(Frenemies Raya and Namaari may technically be “Disney princesses,” but they’re more Xena than Sleeping Beauty.) Directors Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, along with co-directors Paul Briggs and John Ripa, give each province tangibly distinct looks, not only in the various color schemes but also in terrain, weather and even lighting. “Raya and the Last Dragon” has a moral that’s open to various interpretations, but it’s a fable that succeeds on many levels, from its rich sense of atmosphere to its dynamic female leads. Six years later, Benja’s daughter Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) manages to summon the spirit of Sisu (Awkwafina), and the two put together a crew that includes Boun (Izaac Wang, “Good Boys”), an orphan who runs a floating restaurant a con-artist infant (Thalia Tran) and her team of simian henchmen and warrior Tong (Benedict Wong), the last soldier standing from the Spine province.Įach piece of the stone endows Sisu with the power of her sibling dragons, who sacrificed themselves to stop the Druun, but Raya must put aside her anger - particularly at rival princess Namaari (Gemma Chan) - and learn to trust in her enemies if Kumandra has any chance of being restored.Īlso Read: Disney Moves 3 Films to Disney+, But 'Black Widow' Will Still Open in Theaters Benja (voiced by Daniel Dae Kim), who had dreamed of reuniting Kumandra, is turned to stone.
When one of the five tries to steal the gemstone for itself, it shatters into pieces, weakening its powers and bringing back the Druun. Watch Video: 'Raya and the Last Dragon' Trailer: Meet the Dragon and a Butt-Kicking Babyįollowing the end of the plague, Kumandra splintered into five provinces. They were stopped only when Sisu, the remaining dragon, put the last bit of dragon magic into a gemstone. Screenwriters Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians”) and Qui Nguyen craft a plot that’s easy to follow yet hard to summarize, but here goes: Five hundred years ago, plague creatures known as the Druun stalked the land of Kumandra, where humans and dragons lived together in peace and harmony, turning people and dragons alike into stone.
It’s a film with a lot on its mind and plenty of plot and character plates to spin, but the results are both impressive and exciting. How viewers will respond to that kind of message in a family-friendly period fantasy will no doubt vary, but the film itself is a gorgeous piece of work that features elaborate and ambitious world-building, stunning visuals and an A-team of impressive voice actors. At a time when it’s seemingly impossible to reach consensus about anything from science and meteorology to how economies function and who should benefit from them, it’s either daring or divisive for “Raya and the Last Dragon” to make a case for reaching out to our enemies and trusting them to put the common good above factional rivalry.
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