Raya and the Last Dragon

Raya and the Last Dragon is a 2021 American animated fantasy action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, co-directed by Paul Briggs and John Ripa, and produced by Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho. The screenplay was primarily written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim with additional contributions from various writers, based on story ideas by Bradley Raymond and Helen Kalafatic. Raya and the Last Dragon stars the voices of Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Izaac Wang, and Gemma Chan, and follows the titular warrior princess, Raya, as she seeks out the fabled last dragon to save her father and the land of Kumandra from evil spirits called Druun.
Development began in October 2018, and in August 2019 the project was officially announced, with the title and voice cast being revealed. During production, Disney replaced several cast and crew members, including the initially announced lead actress Cassie Steele for Tran, to conform with changes in character and plot. The film is inspired by traditional Southeast Asian cultures. During design and animation, the team focused on its diverse environments and characters while maintaining authentic cultural representation. James Newton Howard composed the score.
Raya and the Last Dragon was released in theaters in the United States on March 5, 2021, simultaneously in theaters and through Disney+ with Premier Access. It was delayed twice from an original November 2020 release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film became the third-most-streamed film of 2021, and, excluding its Disney+ Premier Access revenue, grossed $130.4million worldwide. Raya and the Last Dragon received generally positive reviews; critics praised the imagery and depth, but criticized the story and limited Southeast Asian representation. It was nominated for various accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Plot
The Druun, mindless spirits that turn every living thing in their path to stone, ravage the prosperous land of Kumandra. Sisu, the last surviving dragon, concentrates her magic into a gem and blasts the Druun away, reviving Kumandra's people but not its dragons. A power struggle for the gem divides Kumandra's people into five separate chiefdoms called Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail, corresponding to their placement along a gigantic dragon-shaped river.
Five hundred years later, Chief Benja of the Heart tribe retains possession of the gem and trains his young daughter, the warrior princess Raya, to protect it. Believing Kumandra can be reunited, Benja holds a feast for all five tribes. During the feast, Raya befriends Namaari, princess of the Fang tribe, who gives her a dragon pendant. Trusting Namaari, Raya shows her the gem's chamber, but Namaari betrays her as part of a plot to help Fang steal the gem. After being alerted to the attack, Benja and the other tribes arrive and start fighting over the gem, breaking it into five pieces in the scuffle. The gem's destruction creates a fissure which releases the Druun once more, quickly overtaking the Land of Heart. As the tribe leaders each steal a piece of the gem and flee, Benja notices that water repels the Druun and saves Raya's life by throwing her in the river before being turned to stone.
Six years later, Raya treks across Kumandra, searching for Sisu to have her create another gem and banish the Druun once more. She manages to summon her in Tail, where Sisu admits she did not create the gem but wielded it on behalf of her four siblings, who all contributed their magic to the gem. Raya and Sisu resolve to take back the four pieces of the gem, reassemble it, and use it to banish the Druun and restore those who were turned to stone.
Raya and Sisu travel across the realm, reclaiming pieces of the gem and making new friends: the young restaurateur Boun from Tail, the baby con artist Little Noi and her three ongis from Talon, and the warrior Tong from Spine, all of whom have lost loved ones to the Druun. Namaari pursues Raya, hoping to gain the gem shards for the Fang tribe. Each gem shard they acquire blesses Sisu with one of her siblings' magical powers. Raya, not fully trusting their new companions, insists Sisu remain disguised as a human, but she reveals herself to save Raya from Namaari at Spine. At Fang, Sisu persuades Raya to propose an alliance to Namaari rather than steal the final shard. As a gesture of trust, Raya returns the pendant Namaari gave her years ago. Namaari, torn between her responsibility to Fang and her wish to help defeat the Druun, threatens them with a crossbow. Sisu tries to calm Namaari, but Raya attacks with her whipsword after seeing Namaari's finger on the trigger, causing the crossbow to fire and kill Sisu; her death drains all the water away, allowing the Drunn to overrun the realm.
Furious by Namaari’s actions, Raya pursues her and finds her grieving the petrification of her mother, and they fight while Raya's companions use the gem pieces to evacuate the people of Fang. Raya prepares to kill Namaari, but stops when Namaari reminds Raya of her role in Sisu’s death due to her inability to trust others, and they go to aid the others. As the Druun gain on her group, Raya remembers how trust allowed Sisu to save the world. She urges the others to unite and reassemble the gem, showing her faith in Namaari by handing over her gem piece and allowing the Druun to turn her into stone. Boun, Tong, Noi, and the ongis follow suit, and Namaari reassembles the gem before being petrified as well. This unleashes a shockwave that spreads throughout Kumandra, vanquishing all the Druun and conjuring up a magical rainstorm which revives everyone. It also revives the dragons, who later revive Sisu. The group reunites with their loved ones; the tribes and dragons gather at Heart to unify as Kumandra once again.
Voice cast
Kelly Marie Tran as Raya, a fierce and virtuous warrior princess of Heart who has been training to become a Guardian of the Dragon Gem. To save her father from petrification and restore peace to Kumandra, she embarks on a search for the last dragon.
Awkwafina as Sisu, the last dragon in existence. She has a ludicrous and somewhat unstable personality, but she is also brave, kind, and wise.
Izaac Wang as Boun, a charismatic 10-year-old entrepreneur from Tail who lost his family to the Druun.
Gemma Chan as Namaari, the warrior princess of Fang and Raya's rival.
Jona Xiao as young Namaari.
Daniel Dae Kim as Chief Benja, Raya's father, the chief of Heart.
Benedict Wong as Tong, a formidable, towering, kind-hearted warrior from Spine who lost his family and fellow villagers to the Druun.
Sandra Oh as Virana, Namaari's mother and the chieftess of Fang.
Thalia Tran as Little Noi, a toddler con artist from Talon who lost her mother to the Druun. She was raised by the ongis, creatures that resemble monkeys with catfish whiskers.
Lucille Soong as Dang Hu, the chieftess of Talon.
Alan Tudyk as Tuk Tuk, Raya's best friend and trusty steed who is a mix of armadillo and pill bug. His name is a reference to the nickname of auto rickshaws in Thailand.
The film also featured the voice of Dichen Lachman as General Atitaya of Fang and a Spine warrior; Patti Harrison as the chief of Tail; Dumbfoundead as Chai, a flower guy; Sung Kang voices Dang Hai, the former chief of Talon; Sierra Katow voices both a Talon merchant and a Fang officer; Ross Butler voices the chief of Spine; François Chau voices Wahn; and Gordon Ip and Paul Yen voice Talon merchants.
Production
In October 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported Disney was developing a fantasy animated film produced by Osnat Shurer from a screenplay by Adele Lim, with additional directorial debuts by Paul Briggs and Dean Wellins. Most of them had previously been involved in other Disney films including Frozen (2013), Zootopia (2016) and Moana (2016). In August 2019, Disney announced the film during its D23 Expo Walt Disney Animation Studios' presentation, casting Cassie Steele as Raya and of Awkwafina as Sisu.
In August 2020, Disney announced the replacement of several cast and crew members. Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada replaced Paul Briggs and Dean Wellins as directors, with Briggs and Wellins demoted to co-directors. Ripa later also replaced Wellins as a co-director, and Wellins was credited as a contributor writer in the credits. Qui Nguyen joined Lim as co-writer and Peter Del Vecho joined Shurer as producer. Kelly Marie Tran replaced Steele to conform to changes in characters and plot; Shurer said the cast must embody the same spirit as the character and that Tran was better suited for the role.
According to Hall, Disney recast the role because Raya was originally conceived as a "stoic loner", but the team began to infuse her with "levity" and "swagger" characteristics similar to those of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Star-Lord. Tran had unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Raya. However, in January 2020, when Tran replaced Steele as Raya, she assumed that Disney had already rejected her before but was now hiring her to replace the lead actress. Disney hired each cast members separately and had them record their lines individually, keeping a secret from each of them until they accidentally discovered one another's involvement in the film before Disney revealed it to them. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry, they worked and successfully completed the project from home. Overall, the budget was approximately $100million.
Development and design
Raya and the Last Dragon is inspired by traditional Southeast Asian cultures. The filmmakers consulted with Southeast Asia Story Trust experts to ensure an accurate cultural representation in the film. During production, the filmmakers emphasized the importance of avoiding stereotypical portrayals of Asian characters. To conduct background research, they traveled to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, where they were inspired by the local sense of acceptance, unity, and trust which they adopted as themes for the film. The artists explored various ways to express Kumandra's distinct characteristics and personalities, before consulting with the Trust and integrating cultural elements in their designs. Designing Kumandra's five fractured lands was challenging, and the team approached this by infusing them with unique climates and characteristics to reflect the diverse beliefs and culture of their people, with each land and its people representing a mandala icon revolving around Kumandra. This is inspired by the religious, cultural principles teaching that everything is centered around a common belief system or cosmology. During the worldbuilding of Kumandra, the designers focused on the expression of fantasy through using unfamiliar shapes, playing with scale and color, and placing objects in unexpected locations. Kumandra's Dragon River is inspired by the Mekong, and its dynamic colors in different lands are used to illustrate Raya's location in the film.
The filmmakers focused the core of the film on Raya and Sisu, and their conflicting characteristics of trust issues and over-trusting acted as the basis for the film's humor and emotion. They initially designed the characters separately, drawing various designs of Raya and Sisu. However, they felt that there was something lacking and incomplete in their designs, and they realized the importance of designing them together, helping them better understand how they complemented each other both visually and thematically.
Raya was conceived as a serious swordswoman focusing on her goal to find Sisu, and Sisu was conceived as a dragon trapped in her human form who refused to help Raya. However, as the writing progressed, Raya softened and Sisu become more helpful; the writers approached Raya as a character who act flawlessly and Sisu who does everything sideways. The designers ensured that Raya's observed quality would be culturally authentic, functional for her role as a swordswoman, and reflective of her emotional journey throughout the film. They designed her with feminine nose and strong, prominent cheekbones qualities. Her outfit is based on traditional sabai top and dhoti pants with cultural dragon references; her high-collar cape and large hat acted as protective layers that the filmmakers intended to remove as she emotionally evolves with the film. They aimed to make Raya exceptionally expressive and emotionally diverse, focusing on her playful and comedic aspects.
Sisu is inspired by the naga, mythical beings who can manifest as serpent or human and are usually associated with water. The designers were inspired by the naga's cultural influence and powerful presence in Southeast Asia that evokes a feeling that they "actually exist in an invisible world of which we are not a part", and they sought to explore this concept in the story where the dragons were revered and similarly reflected this effect. They explored many silhouettes and attitudes of Sisu, ranging from ethereal and magical to the ferocious and skeptical, and they consulted with the Trust to help maintain her fantastical and unique characteristics while also addressing cultural customs and beliefs. Specific design elements in her dragon form were intentionally retained in her human attire to create a cohesive and recognizable character design.
The poses of the dragon statues represent the designers' efforts to convey the same sense of grandeur, reverence, and awe-inspiring presence that dragons have in Southeast Asian culture. The dragons' footsteps radiate colorful, refracted ripples of light to emphasize cultural association with water. They designed the dragons with glowing characteristics and fluid grooms and textures, referencing various design elements such as scales and translucent fins. Water is a central element in the story; it is used to illustrate Raya's emotional growth, where colored bodies of water represent moments in which Raya feels close to those around her while high contrast, dark-colored ones represent her distrust and insecurity. The Druun were approached as embodiments of hopelessness and dread with a dynamic, cloudy form that is difficult to be perceived as one continuous form; their concepts include aquatic life, water boiling in reverse, dough folding in on itself, black holes, and parasitic behaviors.
Dragons are a central aspect in Heart's design; they appear in its sacred fortress and palace and serve as cultural symbols. The dragons' design were influenced by water, which were reflected in Heart's rounded-shape architecture designs that form pattern of ripples. The designers aimed to make Heart's pond a magical and sacred place because it represent an important character moment between Raya and her father, incorporating elements of flowers that only bloom at night. While researching these flowers, they were inspired by an art installation involving lamps that would grow stronger and dimmer based on a person's location to create the Kumandra flowers. Similarly, they light up when the Dragon Gem, symbol of hope, was near; this illustrated an important theme in the story.
Tail is inspired by fantasy plateaus and sand waterfalls and was intended as the "wild west" of Kumandra. Talon, the floating land that acted as a trading crossroad in the story, is inspired by Southeast Asia's cultural floating markets and night markets. The designers approached Talon's as a pier that had five different levels, envisioning the pier starting at the top level, and as the waterline lowered due to the drought, new platforms would be constructed underneath. Spine's design was influenced by its cultural connection with bamboo and focused on natural forms and textures, consisting of a black bamboo frame and a colossal woolly mammoth-like tusked roofline with large stone foundations from the surrounding rocky mountain. Spine's snowy, black bamboos becomes deep blue with maroon hints and lit color schemes create a striking visual contrast that greatly enhances its grand atmosphere. The designers employed a "lost-and-found approach to [the] edges", playing with shadows and lighting to create a sense of mystery and drama for Spine.
Fang's design aesthetic reflects its commitment to strict and stringent principles. They based their designs on brutalism and strong, monolithic, and rigid geometric shapes, reinforcing their rigid identifies. The designers explored stretching Fang buildings and incorporating repeated rooflines to evoke the ominous sensation of a large creature peering down. In the Fang Palace, tall, vertical banners and giant gold fang-like sculptures hang ominously from sky high ceilings. Their rectangular with sharp edges and cold, sterile feel designs were designed to contrast the floral motifs and round, organic shapes those of Heart.
Namaari is Raya's close friend before she betrayed her to steal the Dragon Gem for her people, the Fang, acting as one of the main antagonists and her rival. To express Namaari's strength and power, the designers focused on her facial expressions and physicality such as her aggressive nature and fierce stare. They adorned her with a hard-edge outfit with a predominantly off-white color palette to express her tough personality, reflecting Fang's geometric shapes of silhouette and patterning. Young Namaari's attire is designed to contrast her from young Raya, with stark white and gold elements representing Fang's harsh lifestyle as opposed to Raya's draped, soft, and blue designs with an overall serene feel.
Animation and cinematography
Kelsey Hurley, Gabriela Hernandez, and Shweta Viswanathan supervised an all-female technical leadership team that oversaw the flow of animation tools and other technical resources. Approximately 800 artists worked on the film from multiple departments, using various software applications such as Autodesk Maya, Houdini, and Nuke.
Raya and the Last Dragon employs partial traditional animation techniques, creating a unique style characterized by warmth, imperfection, and distinctiveness that distinguishes it from conventional CG animations. This approach incorporates a flattened look reminiscent of shadow puppets used in Chinese storytelling, imbuing the film with a human-touched quality and emotional resonance effects. The animation team used intricate lighting and atmospheric designs to create Kumandra's diverse environments. They skillfully draped the characters' garments by deftly folding long panels of cloth, minimizing reliance on seams to maintain the structure. This departure from the traditional standard pattern-based pipelines approach made the process exceptionally challenging. To handle the challenge of casting and choreographing a wide array of diverse characters, the team enhanced their crowd system to efficiently manage the increasing diversity within the film. They meticulously studied and modified their workflows and pipelines to support this approach, adapting their tools and processes to handle the complexities. These adaptations were achieved through art-directed, simulated, and procedural approaches, utilizing Disney's Houdini-based Skeleton Library system.
To depict the diverse tribes residing in different lands, an innovative modular approach was adopted, involving strategic element reuse and new techniques to introduce variation. A tracking system was implemented to validate assets and ensure their efficient use downstream. Collaborative efforts and an improved workflow between departments enabled the team to creatively and efficiently generate mass crowd assets. Various animation techniques, including anisotropic distances in physical and Boids simulations, as well as procedural fish/dragon animation layers and distance integral invariants for detecting dragon foot contacts, were employed to handle complex shots. These shots included beetles crawling atop one another and intricate fish/dragon choreography.
Creating Sisu in computer-generated imagery (CGI) was challenging; her unique, otherworldly form was exceptionally complex to rig, and her fluid shape needed to be done as both bipedal and quadrupedal. Talon's exceptionally complex and intricate elements, assets, models, and characters with the added necessity to move them around water make it the most complex environment to produce. Rendering Tail's minimalist landscape in CGI proved challenging due to the need for the camera to be extremely close to capture the desert floor. Added complexities arose from the manually modeling of cracks and the scattering of rocks and vegetation elements throughout the scene.
Cinematography focused on emphasizing Raya's characterization and her distrust of the world. They create contrasts from various camera and lighting styles to illustrate trust and distrust, applying them sequence-to-sequence and shot-to-shot based on her story arc. For example, the distrustful Raya was shot with a wide lens, deep focus, and a narrow color palette, while the trusting Sisu was shot with a long lens, shallow focus, and a broader color palette. To highlight the abrupt transition when Raya was thrown into the blue waters of the Dragon River in Heart to the scene six years later in Tail's harsh desert, the cinematographers employed light distortion techniques. These techniques were used to create a mirage effect, a shimmering illusion typical of hot environments, accentuating the dramatic shift in lighting, color, climate, and water in the film.
Music
James Newton Howard composed the score for Raya and the Last Dragon. Jhené Aiko wrote and performed a song entitled "Lead the Way" in the end credits. The score was released on February 26, 2021. Filipino singer KZ Tandingan was hired as the performer of "Gabay" (Guide), Disney's first-ever Filipino-language song, in March 2021. The track, the Filipino version of "Lead the Way", was released as part of the film's soundtrack for the Filipino dub of the film. Allie Benedicto, studio marketing head of Disney Philippines, said that the song "demonstrates [their] commitment to work with local creative talents".
Marketing and release
When Disney released the trailers on January 26, 2021, viewers expressed concerns about the limited Southeast Asian representation in the film's primarily East Asian-based cast and advocated for a more culturally accurate and diverse representation. Disney collaborated with various brands ranging from toys to merchandise such as McDonald's, LG, and Procter & Gamble to help market Raya and the Last Dragon. They also partnered with Southeast Asian brands like Omsum and Sanzo to pay tribute to the Southeast Asia cultures that inspired the film, and they supported and promoted many local, emerging advertisers there in their marketing efforts. When choosing promotional partners, they accounted for the film's target audience and the increasing number of people returning to theaters despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 107-minute Raya and the Last Dragon was initially scheduled for release on November 25, 2020, but was later pushed back to March 12, 2021, before moving up a week. These shifts were reportedly made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its eventual shift enabled the film to be simultaneously released in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access, which was available for purchase until June 4, 2021, before making it free for all subscribers from that date. In theaters, Raya and the Last Dragon was accompanied by a short film, Us Again (2021).
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Raya and the Last Dragon for digital download on April 2, 2021, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on May 18. The digital release also included Us Again. Bonus features bundled with its Blu-ray release include "An Introduction to Us Again", a behind-the-scenes look of the short Us Again; "Taste of Raya", a virtual Southeast Asian dining experience; "Raya: Bringing It Home", an inside look on how the animators worked at home; "Martial Artists", a lesson on the martial art forms and weapons used in the film; "We are Kumandra", the cultural influences of the film from the Southeast Asia Story Trust; outtakes from the film; facts and Easter eggs; Ripa's experience of working on the storyboard; and deleted scenes.
Thematic analysis
Raya and the Last Dragon deals with the theme of trust, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Raya learned not to trust anyone in the story's broken world, while her father and Sisu, the last dragon, believed that the broken world only exists because people do not trust one another. Their conflicted beliefs drive the story, and as each character is introduced, they each challenge the theme of trust.
Raya's severe trust issues stem from childhood betrayal when her friend, Namaari, deceived her for the Dragon Gem, leading her to overreact and distance herself from others. Her father's unwavering trust in others despite betrayal leads to a traumatic incident that intensifies her distrust. Throughout her journey, Raya encounters repeated betrayals, reinforcing her lack of faith in people. Consequently, she became constantly vigilant and overprotective toward Sisu. Sisu assists Raya by challenging her beliefs and encouraging her to trust again. She imparts a powerful lesson about the transformative impact of trust, showing how a simple act of faith can bridge immense gaps. Raya, initially scarred by betrayal, learns to overcome her past and bravely forgives, demonstrating the importance of trust and unity. By working together, Raya and her friends save their world, underscoring the importance of mutual trust and cooperation. When Namaari's actions lead them to a dire situation, Raya realizes her mistakes and chooses to trust Namaari, culminating in the revival of Kumandra from petrification.
The film conveys essential moral messages including friendship, responsibility, leadership, courage, trust, and unity. Sri Wulan compared her experience to how children learn to distrust their perceptions in social interactions when they are confronted by double messages in their family. She observed that her overly protective, vigilant, and isolating behavior, as well as her tendency to assume and anticipate recurring betrayals, are all key signs of trust issues studied in clinical research. Tawakkal, Monix, and Watani wrote that it addresses social issues like division and conflict arising from prejudice, hatred, greed, and the thirst for power, examining the importance of introspection and mutual understanding.
The film is interpreted as a reflection of evolving themes of feminism, gender equality, and diverse female empowerment in Disney animated films, breaking traditional stereotypes and challenging patriarchal dominance. Unlike previous Disney princess films which romanticized love and emphasized physical beauty, Raya and the Last Dragon portrays a strong female warrior protagonist as she struggles to reunite her country, highlighting women's mutual support without patriarchal influence. The film's feminist message is robust, depicting the main female character as rational, courageous, and independent, free from male dominance. Wardah and Kusuma wrote that it focused on trust in women as leaders, emphasized friendship over romance, and portrayed a strong female warrior image.
In animation and visual cultures, various elements such as characters, settings, lighting, and sound help convey cultural narration and messages. Characters shape the story and ensure events unfold cohesively, and characterizations are their traits and nature; both serve as mediums through which creators convey various meanings in the story. According to Citra Kemala Putri, Bahasa Rupa, the traditional visual language, remains relevant in the arts as an opportunity to move beyond the use of Western visual language. Films like Raya And The Last Dragon can transition from conventional to digital media by harnessing cultural principles and technological advancements. This transition preserves the original purpose of epic storytelling and imparts moral teachings while simultaneously rejuvenating and alleviating the saturation of the traditional arts. It can also produce captivating narratives, visually appealing presentations, and rich audio, as well as engage the senses, stimulating the imagination, and evoking emotional responses.
The fusion of martial arts, such as Pencak Silat from Indonesia and Arnis from the Philippines, is used to give Raya a unique fighting style based on various Southeast Asian cultures, but this approach may be criticized for potential misrepresentation due to the diverse philosophical aspects inherent to each martial art style. Shienny Megawati Sutanto wrote that the film could achieve a more authentic representation of Pencak Silat by delving into specific styles and their philosophical meanings, going beyond visual displays to create a more profound characterization of Raya's fighting style. Similarly, Raya's costumes although encompass the diversity of Southeast Asian cultures, led to a shallow representation, lacking the depth of meaning found in each garment and the respective cultures they represent. The film's portrayal of Southeast Asian visual cultures, including weapons, martial arts styles, and clothing worn by Raya, remained limited to surface-level signs and meanings. Despite using Southeast Asian visual cultures as a reference, the incorporation of various cultures into the characters resulted in a superficial appearance, undermining the diversity and richness of Southeast Asian cultures. She concluded that reinterpretation of cultural elements in films, if not done carefully, can result in a loss of meaning and turn the inspiration into an empty visual representation devoid of cultural significance, and although the film may seem inspired by various Southeast Asian cultural elements ostensibly, it fails to communicate the true diversity and uniqueness of Southeast Asian cultures.
In Nirwana's analysis, the film effectively portrays the identity of Nusantara Southeast Asian culture through selected scenes and the main character, Raya. She possesses qualities like bravery, honesty, loyalty, and an appreciation of cultural diversity which are highly regarded in Indonesian culture. The film conveys positive messages about cultural diversity and the significance of cooperation to achieve common goals which are essential values in the Indonesian society, incorporating essential aspects of daily life and spiritual activities that align with the values commonly practiced in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia. Multiculturalism is prominently portrayed in the film, symbolized through food and shared experiences. This is demonstrated through characters discussing ingredients from various villages, representing the diversity of Southeast Asian cuisines. The film promotes unity and togetherness, emphasizing the significance of multiculturalism. It also emphasizes the concept of unity among different tribes, with pluralism acting as a means to achieve a harmonious union. It showcases various cultural and multicultural elements to convey a message of unity and the richness of diversity within Southeast Asian cultures. The film also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a harmonious relationship with nature, highlighting that such balance leads to peace, prosperity, and unity. Kumandra was constructed as a metaphor for environmental harmony, illustrating it as an ideal and heavenly life where everything coexists in harmony. Chief Benja of Heart strives to restore this environmental harmony after the tribes are divided due to greed, hatred, and the Dragon Gems. Wulan, Nurhasanah, and Sahri wrote that it promotes unity ecocritically and showcases the need to preserve environmental sustainability.
Reception
Box office
Raya and the Last Dragon grossed $54.7million in the United States and Canada, and $75.7million in other territories for a worldwide total of $130.4million.
During its opening weekend in the US and Canada, Raya and the Last Dragon grossed $2.5million on its first day and went on to debut to $8.5million across 2,045 theaters, topping the box office. Theater chains Cinemark and Harkins in the US, and Cineplex in Canada, did not initially run the film after declining Disney's rental terms, which led to Raya and the Last Dragon failing to match the opening-weekend grosses of family-centered The Croods: A New Age (2020) and Tom & Jerry (2021). Raya and the Last Dragon performance, however, improved in the following weeks, matching and eventually surpassing Tom & Jerry's box office numbers. The film grossed $5.5million in its second weekend and $5.2million in its third, remaining atop the box office.
Worldwide, Raya and the Last Dragon debuted in 32 markets, grossing $26.2million in its opening weekend; the top countries were China ($8.6million) and Russia ($2.8million). The film earned $11.5million in its second weekend and $8million in its third from 29 markets.
Audience viewership
In its first three days in the week of March 1, Raya And The Last Dragon was watched for 355million minutes and placed fourth for the week among films. The film was released on Disney+ without any additional cost on June 4, 2021, worldwide; it was the second-most-viewed streaming title after Netflix's Lucifer. It was viewed for approximately 1.1billion minutes from May 31 to June 6, a significant increase for the film and any streaming title, which previously had 115million viewing minutes a week when it was only available as a premium title for $30.
According to the official list of the most watched streaming titles of 2021 released on January 21, 2022, by Deadline Hollywood and Nielsen Holdings, Raya and the Last Dragon was ranked the third-most-streamed film of 2021 with 8.34billion minutes watched, behind Luca (2021) and Moana with 10.5billion and 8.9billion minutes watched respectively. In January 2022, tech firm Akamai reported that the film was the ninth-most-pirated film of 2021.
Critical response
Raya and the Last Dragon has an approval rating of based on professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of . The consensus reads; "Another gorgeously animated, skillfully voiced entry in the Disney canon, Raya and the Last Dragon continues the studio's increased representation while reaffirming that its classic formula is just as reliable as ever." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned Raya and the Last Dragon a score of 74 out of 100 based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 92% of those gave it a positive score, with 78% said that they would recommend it.
Critics including Shirley Li of The Atlantic and Brandon Katz of Observer praised the imagery and themes. Allen Johnson of the San Francisco Chronicle, among others, said that the film expertly balances emotion, humor, and social politics against a backdrop of stunning visual beauty and captivating storyline. IndieWire noted its rich storytelling and emotional depth, complemented by humor and heartwarming moments. Rolling Stone and RogerEbert.com praised its masterful blend of imagery and cultural mythologies, creating a visually stunning and emotionally engaging narrative reminiscent of classic Disney animated repertoires. Similarly, Vanity Fair and Vulture said that it expertly conveys the emotional depth and themes of the story through visually stunning animations and compelling characters. In addition, praise was also directed to the strong cast choice. and diverse characters.
The story and limited Southeast Asian representation were criticized. Li criticized Raya's lack of depth, describing her as behaving more like a tourist than a genuine representation of the cultures depicted. She pointed out that unlike other successful fantasy films such as Black Panther (2018) and Moana, where cultural specificity is integral to the hero's journey, Raya struggles to seamlessly integrate its world into the narrative. In The New York Times, Beatrice Loayza expressed that the film falls short of the familiar Disney princess formula, questioning its cultural representation and corporate strategy. She stated that while the story is engaging, it feels somewhat trite in its message. In his Variety review, Peter Debruge criticized the dense and occasionally rushed story and world-building executions, which lacked an elegant and smooth narrative flow. Reviewers for The Irish Times and Vox cited its unwieldy central conceit and indistinct and insensitive cultural representation, respectively.
Accolades
Notes
References
Works cited
External links
Official screenplay
2020s American animated films
2020s children's animated films
2020s English-language films
2020s fantasy action films
2020s fantasy adventure films
2021 action films
2021 computer-animated films
2021 fantasy films
2021 films
American animated adventure films
American animated fantasy films
American animated feature films
American fantasy adventure films
Animated buddy films
Animated films about dragons
Animated films about magic
Anime-influenced Western animation
Disney Princess films
Films about shapeshifting
Films directed by Carlos López Estrada
Films directed by Don Hall
Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films produced by Peter Del Vecho
Films scored by James Newton Howard
Films set in a fictional country
Films with Disney+ Premier Access
IMAX films
Southeast Asia in fiction
Walt Disney Animation Studios films
Walt Disney Pictures animated films