Raya and the Last Dragon marks the beginning of a new type of protagonist in Disney’s prolific movie roster. Recent Disney hits such as Moana, Frozen II, Zootopia, and Finding Dory have long since strayed from the classic princess story. Even 2010’s Tangled offered a fresh retelling by giving Rapunzel agency, drive, and a dream. Raya and the Last Dragon goes even further, taking tentative steps toward more nuanced characters whose actions extend beyond themselves and their own stories in order to impact the people and world around them.
Raya and the Last Dragon follows Raya, the young daughter of Benja, chief of the Village of Heart—technically making her a princess. She and her family have been tasked with guarding the Dragon Gem: the last of the dragon magic, and the only thing keeping humanity safe from the Druun. The Druun are terrible, amorphous, stormy beings which pass through living things and turn them to stone.
The movie is set after the Druun have been released back into the world, when the Dragon Gem is broken and destroyed. This cataclysmic event brings us to what separates Raya from other Disney protagonists: Raya makes a decision which leads to the destruction of the Dragon Gem, a decision which colors her character throughout the rest of the movie, and a decision she can learn from, if she chooses. Unlike previous Disney characters, Raya is not acted upon, nor must she break free from a blatantly unjust situation, nor is she chasing her dreams. She made a choice that broke the world, and now she must overcome the impossible to fix it.
When Raya was a child, her father held a gathering of people from the neighboring enemy lands—each named after a part of a dragon: Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail—in an effort to create peace. In the spirit of unity, Raya befriended a girl from Fang named Namaari, daughter of the Fang chief. Both were dragon fanatics, and bonded over this shared interest. In an over-extended sign of trust and friendship, Raya foolishly showed Namaari the hidden location of the Dragon Gem. As you can imagine, this was a terrible idea. Fang warriors invaded, and Raya’s father attempted to defend Raya and the Dragon Gem, only to be wounded. The Dragon Gem was destroyed, the Druun were released, and Raya’s father was turned to stone. After all of this, Raya ends up with deep, deep trust issues.
My biggest disappointment with the movie is Raya’s character development. While many Disney movies are able to toe the line between being entertaining for children and interesting for adults (think Toy Story), Raya’s healing path is painstakingly spelled out for the audience in the form of Sisu, the last dragon. As beautiful and old a dragon as Sisu is, she’s woefully and unchangingly trustful of others, even when this trust has resulted in extreme danger on numerous occasions. The use of such a static, in-your-face character to obviously contrast Raya makes the story easy for children to follow, but boring and contrived to older viewers.
In the same vein, Raya and Sisu add new members to their group as they visit each country without any fanfare. There is little hostility or mistrust between the members, despite the lore implying the opposing countries are quite distasteful of one another. While not an enjoyment-breaking characteristic, it does seem like a missed opportunity for better storytelling and convincing world-building.
*Spoiler Alert* The ending, however, makes this entire movie worth it—I broke down in tears. To conclude Raya’s journey, she abandons the protagonist role. She’s learned. She sacrifices everything she’s become, and trusts others to do what needs to be done—she’s recognized when she’s done all she can. In this moment, the audience steps back and sees the bigger picture: this was never just Raya’s story, it was the story of Raya and Namaari, their convoluted friendship and respect for one another, their transformation as leaders with goals and responsibilities to their people, and their growth as young adults. The audience recognizes all of this just as we lose Raya, and she turns to stone.
Maybe I’m a bit of a sentimental sap, but Raya’s sacrifice let loose the waterworks. Mediocre movies with deeply moving endings make the entire experience worth it, so I would recommend watching this one, at least once (though I’m going to watch it again!).