Movie Review: Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon – Incredible Story, Beautiful Animation, Must-See Movie!

July 13, 2024 Hannah Moller 0 Entertainment, Media and Communication, Movie Reviews, Staten Islander Exclusive

Movie Review: Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon

This movie, Raya and the Last Dragon, is Disney’s first attempt at creating dragons in a full length feature animated film. The dragons in the film are so beautiful and striking, and everything else about the movie is amazing as well.

As the film begins, we meet Raya, who blames herself for the darkness that her world has been enveloped by. When she was a young child, she and her father, along with the rest of her family, were the guardians of the dragon crystal. The dragon crystal is the crystal that the dragons created in order to save the humans and the entire world from the “Druun.” The Druun are strange light creatures made of purple light that cause humans and other animals to turn into a type of sandy stone. Once so turned, they remain this way, and are not able to be awakened.

The dragon crystal was what saved humanity from the Druun the first time they came, 500 years earlier. The dragons, who loved and guarded humans, were only able to save humanity by essentially sacrificing themselves. They poured all of their magic into a crystal, which was then used to blast away the Druun. The dragons did not return, but the humans were spared from the Druun as they were destroyed.

However, the expected cooperation of humans after this event did not materialize. The humans fought one another continuously, and the hoped-for idyllic paradise world, known as Kumandra, which had existed before the Druun arrived, was destroyed. Even after the sacrifice of the dragons, the humans were unable to live in peace.

One day, however, Raya’s father, the chief of Heart, decided to bring together all of the five tribes who had been split apart by war. For some reason, the inhabitants of one of the five parts of Kumandra were given the dragon crystal to guard. The location was Heart, which makes sense, as they were the most heartfelt of all the different locations, and they took its protection very seriously. The other places were named Fang, Spine, Talon, and Tail, depending on where along the dragon shaped river their chiefdom was located, and the people in these other areas are depicted as being more warlike than the people of Heart.

When the people from the other chiefdoms arrive, Raya sees one of the children from Fang, who is their princess, and tries to befriend her. The two run off and start playing. The other girl, Namaari, then gives Raya a gift: a carving of the great dragon Sisu who sacrificed herself to save the world. She also shows her a map of where it is thought that the great dragon is resting, which is where she can potentially be resurrected. This is due to some sort of strange dragon magic, which isn’t completely explained. As magical creatures, they are not subject to the same rules as humans are.

As Raya and Namaari play and talk, Raya lets her guard down and trusts her completely. She shows her where the dragon crystal is located. However, that is when she is betrayed by her new friend, who lights off some sort of homing beacon firework that then leads all of the people who were having dinner together to rush to the place where the crystal is.

At this point, the unthinkable happens, and the crystal falls onto the stones below its resting place and shatters into five pieces. Each of the tribal leaders grabs a piece of the crystal as the ground begins to shake and moan. The Druun have been awakened, as there is no longer a dragon crystal to keep them away. As all of the people around her turn to stone, Raya’s father puts the shard of the crystal that he took into her hand and pushes her into the water. The water, they had just learned, is the only thing that the Druun cannot cross, so one could stay safe by being surrounded by water.

In this dragon world, the existence of the dragons is what is responsible for everything, including the presence of water. As long as one dragon is still alive, which turns out to be Sisu, then the water remains. While she is sleeping, she is still alive. We next meet Raya after she has stolen the map that Namaari showed her when they were children. Using the map, she and her friend, the hedgehog, who is now much larger than when we first met him as a baby and carries her around on a saddle strapped to his back, travel to each of the locations in turn.

She performs a ceremony using water and the dragon necklace the she was given as a gift. At the very last place, the dragon Sisu is resurrected. The dragon is beautiful, with a lovely blue color and very pretty lines. Of course, she talks, and she asks Raya what happened. She thinks that her sacrifice had just happened, when in fact it occurred five hundred years before. When she learns that the crystal has been broken, she becomes very distressed, naturally. Her sacrifice had been essentially undone by the humans’ greed.

She also restores hope in Raya when she explains that they can find all of the pieces of the dragon stone and put them together. This will destroy the Druun again.

So they travel together to each of the five tribes in order to steal back the crystal shards. This part of the movie is very fast paced, and her childhood friend who betrayed her is actually in pursuit the whole time. Raya and Sisu travel together on the hedgehog, and the first crystal they are able to retrieve is the easiest. The person guarding it had died while in hiding.

Each of the crystal shards gives Sisu a power from one of her siblings, the five of whom had put their magic into the crystal in order to save the world. Luckily, the first crystal gives her the power of shapeshifting, and she immediately turns into a human. This is how she remains throughout most of the rest of the story, at Raya’s request.

As soon as they find the crystal, Namaari comes to confront them. They manage to escape, particularly because Sisu is, in her words, “a really good swimmer.” For some reason, that is her magic power, whereas her siblings had other powers such as fog, walking on rain clouds into the sky, and other incredible magic. But she is a really good swimmer.

Luckily for them, Namaari and her small band of warriors who are following Raya are riding on large cats. These cats are afraid of water. We also first meet Boun as they make their escape from the first chief’s lair. He is captain of a small ship, and Raya is able to convince him to help them. Sisu is then able to take them quickly away from there and on to the next place.

They must retrieve all five of the crystals, and as they obtain each one, sometimes they make a friend, sometimes they make an enemy. In Talon, they meet Little Noi, a tiny baby who has survived in the cruel existence they all find themselves in by making friends with three little monkeys, who then steal from tourists. They take the crystals that have thus far been found, which are in a bag that Raya carries with her. She chases them down and is able to retrieve the bag, and then she finds out their story. Little Noi lost her parents to the Druun as well, and is able to just survive where they are as little criminals stealing. So, Raya takes them all with her.

In this same chiefdom, the chief in that city finds Sisu, who is told by Boun that you can just get everything on credit. Being a dragon, she completely misunderstands this, and starts taking things from all the little stands in the city and saying it’s on credit. Then she is found by the chief, who somehow knows that she is working with Raya to try to find the crystals, and the chief takes her to the gates of the city. There she pushes Sisu outside where the Druun are waiting, and demands to know why they are seeking the crystals. However, at this moment, Raya bursts in and rescues Sisu, knowing that she did not stay on the boat as she was supposed to.

They next visit Spine, where the chief of that village turns out to be the only one still awake. However, he is able to capture Sisu and Raya for a brief time, but they are able to convince him to help them instead of killing them. He then gives them his crystal, at which point Namaari arrives with her band of warriors. Raya tells them she will provide a distraction, and to get back to the boat. She confronts Namaari, and they battle each other. However, Raya is nearly beaten, and Sisu comes to her rescue, revealing herself to Namaari. Namaari still loves the dragon stories, and is shocked to see Sisu.

Finally, they only need to get the last crystal. The latest crystal has given Sisu the ability to create water steps in the sky, and she takes Raya to Heart, where she lived before with her father. She shows her something that, even living there, she had never noticed. The dragons had been turned to stone in Heart, which turns out to be why the crystal was located there in the first place. She explains to her exactly how the sacrifice had been made, and how she had done it. She was unable to understand why the dragons had not come back, but it was the humans and their bad emotions who were responsible for the Druun coming to life in the first place.

As they approach the final crystal’s location, it is in Fang, where Namaari lives. But this time, they decide to take Sisu’s approach: always bring a gift. But what gift would be appropriate? Raya has the perfect idea. It is the dragon charm that Namaari had first given to her. And Namaari comes to the meeting place, bringing the crystal.

However, things go terribly wrong at this point, as Raya believes she is about to be betrayed once again by Namaari. And the darkness becomes complete. All of the water drains away as the last dragon, who was keeping it there, at that moment dies.

Raya goes off to find Namaari for a final battle, blaming her for the turn of events, and Boun, the Spine chief, and Little Noi struggle to rescue the people of Fang from the Druun, who now cannot be stopped. The water which made them unable to enter Talon and the other cities was now gone completely, replaced by desert. The light of day which had previously kept them at bay, while they had free reign only at night, was no longer keeping them away.

At this point, the five characters, who are each a representative of one of the five cities that made up Kumandra, the dragon paradise, are the only ones left. The Druun are consuming everything. What happens next is truly remarkable, and explores the theme once again of the ultimate sacrifice. Only this time, Disney explores brand new territory, as usually the villain remains the villain. However, in this film, the villain must become the hero.

This movie is magnificent, and highly recommended. The backgrounds, the effects, and the dragons are all incredibly rendered. The effects such as water, storms, and other natural events are quite amazing. The colors are super vibrant, and the characters themselves have a lot of depth.

You really get to know each of them individually, including their individual characteristics and quirks. The characters are very well developed, and none of them can be considered to be one dimensional. Quite the contrary. And, as always, this film is full of optimism and hope. There are many parallels between that world and this one, too many to count. In this movie, humans are responsible for both the downfall and the salvation of their society.

The dream of most of the characters is for the paradise land to return, where all five of the cities were able to live and coexist in peace and harmony, humans and dragons alike, and for the Druun to be defeated. As always, Disney points us all to the eternal optimism and assurance that things will all work out, and everything will turn out OK. As previously discussed in the interview with Mark Pinsky, optimism is much more than a simple feeling. It has been shown over and over again in research studies and case studies that having an optimistic outlook on life leads to better outcomes and results in one’s life. In other words, expectation creates reality. It is good to be reminded of this important fact, as often we are not.

This movie is highly recommended, especially if you love dragons. Even they have personality and dimension, and are beautifully drawn and rendered. I would give this movie FIVE STARS, and recommend it as a must-see movie.