Today I would like to talk about the Disney film “Raya And The Last Dragon”(2021). Having said that, it’s mostly a review of the first thirty minutes of the film since I started watching it before I was called to attend to some personal matters. Nevertheless, when I returned, I had zero intent to continue the film due to the amount of times it was able to disappoint me in during that half an hour.
What is the film even about?
First things first, this is not a very popular film, so I shall quickly explain its premise.
There are five tribes in the world of Raya and all of them live alongside the river. Everything was fine until the fire na- some dark spirits came and started turning every living being into stone. The dragons saw it and used their magic to create a pearl which stops the dark spirits. The pearl was able to drive away the petrifying spirits and bring back the humans, but all the dragons who died during that time haven’t returned.
After the obligatory 500 years after the catastrophe Raya is trained to become the next protector of the pearl, the only thing that keeps the dark force away from the land. Unfortunately for her she puts trust in the wrong people, gets betrayed and the pearl conveniently breaks into five pieces for one piece to every tribe.
A few years later, while the dark spirits roam free and people can live only in close proximity to the pearl pieces in order not to be in constant danger, Raya travels the land to find the last legendary dragon. Of course, she succeeds, makes some friends from each tribe in the process and returns everything back to normal. The end.
I’ve cut out many details, but this is a general overview of the events, so you can see, it’s a basic generic fantasy tale which takes visual representation of Southeast Asia. Note here on the word visual for it doesn’t try to portray anything of that region simply borrowing the aesthetics of the elements that seem “oriental” (for the lack of a better word) to Western audiences.
If you are more interested in what elements of Southeastern cultures Disney failed to represent, Xiran Jay Zhao on Youtube made a great two part presentation with the help of her Southeastern colleagues. Here is the link to its first part:
And with that, I shall continue my review.
Were the first thirty minutes really that bad?
Yes, they were. This was especially bad in two of the scenes I remember: the training scene and everything after Raya finds the dragon. The bad part was: I could guess every action and almost every word the characters shall say when I was shown the set up.
In order not to spoil this failure too much, I will describe the training scene from the first few minutes of the film. Raya there is shown to sneak in as if she is a thief or villain but by how she exchanged a few words with the keeper, you get the impression that it was indeed a ruse and they are well acquainted and in a friendly relationship. Then the keeper, as we will later learn – her father, says that “she won’t be able to set a single finger” onto the inner stone of the sanctuary, of course, the scene end with her successfully putting a single toe on that stone. How it qualified her to be the next guardian is a flaw of so many modern films, I don’t want to even start this topic. All I can say is, the heroine was meant to be given this role just because she is the protagonist, not because she qualifies to be a keeper of the most precious relic that basically sustains life among the whole land.
In other word, every time I would be given a set up, I would prophesize the “punch line” with 100% accuracy. While we are talking of punch lines, I assume the dragos, Suzu, Sisu, who is basically a comic relief here, is so horribly written, part of the reason I haven’t watched the film further is out of fear to cringe to death.
I mean, I have watched anime, I’ve read a bit about Eastern cultures, dragons are meant to be powerful majestic creatures who bring good fortune and wisdom… Not that the film was trying to genuinely represent anything and I look at it as a work of fiction disconnected from the real cultural place it look similar to, but Sisu was definitely an overkill in my book. Mostly because dragons are viewed as majestic and powerful in the West as well. I’m sorry for ranting too much on this. It’s not so much about what she represents in the film as it is about her character being far more annoying than everyone else. And her happy-go-lucky attitude makes me hate her even more.
Her role is to oppose Raya’s suspicion of everyone around her, but the lesson she teaches is way more dangerous. No one should simply trust any stranger who asks you to get in their truck just because they swear they are nice people and have got sweets for you in there. It’s not a tale you want your children to believe. To add insult to the injury, from other reviews I know that the film pushes this idea to be the correct way of acting with strangers and even succeeds in portraying the opposite in the process. It’s like instead of a simple logical formula:
a = b and b = c, then a = c
this film is trying to say:
a= b and b = c, then a = e.
I can also mention the worst dialogue between Raya and Namaari, a friend who betrays her. Out of all the things two girls in a magical world can talk about they are talking about how group projects are lame and how both of them are “dragon nerds”. The first documented appearance of the word “nerd” is in Dr. Seuss’ book that was published in 1950.
Other honourable mentions would be the fact that the setting of five tribes better suites a series rather than a film. The locations seem to change so fast and the characters are always running somewhere, so the plot has no room to breathe. This constant rush doesn’t do any favour to the plot.
Perchance the only good thing I can name about the film is the graphics. The colours are vibrant and the locations look interesting and varied.
Please, forgive me if I were ranting too heatedly at times, but not even Disney’s “Wish” was able to disappoint me so much as Raya did. Probably, because “Wish” can be taken as a twist on the formula of us watching the villain overthrowing the tragic hero and taking control out of selfishness. This film has no such excuse in my eyes.
Geeky Nerd 
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