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 13th 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.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Nicole Clark, ‘Raya and the Last Dragon: Creating Disney’s First Southeast Asian-Centered Movie’, IGN.com, 4th 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, 17th 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), 5th 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, 5th 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, 5th 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), 5th March 2021.
[14] Credit: Seth Kubersky, ‘New Animal Kingdom Experiences Celebrate Raya and the Last Dragon’, The Unofficial Guide (online), 22nd 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, 14th November 2022.
The Disney Purist 