3+1 Short Paragraphs: Raya and the Last Dragon

 2021, Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada -- Disney+

Kent has already done some recent posts about classic Disney animations, and I have not finished watching our latest Loopty Loo choice, so I thought I would grab MY two animations from the Upcoming Posts bin. Also, pending, Snyderfuss, as I have to write that post with the video (re)playing next to me because 4 chaotic hours does not lend itself to cohesive memories. This standard fare Disney CGI animation and a more traditional animation venture from Apple TV (Wolfwalkers) bookend nicely against Kent's classic views.

Fantasy, to my cis white male world, has always been pseudo-European. Think Lord of the Rings, Shannara and D&D where all the main characters are white, and the Bad Guys are often depicted as foreign or at least foreign looking. But, other countries must want to do fantasy (easy definition? swords, magic, fantastic creatures) and not just find themselves beholden to historical, albeit often fantastical, fiction? I am saying, if LotR is not set in "real Europe", then why would other culture's examples have to be? That is a long way of coming round to saying Raya does not take place in Historical China as I first thought it did, based on the trailers, but in a more fantastical version of all of East Asia, in lands surrounding a vast river system in the shape of a dragon called Kumandra. All of the familiar East Asian cultures are represented in one form or another. Neat! 

Kumandra was once united before being attacked by dark creatures called Druun, that turned all they touched into stone. The dragons helped fight back, until Sisu the last Dragon was able to banish the Druun with a magic orb. She left the orb in the care of one tribe, Heart, which made all the other tribes jealous, Fang, Spine, Talon, and Tail. Five hundred years later the chief of Heart tries to reunite the tribes but is betrayed, which once more summons the Druun to plague the land. Raya escapes but feels her part in the betrayal heavy on her heart and begins a quest to find Sisu, so the Druun can once again be defeated.

What we get is a classic fantasy quest, with all the standard tropes of modern animation. Our plucky heroin deals with self-confidence, gains humorous sidekicks, has a really cute travelling companion (think giant pangolin meets dung beetle fitted with a riding saddle) and earns the respect of each tribe she goes up against. It is wonderfully colourful, incredibly visual and touches on all the right notes for this kind of movie. Sisu, played by Awkwafina is sooooo much better at being a dragon than Eddie Murphy. If I was 14 again, I would be hoping someone would be writing a world guide for a Kumandra based D&D setting.