A simple story … with the climate crisis in the background – review of the film “Raya and the last dragon”

I’ll tell you a fairy tale

Once upon a time, when the world seemed less complicated, there was the great Kumandra State. There, people and dragons lived in harmony, working together for peace and prosperity. All of this changes when Druuna appear on the horizon – formless beings who personify evil and discord, turn all living things to stone. In a heroic act, dragons sacrifice themselves to save humanity; Sisu – the title last dragon – encloses all the power of his kin in a crystal, which from now on will be the only protection for all beings against the threat lurking on all sides.

Five hundred years later, Kumandra is nothing like the land of its heyday. The peoples inhabiting it divided into separate states, located in different parts of the river in the shape of a dragon. In the Heart – the most fertile and prosperous – we meet the main character, Princess Raya. The girl diligently studies the ancient messages and trains hard with her father, who dreams of uniting the ancient land of the leader in order to become a full guardian of the magic crystal. He does not expect, however, that soon the fragile peace will be breached and the Druuna will take over the world again. By then, the adult Raya will set off in search of the legendary Sisu to try to restore balance to the world, and perhaps even fulfill her father’s greatest dream – also turned into a stone statue.

The princess is wearing pants!

I would like to believe that the stories about passive, fragile as porcelain princesses who spend their entire lives waiting for their prince on a white horse, are rightly a thing of the past. Despite the fact that we follow the story taking place in the realities stylized for at least several centuries back, the heroes seem to follow the spirit of modern times. The values ​​and knowledge given to the girl by a wise, loving father affirm inner strength, equality and a spirit of cooperation, which in themselves are not a priori attributed to any gender. The educational strategy of the leader of the Heart is devoid of patriarchal corruption, thanks to which Raya walks shamelessly along the path paved by her spiritual ancestors – the independent Elsa, the brave Merida, the honorable Mulan or the aggressive Megara. She is active,

The leitmotif of the animation is – as is usually the case in fairy tales – the timeless fight between good and evil. However, the creators decided to make an interesting procedure of dehumanizing these dark forces. Druuns are an undefined mass of negative energy, a physical manifestation of disharmony, feuds and manipulations to which people are susceptible regardless of their social or material status (which is perfectly shown by Raya’s journey through the individual lands of the former Kumandra – everyone has to deal with the damage caused by dangerous creatures from petty thieves to representatives of the highest levels of government). The remaining heroes on both sides of the conflict are therefore only people with all the benefits of their inventory – their virtues and virtues, but also their faults, weaknesses and emotional baggage, they err and seek redemption. Even Raya’s direct opponent – Namaari – deviates from the black and white stereotype of a fairy-tale villain. Internal conflict, lined with a hint of barely signaled homoerotic doubt, authenticates the path that he travels during the plot, placing it more in the position of a hero to some extent tragic, and certainly – one hundred percent human.

How come the world doesn’t end with Los Angeles?

Another factor that distinguishes Raya and the last dragon is his relative non-Americanism. Kumandra’s story, though fictional, draws handfuls from the cultures of Southeast Asia, a region rather marginalized by the Dream Factory. The fulfillment is also perhaps a bit less popular in Poland, but the widely discussed in the western market the issue of representing races other than white, which in the case of the new Disney production is not just about giving Asian characters facial features. The voices are made by actors of almost exclusively Asian origin (including known from the latest installments of Star WarsKelly Marie Tran as Raya, the rising star of Akwafina’s film and music as Sisu, Gemma Chan as Namaari or Sandra Oh as her mother, Virany), while the screenplay is by the Malaysian-Vietnamese duo – Adele Lim (screenwriter for Fabulously Rich Asians ) and Qui Nguyen , previously cooperating with, inter alia, on The Society . Such a set was to guarantee faithful depiction of the culture and beliefs of the peoples inhabiting these regions, which is ultimately visible on the screen; both Ray’s philosophy in his mission and his humble, humble attitude towards the revered dragons-deities present a sensitivity different from what Hollywood spectators are used to, without losing the timeless, universal message.

The bubble of seriousness and sublimity (resulting from the delicate issue of respect for ancient myths and beliefs instilled in the heroes) is pierced by Sisu herself. It turns out that the being worshiped by the Cumandrians as a saint is not closer to haughty, austere and inaccessible deities, but to a cordial, though slightly mad neighbor, in its dragon form both in facial expressions and in behavior resembling an overgrown, hyperactive dog. Thanks to this, in a story with a significant stake and a dark, even post-apocalyptic foundation (the disappearance of dragons means drastically rapidly shrinking water resources) there is still an unforced lightness and humor.

Long live the dreamers!

The new proposal from Disney also impresses with its visual side, freely and smoothly combining various styles and techniques of animation. Saturated frames and colorful, exotic locations will please the eyes of both younger and slightly older viewers. However, the musical setting can be disappointing – it remains essentially transparent; among the paths illustrating the individual sequences, none is catchy enough to be particularly memorable. Honestly, even after leaving the cinema room, it was difficult for me to recall the leitmotif …

The moral of the story can be summarized quite simply: “consent builds, discord ruins” (also seeming to indirectly result from the Far East belief in the superiority of a common goal over an individual’s interest). In the era of uncertainty, aggressive divisions and progressive polarization of societies, he may seem benevolently naive, but admit it for yourself – do not even the most brave get a moment of calm, uninterrupted breath?