ANI-MOVIES, *Raya And The Last Dragon

During the height of the pandemic, Disney decided to release its latest theatrical non-Pixar CGI movie on streaming to successful results. Hoping to appeal to a more international market, Disney instead of making a production on an existing story like Mulan, it was decided to created an original amalgamation of several pieces of Asian folklore, similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Despite the blending of different cultures, Raya And The Last Dragon manages to pull their history in an single narrative that reflects defining myths, like a standard fetch quest for magical gems.

Set in the magical country of Kamandra(which is decidely absent of non-Asians), the humans used to have a union with the guardian serpent-like dragons that defend them from the shadowy Druun which turn people into stone. The remaining dragons managed to pull their magic together in a final stand against the Druun, with only one dragon surviving, and disappeared leaving behind a magic crystal which keeps the Druun sealed off from the rest of the world. The enchanted jewel lies in the nation of Heart, which wants to open its doors to the neighboring lands to create a newly unified country. But during the peace summit, the jewel is split into 5 parts, releasing the Druun, and dividing them each with their own jewels staving off the Druun. Jumping to five years later, Heart's princess Raya sets out to retrieve the other four pieces of the jewel by summoning the last dragon Sisu to help in her quest. Sisu is a water dragon that manages to gain different powers from each of the gems the collect, including being able to take on a human form. Along their journey, Raya and Sidu gain new allies, eash with their own reasons to rid the scourge of the Druun in order to return their loved ones back from stone. It turns out that the major element to making magic work in this world is the power of trust, as opposed to the power of "true love" which normally act as the remedy in Disney movies.

Raya And The Last Dragon is in most respects one of Disney's most ambitious CGI productions, with amazing character designs and sweeping animation. One of the few setbacks is in Sisu's dragon form which is a stark contrast to the human characters, appearing more like something out of My Little Pony instead of your average scaled Chinese dragon. There's also some influences from Hayao Miyazaki with the Druun and the giant rolling bug that Raya rides on. Raya's quest would make for a killer 80s Nintendo game idea, but as a full-length motion picture, it actually brings the concept of epic back to high fantasy intended for the whole family.