Yes, My [Future] Children Will Watch Raya and the Last Dragon

I was admittedly pretty late to the party on seeing Raya and the Last Dragon, not tuning in until it had been on Disney+ for over six months. It's definitely not your stereotypical Disney Princess movie, but it's a very enjoyable experience with interesting characters, a cool storyline and setting, and a great message for kids and adults alike. My husband and I are in agreement that this also would've made a great series, breaking the story down into smaller bites, but the movie format worked well enough for sure.

Raya and the Last Dragon was released both into movie theaters and onto Disney+ on March 5th, 2021, almost a year and a half after Elsa & Anna's sequel, close to five and a half years after "official" successor Moana, and eighty-three years after Snow White. The film is an original story focused on Raya, Princess of the Heart Territory of the once united land of Kumandra, as she attempts to find the legendary "last dragon" Sisu to help fix their "broken" world and permanently banish the evil Druun who turn everyone they touch to stone. This movie, despite being released in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, ended up becoming the third most-streamed title across all platforms for 2021. With a budget of over $100 million, it earned a box office of $130 million and was nominated for one Oscar and one Golden Globe in 2022. The film received a fair amount of praise for its animation, voice acting, and themes of female empowerment; however, there was some criticism as well for the story at times feeling a little bit "overdone" as well as disappointment that more cast members were not of Southeast Asian heritage (only five of the 18 cast members have Southeast Asian ancestry). There is currently no theatrical sequel planned nor any sort of Disney+ animated series, but the film is still fairly new so that can always be subject to change. Raya is currently the second Disney Princess of Asian descent (the other, of course, being Mulan), the first Southeast Asian Princess, and the sixth woman of color to be a Disney Princess after Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, and Moana.

While there were times I feel like the film got a little repetitive (we get it, Raya, the world is broken and you can't trust anyone, you don't need to tell the same characters the same two phrases in every new scene), my favorite thing about the film is the overarching theme of trust. Raya and Sisu represent the two extremes of the trust spectrum: Raya has been betrayed by someone she thought could be her new best friend and has now put up so many walls that she doesn't think she could ever trust anyone again, while Sisu has a tendency to trust everyone way too easily without any concern for her personal safety. The two of them teaching each other the perfect balance of trust and how prejudice has never really helped anyone is a really cool journey to watch. The characters are also all really interesting. I'll admit, watching the trailers and seeing Boun, Noi, and Tong in the clips that were shown had me totally ready to write them off as comic relief, but the writers really made me care about them and root for them as much as I did Raya. Namaari is also a super great character - you're fully prepared to see her as a villain up until the halfway point in the movie when you realize everything she's ever done is to get the approval of her mother and she may want something different for herself. Kelly Marie Tran (Raya), Awkafina (Sisu), Gemma Chan (Namaari), Daniel Dae Kim (Chief Benja), and Izaac Wong (Boun) all stood out to me in particular with their voice acting, playing their parts perfectly and making me feel like I really, truly knew their characters.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that this isn't a stereotypical Princess movie, and if you've seen it you know one of the main reasons for that is that this is even less of a musical than Brave. While the score, composed by James Newton Howard, is really incredible and immersive, there's only one "song" in the entire movie, and it plays during the credit roll. Therefore, this post is a little bit shorter than the other Princesses, but the film and the song both deserve to be discussed.

Lead the Way by Jhené Aiko (written by J. Aiko)

Raya/Kelly Marie Tran may not lend her vocals to this film's soundtrack, but Jhené Aiko does a great job of speaking (or rather singing) for her at the end of the film. The lyrics of the song perfectly sum up the events and themes of the movie, and Aiko's vocals over the really cool instrumentation provide a happy, hopeful atmosphere. I will say I think it would've been kind of cool to have Awkafina do a verse, but overall the song is really good exactly the way it is.

We have a choice to build or destroy/To fight or to come together/Love is a bridge and trust is a gift/We give it and it gets better/There’s an energy in the water, there is magic deep in our heart/There’s a legacy that we honor when we bring the light to the dark/Whatever brings us together can never tear us apart/We become stronger than ever/When we just trust, trust and believe it, you’ll see that we’ll lead the way/When we just trust, trust and believe it, you’ll see that we’ll lead the way/When we just trust, trust and believe it, you’ll see that we lead the way/When we just trust, trust and believe it, you’ll see that we’ll lead the way

If you haven't watched Raya yet, I highly recommend checking it out because it's a really good time no matter what stage of life you're in. Happy listening, and see ya'll next week!