Thankfully, the film makes up for these shortfalls with an eclectic, memorable supporting cast. At times it almost overpowers the enjoyment of the picture.
#REA AND THE LAST DRAGON MOVIE MOVIE#
In fact, a good chunk of this movie is chock full of exposition that grinds the story to a halt. I won’t spoil anything here but the story rockets forward at a pretty lively speed, stopping every now and then to catch its breath and fill us in on exposition. With no dragons this time, it’s up to Raya to save the day, collecting up fragments of a special relic to bring about the end of the Druun – and the return of the dragons. Unfortunately this peace is shattered when a dramatic event leads to the Druun returning and threatening to destroy life in Kumandra. At the center of all this is Raya, who follows her Father’s lead in tribe Heart as he tries to bring about peace by opening his arms – and land – to the rival clans. In fact, these divisions manifest themselves into five distinct clans (each notably named after parts of a dragon). Skip forward hundreds of years and the world has never been more divided. Following an attack by the evil Druun, the dragon sacrifice themselves to save the world, leaving humanity to point fingers at each other. Our adventure takes place in a realm known as Kumandra, where dragon and human live harmoniously together. While that may sound bizarre, the execution is actually pretty good and the story is intentionally segmented into different parts of this mission to keep the pacing as tight as possible. In its simplest form, Raya and the Last Dragon’s story combines elements of Moana and Mulan with a more conventional video game fetch quest. The story zips by at a breathless pace, the action comes thick and fast, while the emotional climax rounds everything out with a neat little origami bow. It’s a gorgeously rendered, distinctly Asian-flavoured picture that combines adventure, comedy and thrills to excellent effect. I’ve worked on some things before which obviously weren’t as culturally specific as this, and I don’t think that I knew that I needed that.Raya and the Last Dragon is a wonderful movie. I don’t know if I can even explain it, but it was this surprise. I felt so seen, and it was such a blissful feeling. I remember having this experience of recognizing some of the words and recognizing some of the names and the locations and even certain characters and our job descriptions of what influenced them to be a certain way. Tran also spoke to the magazine about the film’s approach to cultural representation: And no small feat, directors Don and Carlos, writers Qui and Adele, and the entire crew of 400 Disney Animation artists are making this film together, while separated and working from home. They both saw the potential for this film and had a strong vision for the story, especially for our lead character, played by the wonderfully talented Kelly Marie Tran. Jennifer Lee, chief creative officer of WDAS, provided the following statement to Entertainment Weekly on all the changes:Īs filmmakers, Don and Carlos bring a combination of animation know-how and emotional storytelling to Raya and the Last Dragon, bringing our fantasy adventure to surprising, original, and dynamic heights. While no explicit reason was given for the changes, it’s worth noting that Tran, who is Vietnamese American, is the first Southeast Asian American to lead a Disney animated feature.Īt the same time, Peter Del Vecho came onboard as producer alongside original producer Osnat Shurer, and Qui Nguyen joined Adele Lim (another Crazy Rich Asians alumna) as a writer. Kelly Marie Tran, who shot to fame in the recent Star Wars films, replaced Cassie Steele as the voice of Raya, and will star alongside Awkwafina ( Crazy Rich Asians). The directors are Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, and the co-directors are John Ripa and Paul Briggs (who was credited as director before the reshuffle). Meanwhile, Disney raised eyebrows in August by announcing that it had recast the lead voice actor, and added three directors/co-directors and a producer. The trailer gives the date only as “March 2021,” but specifies a theatrical release. Originally due to come out next month, the film was delayed early in the pandemic to March 12, 2021 as production continued remotely. Raya’s journey to the screen has been less than smooth. However, along her journey, she’ll learn that it’ll take more than a dragon to save the world - it’s going to take trust and teamwork as well. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony.