The last time Disney Feature Animation tried their hand at the high fantasy genre it nearly bankrupted the studio. 1985’s The Black Cauldron was infamously one of the Disney Company’s biggest failures, and is still only eclipsed by Treasure Planet as the animation division’s greatest flop. So it makes sense Disney would be reluctant to return to that well, sticking to the known formula of fairy tale stories instead for their fantastical output. But of course now as Disney encroaches closer and closer to a wholesale American pop culture monopoly they’ve got less to lose in taking a risk on something like Raya and the Last Dragon.
Now of course by “risk” I mean not really a risk at all. The film is still made to fit in with the general Disney family brand in its tone, thematic sensibilities, and approach to humour; even the exclusively South Asian aesthetic can’t be called a real risk in a cultural climate more receptive to non-white stories than ever before. And yet the film is offering up a lot of originality, considered world-building and a mythology to be accepted out of hand, and is fronted by an actress whose first Disney role so enraged a vocal toxic cult of their audience that they all but cut her out completely of its’ sequel to appease them. Altogether it is a bit of an uncertain endeavour, and is in its own way different from anything Disney has done before. It’s got a real spontaneity too, an excitement in its ambitions not seen in a Disney animated movie since Moana, and as far as animation goes, it is their best film since.
Raya and the Last Dragon is set in a fantasy world inspired by South Asian culture, much as the bulk of western fantasy worlds are based in European culture. Centuries before the principal narrative begins, the land called Kumandra was terrorized by dark spirits called Druun that rampaged through the world turning people into stone. They were ultimately contained by a magic orb crafted by the dragons who themselves were turned to stone in the process. But the power of the orb divided the people into five territories named for their placement along a great river resembling a dragon. A second prologue that precipitates the films’ plot shows how Raya (Kelly Marie Tran), the young princess of the Heart tribe, lost faith in her fathers’ ideals of unity after her trust in a girl from the Fang tribe was betrayed, and resulted in the orb being split among each of the peoples as the Druun came back to wreak havoc.
Unity and trust are the films’ biggest themes going forward as the story follows an adult Raya roaming the world in search of each piece of the orb, in the process reawakening the last dragon Sisu (Awkwafina), said to have been instrumental in the Druuns’ defeat last time. Sisu is very naively trusting and open-minded while Raya has learned to live in permanent guardedness, and you can see clearly where each of their arcs are leading in this. The movie takes seriously their motivations and their journey though, while simultaneously adding nuance to their enemies and adversaries –particularly Namaari (Gemma Chan), Raya’s nemesis who cast the first stone -seen to be herself under a lot of pressure from her tribe and operating out of her own machinations to fix things. Each party is somewhat justified in their outlook on the others; for example, while the Fang tribes’ treachery did lead to this devastation, the Heart tribe was in effect hoarding the most powerful object in the world –and neither has the self-awareness to acknowledge or accept responsibility. As the film contemplates the effects of literal tribalism and the actions that must be taken to come together, simplified though its’ solution to divisiveness may be, it raises some cogent points about the price of obstinacy and shortsightedness in a world in crisis.
It’s that same kind of elementary story told with a measure of compelling complexity that made something like Avatar: The Last Airbender so appealing, with which this movie has a lot in common even removed from their mutual Asian-inspired aesthetic. At the same time though there is a sense that the movie bites off more than it can chew. The constraints of being a 107-minute Disney movie are definitely felt in things like the pacing, which leaves the film with few scenes of patience to develop the finer points of characters and their relationships in organic ways; and the humour, which at times undercuts the films’ cohesion or feels obligatory. An infant ninja-con artist and her trio of monkey companions who join Raya’s growing representative fellowship is perhaps the shallowest example of this mandated silliness to appeal to the youngest audiences and marketing executives. I get why she’s there, but she also comes off as a character on loan from a Boss Baby movie -the horrendous trailer for which I’ve been seeing too much of lately.
These and other isolated moments of narrative shortcoming suggest Raya and the Last Dragon would fare better in a longer format, or at the very least a longer movie. This would also allow it to take fuller advantage of its’ fascinating world-building and geography. The movie certainly lends itself well to expansion in this regard, as there is plenty of ingenuity on display in the animation. The remnants of Kumandra look believably diverse and lived-in, the civilizations distinct, and even the combat exceptionally creative (Raya’s signature weapon is a sword that also functions as a chain whip) which includes signatures of various martial arts.
And it’s important we don’t forget the quality of the all-Asian cast. Kelly Marie Tran is especially superb as Raya. As much as her conflict is as innately universal as any other of the so-called Disney princesses, Tran imbues her personality with such a maturity that I hesitate to recall even in other rather adult Disney heroines like Mulan or Elsa. She has a palpable passion for the character too that really shines through. Gemma Chan is great as well, as are Sandra Oh, Daniel Dae Kim, and Benedict Wong. Mileage may vary on Awkwafina’s performance, as she plays both the bastion of the films’ depth of mythology and its’ principal comic relief, to the latter end of which she sometimes suffers from that Genie syndrome that plagued the latter half of the Disney Renaissance. But I feel like she authentically becomes the films’ heart after a while and its’ unexpected source of wisdom -though the improv could have been dialed back a bit.
In theatres, should you be lucky enough to see it there, the movie comes packaged with a short at the beginning called Us Again, an impeccably gorgeous, emotional, and boundlessly energetic film about an old couple and dance. Watch for it on Disney+ in June, it’s a treat! As for Raya and the Last Dragon, in spite of a few bumps along the way and a handful of choices that feel just a bit too conventionally and cynically Disney, it’s quite an enthralling movie built out of mountains of imagination and cultural influence, stunningly realized through exceptional animation and a strong voice cast. It’s certain to inspire its’ younger viewers in new ways, and it likewise restores my interest to a degree in Disney’s feature animation department after a few years there of generally lacklustre sequels. And it’s always nice to see a broadening of scope in pop culture fantasy.
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