This has not received much mention in my social circles, but it gets moderately high ratings. After seeing its icon on Disney Plus enough times, I decided to give it a go. If nothing else, I'd see a dragon animation and a new effort from Big Hero Six director Don Hall.
The setting is an alternate version of Southeast Asia in centuries past, with humans the only real species around. Known civilization consists of five hostile tribes, each named after a dragon body part. They had been in harmony 500 years ago, when dragons provided rain and other great benefits to them, but demons called the Druun turned all the dragons to stone, except one Sisu (Awkwafina), who disappeared after dispelling the Druun. Things get a lot worse when the tribes squabble over Sisu's gem and break it in five, reducing its power to keep the Druun from petrifying more beings. Six years later, Raya (Kelly Marie Tran), 18-year-old daughter of Chief Benja (Daniel Dae Kim) of the Heart tribe, is on a quest to find Sisu and unite her with all the gem shards, if only to unpetrify Benja.
As you may have guessed from the casting of Awkwafina, Sisu is not as majestic as the legends told. She's a bit goofy and happy-go-lucky, albeit not as off-the-wall as Aladdin's Genie or as obnoxious as Maui. I understand that most of her lines were ad-libbed. Nor is she the only comical character on Raya's journey: We also get Ton (Benedict Wong), a savage warrior with a secret soft spot; Boun (Izaac Wang), a preteen chef with a boat-based restaurant; and Nai (Thalia Tran), the most absurdly competent baby this side of The Croods. (The Boss Baby has an adultlike voice and mind, but I'm thinking more of physical capabilities.) Of course, it's not so funny when you consider that these kids had to grow fast to survive when the Druun claimed their families.
I eventually noticed that each ally is from a different tribe, and most got off on the wrong foot with Raya. Enter Princess Namaari (first Jona Xiao, then Gemma Chan) of the Fang tribe, an old frenemy. It's evident that she has some good in her, but it's hard to know which way she'll go at a given moment. Her mother (Sandra Oh), while as eager as anyone else to drive off the Druun, would like to do so in the way that gives the biggest advantage to Fang. Raya and Namaari have the most engaging martial arts scenes.
Yeah, it's pretty action-packed. Just as many moments are likely to evoke Indiana Jones as Ong-Bak. Fortunately for younger viewers, it's a light PG, with no permanent casualties. That may sound like a spoiler, but believe me, you'll see lots of things coming a mile a way anyhow.
It's also remarkably fast-paced, especially in the first half. This is not altogether a good thing. Sure, it keeps the story down to a watchable length and obviates boredom, but I want to know more about this unique world. What were dragons besides Sisu really like? What other fictitious critters are there? How do the tribes differ, and how well do they reflect their names? I think RatLD would have done better as a TV series à la Avatar: The Last Airbender. Maybe there will be one.
Only after watching did it occur to me that Raya will probably be the first addition to the official Disney Princess lineup since Moana. She may not sing, wear skirts, or have a canonical love interest, but she wouldn't be the first to lack any of those traits. She does have a cute animal companion, Tuk Tuk (Disney mainstay Alan Tudyk), who resembles an armadillo that grows from hedgehog size to elephant size in six years. And her athletic skills would make Mulan blush.
One reason I didn't think of Raya that way at the time is that, well, something about the whole movie doesn't feel very Disney-ish. Something about the choppy movements, the occasional vulgar humor, the sloppy setups (heroes could have saved themselves a lot of trouble with basic precautions)...it's kinda DreamWorks. Or maybe Blue Sky. Disney did buy that studio; maybe some of the same people were involved?
The recurring theme is trust. Benja believed that the glory days could be restored by extending hands to the other tribes, and Sisu persists in pushing the same approach, but Raya is slow to accept it, especially after repeated betrayals. In the end, I'm not sure how well the pic sells its moral. I'd rather trust those who earn my trust. Then again, there's also simply trusting people to be true to themselves, not necessarily honest with others. The issue might be too nuanced for a family feature to handle.
RatLD is not a likely classic, but I put it a few notches above Over the Moon. It's a worthy way to increase gender and ethnic representation, even if few cast members are Southeast Asian.
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