, had passed away in 2010 and 1997 respectively. Mary Costa, voice of Aurora, has retired. Any 2D animated princesses had to be digitally updated to fit in with the new CG animation style being used by Disney today. This was not always easy to achieve. At the 2017 D23 Expo, where a first-look was shown, there were comments stating that Tiana’s skin looked lighter, so Disney went back and amended it. It was not an exact science as CG models of 2D characters will naturally look different[5].

PRODUCTION

This movie would not have been able to have been made even in 2012, the time of Wreck-It Ralph’s release as the landscapes are so detailed and huge that it needed a new type of technology. Thankfully, for the production of Big Hero 6 (2014), the in-house rendering software, Hyperion, was developed, allowing huge, detailed cityscapes to be created. Hyperion helped Ralph Breaks the Internet to create environments that looked real and vibrant, and allowed for big shots with lots of characters.

There was never a plan to make a sequel to Wreck-It Ralph as Rich Moore, the director of both movies, felt that Ralph and Vanellope’s story had been wrapped up nicely in the finale of the first movie, so Moore had moved on to other Disney productions. During work on Zootopia (2016), Rich Moore, who directed the film, worked alongside screenwriter Phil Johnston and they decided that after making a movie like Zootopia, which delves into themes around societal prejudice, that maybe they could use a sequel to Wreck-It Ralph to explore Ralph and Vanellope’s friendship in a new setting, with new characters that potentially could create conflict between the two. They also felt that actually, as Ralph states in the ending to Wreck-It Ralph that he only sees himself as a good guy because Vanellope likes him, then that’s not a healthy relationship to have with yourself or with someone else, so they wanted to resolve that. Phil Johnston joined as both co-director and screenwriter[6].

The setting for the sequel to Wreck-It Ralph was never disputed – it was always going to take place in the Internet so instead of being sent on an exotic research trip to somewhere like Norway or the South Pacific Islands as the teams at Disney did for Frozen (2013) and Moana (2016), instead the team on Ralph Breaks the Internet got to open up different technology to have a look at the circuitry and go to One Wilshire Boulevard data centre, which houses the internet connections for the West Coast. It may not have been somewhere particularly exciting but it was still inspiring. An initial concept for their Internet setting was for it to be floating on clouds, referring to the metaphor of everything being “on the cloud”, but this wasn’t deemed the best move forward to show the audience what the Internet might actually look like.

When looking closer at the inner workings of tech items, the animators found that it looked a lot like a city, so that is the concept they went with. Their initial visual test was actually very similar to the final movie. When talking to technology pioneers, they also came up with the idea of new ideas just being stacked on top of the old, so having to go vertical, with all the skyscraper-type buildings. This is because nothing from the past actually goes away; it may be unsupported or not function correctly, but it’s still there. This concept is used when Ralph is trying to find the hero’s medal necklace that Vanellope threw away, as it lands in this old, dusty, unloved area right at the bottom of the Internet, with things like GeoCities and Dial-Up. Real websites were used to ground the world, and were able to be used as it was deemed to be within “fair use” of copyright law, and make it relatable to the audience, with new creations added in to add in that “Disney touch”. This is exactly what they did with the Arcade world in the original movie, by having new characters and references to older video games with those original characters[7].

Some original scenes and concepts were cut from Ralph Breaks the Internet. An early version of the scene of entering the router to see what “WIFI” is would’ve seen most of the arcade characters go into it, with Q*bert accidentally entering the Internet, and returning traumatised. The arcade characters decide it’s too dangerous and leave. Another would’ve seen Ralph with his own BuzzzTube page, where he had gone to Double Dan to get a stamp to duplicate hearts, and inflate his online popularity. Ralph would be sad without Vanellope, who had been annoyed with his new “prima donna” attitude, and use the stamp on himself to create a clone to be his friend. The clone would be left alone with the stamp, and duplicate himself numerous times, leading into the ending with all the Ralph clones. Another scene that was a favourite of the directors that was cut would’ve seen Shank recruiting real-world players to defeat the Ralph clones, with Shank accidentally recruiting one of the Slaughter Race players’ grandmothers. The grandma would be looking forward to kicking some butt and be all up for it! It was almost a fully finished scene before being cut[8].

For the new site of Slaughter Race, it was designed to look both amazing and dangerous. It’s set in a dusty, rundown city, with sort of dystopian elements to it, such as the brown-orange colour of the majority of the area, and the sense that the air quality there is not great, partly from industry, crime and all that racing! The team at Disney looked at game designs of similar games, such as Grand Theft Auto. For the driving aspect, some of the animators were sent to a race track for a day to do crazy moves, such as 180-degree spins, and drifting to keep the driving accurate to both gaming and real-life. Having the animators feel what it was like to be in the car also helped with their animation, so they could put that exhilaration that Vanellope is feeling when racing Shank’s car through the city into the character.

During production on the movie, in November 2017, John Lasseter was forced to step down from his role as Chief Creative Office at both Disney and Pixar Animation over allegations of “inappropriate behaviour”. The Ralph Breaks the Internet team were unsure what would happen next, and whether or not he would return, but they had to carry on as normal. Jennifer Lee, who had been a writer on Wreck-It Ralph, and had been in the same Film Program at Columbia University as Phil Johnstone, was named the Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios in June 2018[9]. Jennifer Lee is also known for being the writer and co-director with Chris Buck of Frozen (2013) and Frozen II (2019), where Lee became the first female director of a Disney Animated film.

MUSIC

Henry Jackman returned to the Disney Studios to compose the score for Ralph Breaks the Internet. Jackman was very happy to come back to do the music for the sequel, as he was very proud of his work in the original movie, but this time he could experiment with what the Internet sounds like compared to an arcade. He ended up mixing classical orchestral sounds, along with a more modern element with synth and electronic notes to match the Internet. The orchestral sound was used for the inspiring and uplifting moments to suit the characters’ inner feelings. Some of the themes from the original movie were re-harmonised, to fit into the new realm of the Internet, which can be heard in the instrumentals “Best Friends” and “Comfort Zone”, featuring at the start and end of the movie. One of the best tracks from Henry Jackman has to be “A Big Strong Man in Need of Rescuing” as it features snippets of many of the best Disney Princess songs as they all come together to rescue Ralph, such as music from Frozen (2013), Brave (2012), and Mulan (1998).

This time round, there is an actual song sung by Vanellope called “A Place Called Slaughter Race”. She was told by the Disney Princesses that if you didn’t know what she wanted from life, then Vanellope needed to stare into some “important water” and the song would come to her. Sure enough, after staring into a random puddle, Vanellope bursts into song unexpectedly, which lovingly mocks the “I Want” songs of the Disney Princesses’ movies. Alan Menken, the famed songwriter for many of the Disney “Renaissance Era” movies, was brought in to write the music for the song, to give it that real “princess” feeling, despite the lyrics and the setting being of the morally ambiguous world of Slaughter Race! Sarah Silverman sang the song live with the orchestra, where she said it was a magical moment for her. Gal Gadot, the voice of Shank, also joins in with the singing, which was out of her comfort zone but she loved it. Phil Johnstone and Tom MacDougall wrote the lyrics to this song, as well as the pop reimagining that is performed by Julia Michaels as the second song in the End Credits, with the song renamed to “In This Place”, and some lyrics being changed. The first End Credits song comes from Imagine Dragons, who wrote the song “Zero” for the movie. It looks at Ralph’s vulnerability and how he feels like a “zero” at times. It has a very cinematic and upbeat feel to it, whilst also matching the overall message of the movie[10].

RECEPTION

Ralph Breaks the Internet was released in November 2018, six years after Wreck-It Ralph. It made almost $530 million at the box office, with a budget of $175 million. Much like the first movie, it did very well in its first weekend. In terms of critical success, both movies received similar reviews. For Ralph Breaks the Internet, the stand-out mention by many critics was how much they loved the scenes with the Disney Princesses. They found it to be both nostalgic and hilarious, as Disney took aim at their own characters. Though this is not technically new, as Disney’s Enchanted (2007) does something very similar to its fairy-tale musical movies! Other positive critiques were that it there was an impressive amount of detail and creativity put into the design of the Internet, and that it was surprisingly poignant and deep in places, comparing it to Pixar’s Inside Out (2015), for its similar view. However, on the more negative side, some reviews commented on the number of brands placed into the movie, feeling that the “product placement” would likely annoy some viewers. I think most people enjoy seeing those as it helps us to feel connected to this Internet that Ralph and Vanellope are seeing for the first time, as it is recognisable to us, so instead of the audience spending time trying to work out what’s what, and what Disney was parodying with that site, it allows the viewer to simply focus on what is going on with Ralph and Vanellope and to fully immerse ourselves in the new, original sites.

Ralph Breaks the Internet unfortunately did not win as many awards as Wreck-It Ralph, but was still nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Annie Awards and the Critics’ Choice Awards, though it lost all four awards to the underdog movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). The only award Ralph Breaks the Internet did win was the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects, but it won less awards at the Annie Awards than Wreck-It Ralph did, but I don’t think that it has anything to do with Ralph Breaks the Internet, and more to do with the fact that animation seems to have had a major revival in recent years, meaning it faced much more competition than just those from Pixar!

The teaser trailer for Ralph Breaks the Internet did a good job of interesting us in the movie, however, it also featured a very funny scene that was missing from the main trailer and the final movie, for some reason. But for those at the cinema that were willing to wait until the end of the full credits, a girl that looks very much like Moana comments on the fact there was a scene missing from the movie, featuring a game where you have to feed a kitty milkshakes and a bunny pancakes. Ralph comes into this game that the little girl is playing, and ends up over-feeding the bunny until it bursts! We don’t see this explosion but the little girl does, and she screams her little head off! If you waited until the very end of the credits, you were also told you’d be seeing a sneak peek of Frozen 2, which would be released the following November in 2019 – but then you’d be “rick-rolled” by Ralph. I loved this as I love Rick Astley’s song “Never Gonna Give You Up” and the fact that “rick-rolling” was even a thing! Both of these scenes are still shown during the End Credits of home releases and on Disney+.  A different trailer also featured a comment on the fact the movie was not named Ralph Wrecks the Internet, to match Ralph’s arcade game character name, but called Ralph Breaks the Internet; many people did comment on the movie’s name when the title was announced! It is simply that “breaking the Internet” is a real thing, unlike “wrecking the Internet”, which is what Yesss explains to Ralph and Vanellope, though I have to agree with Ralph that “wrecks the Internet” does sound much better!

LEGACY

Director Rich Moore has apparently mentioned the possibility of making a spin-off film based on the princesses should the audience want it and if they can make a good story out of it. Although, having said that, the directors had also said at the time of the release of Ralph Breaks the Internet, that there were no plans for a sequel but maybe if they thought about it for long enough, they could come up with a story[11]! Judging by that response, I’m assuming they’d rather leave the characters where they are, knowing that they did a good job continuing and ending Ralph and Vanellope’s stories here.

I’ve already mentioned places related to the Wreck-It Ralph movie specifically at the Disney Parks, but what about Ralph Breaks the Internet? Well, you used to be able to meet Vanellope at the ImageWorks area in Epcot at the exit to Journey into Imagination with Figment, at Walt Disney World Resort. She even came out of her portal to the Internet, called “The Link”, to continue the story of Ralph Breaks the Internet. Ralph met there with Vanellope for a time, but after Walt Disney World Resort reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, it was just Vanellope on her own. On 19^th August 2023, Vanellope’s meet-and-greet location was permanently closed, to make way for the much-anticipated and hugely popular meet-and-greet with Figment, which opened on 10^th September 2023. So now, there are no permanent meet-and-greet locations at any of the Disney Parks for Vanellope or Ralph, and even less chance of a specific reference to Ralph Breaks the Internet. But the two should still appear at special events, and some of the music or clips from both movies may show up in certain parades, nighttime shows, or fireworks shows.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Whether or not the audience believe this movie is a satire, or whether they buy-in to Disney’s idea of the Internet, Ralph Breaks the Internet is one of the few good sequels that Disney has made, but it can also stand alone. It is another example of Disney pushing the boundaries of their story-telling, by choosing a story outside of their regular format, which is something they are continuing to do today. Ralph Breaks the Internet is an entertaining and clever movie, full of Easter Eggs and interesting ideas. It is both comedic and thought-provoking, with highly relatable emotional moments.

Wreck-It Ralph taught us to accept ourselves as we are but, Ralph Breaks the Internet reminds us that it’s never too late to realise your dreams or change your ways. It also tells us that, like the ever-changing online world, we are also always changing, with there being opportunities to grow as people every day, if we choose to; to become the best version of ourselves and to become someone we are proud to be.  

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REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Disney, ‘A Behind-the-scenes Look at Ralph Breaks the Internet’, Disney.co.uk, date unknown.

[2] Credit: Disney, “How We Broke the Internet” “Surfing for Easter Eggs”, from Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Blu-Ray 2-Movie Collection (2018).

[3] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Blu-Ray 2-Movie Collection (2018).

[4] Credit: Michael Cavna, ‘How ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ spoofs the Disney Princess industrial complex’, The Washington Post (online), 20^th November 2018.

[5] Credit: Carolyn Giardina, ‘Making of ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’: How Disney Turned eBay and Amazon Into Cartoons’, The Hollywood Reporter (online), 13^th December 2018.

[6] Credit: John Hazelton, ‘’Ralph Breaks The Internet’ filmmakers: ‘we could not have made this six years ago’, Screen Daily (online), 27^th November 2018.

[7] Credit: Disney, “How We Broke the Internet”, from Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Blu-Ray 2-Movie Collection (2018).

[8] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Blu-Ray 2-Movie Collection (2018).

[9] Credit: Carolyn Giardina, ‘Making of ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’: How Disney Turned eBay and Amazon Into Cartoons’, The Hollywood Reporter (online), 13^th December 2018.

[10] Credit: Disney, “The Music of Ralph Breaks the Internet”, from Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), Blu-Ray 2-Movie Collection (2018).

[11] Credit: John Hazelton, ‘’Ralph Breaks The Internet’ filmmakers: ‘we could not have made this six years ago’, Screen Daily (online), 27^th November 2018.