“You know, fellas, you can have it all if you just learn to share.” For children, this is a reasonable life lesson. For Americans this is, “AHHHHH! SOCIALISM! KILL IT!”
We aren’t a bright bunch. We Americans. An occasionally wealthy bunch, but not a bright bunch.
Kumandra is probably just a hop, skip, and a jump from Wakanda, but I don’t have my “Map of Theoretical Cinematic Countries” on hand at the moment. The place used to be boomin’, what with the friendly dragons everywhere. Long story short, shit happened and now one big happy kingdom is five little unhappy ones surrounding a dragon-shaped river. The kingdoms are Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail, named for their placement about the river. (Clever, right? Yeah, the writers thought so, too.)
Anyhoo, the most prosperous kingdom is Heart, run by Chief dad and his kid Raya. Heart has the last remaining dragon gem – a magical orb that keeps evil at bay. Dad is kind of a sap, so he decides to throw a party in the name of unity so that all the other kingdoms can come in and wreck the place, and they do, breaking the gem and letting bad happen. Dad turns to stone, Raya (voice of Kelly Marie Tran) turns into a teenager, and now it’s her job to find the Last Dragon 
and recover all the gem pieces to save the kingdom.
The Last Dragon, Sisu (Awkwafina, who is going to get a lot of voice acting work in her future), turns out to have none of the awesomeness displayed by her older sibs, but she is a dragon, so there’s that. And now Raya and the Last Dragon get to search for the gem pieces and reunite all of Kumandra. Can they do it? This is a Disney, what do you think?
This film fluctuates wildly between being clever in moments and extremely paint-by-numbers at other times. Dad gets turned to stone ten minutes in, making Raya an orphan – which is more common, Disney orphans or Disney princesses? No, I’m seriously asking. Google sez orphans are ahead 27-12 at this writing. –so that’s a stone-cold cliché. Despite the standards, Raya has good ways with both villains, Namaari (Kumandra’s version of a frenemy), and supporting characters. My favorite of the latter was Noi and the Ongis, my second favorite 90s pop band. Actually, Noi/Ongis are a toddler and her three monkey pals. They’re better seen than described. For now, the gem “collection” plot and Kill Bill-like-conquest hurdles therein still work. But after seeing both The Avengers and the Justice League indulge the assembly-line trinket stuff, I seriously wonder how much longer this plot will hold.
Aside from predictability and lack of a decent soundtrack, the biggest problem I have with Raya and the Last Dragon is message. And it’s not even that the message is bad; it’s just … irrelevant given the audience. Raya and the Last Dragon hammers
home again and again and again the idea that trust and teamwork is the best way to achieve desired outcomes. Once upon a time, this message was relevant; all that trust required was a mutual goal, like when you play a team sport. What the past half-decade of life has taught us, however, is that trust comes with several pre-requisites. It’s no longer just about mutual goal; trust requires mutual respect, humility, education, openness of mind, and –most importantly- mutual understanding of genuine fact. When one group in the country is saying, “2+2=4” and another is shouting, “Trump won in 2020!” there can’t really be any trust, now can there? Our current era has introduced the concept that trust is no longer the beginning but merely one step towards the end of a long journey that begins with: “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!”
The simple fact is that in 2021, any American willing to watch a movie with a SE Asian heroine doesn’t need a lesson on trust and openness of mind; that’s a message best employed by exactly the people who won’t see the film for exactly the reasons they won’t see it. Good luck getting that message to those who actually need to learn it.
A heroine hedges her bets
And dispels nearly all her regrets
A dragon revealed!
But Raya, just yield,
Your apartment does not allow pets
Rated PG, 107 Minutes
Director: Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada
Writer: Qui Nguyen & Adele Lim
Genre: Teamwork!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of the standard Disney shtick
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: MAGA
