¨Raya and The Last Dragon¨ takes place in the fantasy world of Kumandra with exciting adventure and action. Lead character Raya is introduced as the first princess representing Southeast Asia, which caught a lot of eyes to the movie. Disney just keeps surprising us with the diversity being represented by the new princesses.
It was released March 5, 2021 on the platforms of Disney plus, Prime, Vudu, Youtube and other platforms for the price of $39.99. According to the latest news it has been confirmed that on June 4, 2021 ¨Raya and the Last Dragon¨ is going to be free and available for anyone that has a Disney Plus subscription.
Raya (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) is the film’s protagonist who has some serious trust issues, but the willingness to do anything for her family resulted to being the hero of the story. The movie shows a lot of empowerment between the characters. We also see the amazing friendship between Sisu the dragon interpreted by Awkwakina and Raya.
In the world of Kumandra people and dragons lived in peace all together. Until everyone was turned into stone by the monster Druun, which splitted the land. The warrior Raya, who wanted her dad back, had to go through this adventure to find the last dragon. In this path a group from different tribes get together to stop Druun and bring peace back to Kumandra, and bring back their family.
Raya and her friend group, such as Sisu, Boun, Noi, Tong and Tuk Tuk are trying to save their home. Through their big path to bring peace to Kumandra we see the battle scenes which are really intense and entertaining. We also get a peek at each of the characters’ lives, we get to know their families and story of their life. Each character has their own personality and we see how they start growing as a person through this journey. Each one of them have different stories which can relate to any person in the audience.
The film was a rollercoaster of emotions; there were laughs, then crying, and a boost of adrenaline during the battle scenes. It also shows the process of trust, teamwork, friendship especially trusting yourself which gives an amazing message to the audience. It’s also very clear that Raya’s biggest enemy was her insecurities/trust issues and Raya is able to overcome them in the process of saving Kumandra. There is a big character development on all of the characters throughout their journey.
In the movie we are able to see a lot about the Southeast Asia tradition and culture which is beautiful especially because it’s the first time being represented in Disney. We get to learn and appreciate the different cultures and tribes from Southeast Asia. The imagery and colors are amazing.
While watching the movie it was just another warrior princess introduced into the Disney world, just like ¨Frozen¨, ¨Mulan¨, and ¨Moana.¨ In this little world of warrior princesses we see how they fight to save their family, and their home. Raya just adds to this list of powerful princesses.
Disney has been taking the new reality and representing powerful women in the princess world. In the last princess movies we have developed from the prince saving the princesses, to the princesses saving their home and family. This is another empowering female role and diversity movie in Disney movies.
