Kumandra used to be a large area where humans, and dragons lived together in peace, until an evil force came, and turned everyone into stone. It is said that the last dragon, Sisu, created the orb that sent the evil away. The thing that saved humanity also became a problem. Several people became obsessed with the orb, and it caused them to divid Kumandra into five. 500 years later, humanity has broken the orb, and the evil returns. Sisu might still be out there, and a young warrior, Raya, manages to find her, and together they go on a quest to find the pieces of the orb, so they can put it back together, and get rid of the evil permanently.
Blaine: As soon as Disney Animation was about to begin production on their new feature “Raya and the Last Dragon", COVID happened, and everything went on lockdown. But a virus wasn’t going to stop “Raya and the Last Dragon” from getting made. There was the question if it was possible to make an animated feature at home? It’s never been done before, and the people involved with “Raya" weren’t so sure if it could work. People in the film business are always facing new challenges, whether it’s live action or animation. It’s for a good cause. They want to bring something unique to life. Making a movie in separate houses was a new experience for the people at Disney. This was also a great way to keep people’s creativeness, and talent going during the pandemic. It takes multiple artists to work on a whole animated feature, and it’s impressive that they were able to work in separate houses to bring “Raya and the Last Dragon” to life. More than 900 people were involved in making “Raya and the Last Dragon”.
The story for “Raya and the Last Dragon” went through changes during quarantine, along with the movie’s main character, Raya. Disney thought they had the story for “Raya and the Last Dragon” figured out by the time they were about to start production, but they put more thought into it, and said “this needs more work.” When making an animated feature, the story always goes through changes. It takes a while for everyone to figure out which story feels right for the movie they want to make. Take “Wreck It Ralph” for example. In the beginning, it was Fix it Felix Jr. who was going to be the lead character of that movie before Disney decided to have it focus on the bad guy instead. Also, Ralph would transport from one video game to another through a magic toilet in Felix’s bathroom. Another example would be “Zootopia”. That movie had six different storylines, and Nick the Fox was the main character before Judy Hopps took his place.
During pre-prodcution, the animators had to learn the styles of martial arts, not for themselves, they were going to use these moves for the animation. Lucky thing for them there was an expert working at Disney. One of the screenwriters, Qui Nguyen, is a specialist at martial arts. It made it an easy job for the animators to find a martial arts expert, and they were excited to learn everything from Qui. Qui was also in charge of how the moves should go in the movie.
Cassie Steele was supposed to do the voice of Raya, but that all changed when Disney decided to create a new version of the character. The reason Cassie Steele was replaced was because she didn’t have that quality in her voice that was needed in this new version of Raya. Kelly Marie Tran has been lucky enough to have been apart of the “Star Wars” franchise, but doing the voice of a new Disney princess was something else. All her life, Kelly has been a fan of Disney princesses, and to have been chosen to do the voice of Raya, the next Disney princess, was more than an honor for her. It was a dream come true.
All the actors had to record their own voices at home. It wasn’t easy putting together their own sound booths, which would be small closets, and tents. Gemma Chan, who does the voice of Namaari, had a difficult time recording her voice. There were birds making noise outside, and she had to block off their sound by taping cushions to the walls. The only thing that microphone needed to hear was the actor’s voice. Daniel Dae Kim, who does the voice of Raya’s father, Chief Benja, had spent an hour doing voice work, but then he realized his voice wasn’t being recorded the whole time. So he had to start all over.
The dragon of the movie, Sisu, started off as a boring character because she was more serious. Disney couldn’t allow that. Sisu needed to be the type of character you would fall in love with. Awkwafina is the type of person who can express herself a lot on, and off camera, and that’s what Sisu needed. Awkwafina was putting together her own sound booth at her house so she could do the voice work. Awkwafina is a rapper, and she has a room in her house where she makes music, so putting together a sound booth was no problem for her. Disney had sent Awkwafina a tent, and told her to record her voice in that instead. Sisu has a bit of Awkwafina’s rap skills. Sisu explains to Raya how good of a swimmer she is through rhyme, and it sounds like she is rapping.
Giving Sisu a personality wasn’t as hard as animating her. She has a serpentine body, which was new for the animators. She also swims in water, and runs on raindrops. They did a lot of tests to figure out how they were going to do it. It may not be hard to do that in 2D animation, but doing it 3 dimensional requires more techniques.
Very early on it was decided that trust would be the main subject of the movie. You hear it a lot from Raya because she’s the one with trust issues. It all started when she was in her early teens. Raya’s father had invited the other tribes to their place, hoping they could all be friends like the old days. Raya wasn’t so sure about it, but she did it for her father. Raya thought she found a friend in Namaari from the Fang Land. The orb is the ultimate weapon for keeping the darkness away. It’s their Kryptonite. Raya, and her father were the ones guarding the orb. Raya trusted Namaari enough to show her the orb, but Namaari was using her just to get to it. The orb went into pieces, and Raya’s father was turned to stone. Raya didn’t trust anyone after that, and she hasn’t trusted anyone for the past six years, except for her pet, Tuk Tuk. There is another someone out there who Raya knows she can trust, and that is Sisu.
Just because Raya doesn’t trust anyone that doesn’t mean she has hate in her. Most people, if they’ve been hurt or used, end up hating in life. Raya is still kind, and enjoys smiling.
A lot of Disney princesses have sung, and some, like Mulan, can also kick butt. Raya is more of a fighter than a singer. Although she does sing during the scene where she is summoning Sisu.
Now that the world has been introduced to Raya, she can join the Disney Princess club. And if the third “Wreck-It Ralph” movie brings back the group of Disney Princesses we’ll be seeing her as a new edition.
Having Sisu back means there’s a chance to fix things, and to do that they have to fix the orb. Raya wants to keep Sisu on the down low. If other humans knew that a dragon was alive it could cause too much attention for Sisu. Sisu is not that afraid because she’s a people person. But while they are on a mission it’s best not to let anything get in the way. It would be like the paparazzi stalking you, and Raya already has Namaari following her. Sisu is really calm about things, while Raya is trying to be protective. Sisu thinks Raya should relax, and enjoy herself.
Namaari loved dragons when she was a kid. She even believed there was a way to bring Sisu back. But as she got older, she stopped believing in that. Raya never stopped believing, and that’s what brought Sisu back. Raya is in trouble with Namaari, and Sisu reveals herself in order to save her life. Seeing Sisu is a real eye opener for Namaari, literally. Sisu goes up to Namaari, and they both look at each other in the eyes.
Raya doesn’t want to get close to anyone. Again, it’s hard for her to trust people. Putting a team together was never part of the plan in saving Kumandra, but Raya, and Sisu find people who are trustworthy. They also develop a friendship with them. They want the same thing as Raya, and Sisu, and that is to get rid of the darkness, and bring everyone back. After six years of being alone, and not trusting anyone, Raya has finally found people she can call friends. And even though Raya has trouble trusting other people, her new friends have put their trust into her. They even grow fond of each other.
One of the team members is a baby with pet monkeys. They say kids grow up fast. For this one, she is grown up on the inside. Her family was turn to stone, but she is capable of handling herself. And she has the monkeys to keep her company. The baby is sneaky, clever, and also adorable. The baby cons Raya the first time they meet. Even the youngest can be hard to trust, and Sisu mentions that in the movie. She was saying what I was thinking.
There is so much to say about Sisu. The first thing is she is the heart of the movie. She is full of life, is friendly, thinks of others, and represents peace. Sisu is not the violent type. She wants to defeat evil, but in a nice way. She wishes everyone would get along. Raya, and Sisu develop a bond with each other, and Raya must think of Sisu as her best friend.
Even with darkness around, and turning everyone into stone, Sisu knows how to find peace with herself. The scene with Sisu running through raindrops was to me, the most impressive scene anyone could accomplish constructing while doing it at separate houses. Sisu is bringing both happiness, and joy back. Raya, and the others are having an enjoyable moment as Sisu runs on raindrops. It’s also very beautiful for them to watch. They haven’t felt this much joy in a while. James Newton Howard’s music score helps make that scene feel joyful. Sisu herself feels like she has been reborn again,….for the second time because Raya already helped bring her back.
Sisu really likes to enjoy herself while being on a mission. She is very fun to hang around, and loves to swim, after all she is a water dragon. She could be the best Olympic swimmer the world has ever seen, if dragons are allowed to compete.
Water, and rain are very popular, not just for “Raya and the Last Dragon”, but the short animated featured, “Us Again”, that showed before the movie started. “Us Again” is about rain dropping on an old couple, and making them young again. The rain is like the Fountain of Youth. “Singin in the Rain”, more like "Dancing in the Rain" for this couple. It’s interesting how the characters would move to the beats, and sounds of the music. Dancing is their language. “Us Again” was written by Zach Parrish, a head animator at Disney. Disney Animation hadn’t made an animated short for five years. The last one they made was “Inner Workings”, which was attached to “Moana”. Disney felt it was important to show animated shorts again. Zach Parrish loves the animated shorts, and he wanted to see them live again. Zach believed the idea for “Us Again” was a great one, but he didn’t think Disney would feel the same way. He was wrong. “Us Again” was chosen to be the next Disney animated short.
Let’s get back to “Raya and the Last Dragon”. It took more than one dragon to make that orb, just like it takes more than one artist to work on a scene for an animated feature. Sisu tells Raya, how she managed to defeat evil. It was team work that did it.
Namaari sets a bad example of trust. Raya trusted Namaari the first time they met, and that didn’t go so well. I bet Namaari has lost more than one person’s trust. Who knows how many people she has lied to. Namaari didn’t care what people thought of her, until Sisu awakened that side to her that is good. Namaari has to ask herself who she really is? Does she want to be someone who betrays everyone who decides to trust her? Or does she want to be better than that?
Namaari holds the final piece to the orb, and Sisu believes Namaari can be reasoned with. When Sisu looked deep into Namaari’s eyes she could see there is more to her. Sisu believes there is kindness within Namaari, and she wants to help her bring it out. Raya decides to go along with Sisu’s plan, and once again things don’t go so well. Namaari pulls out a crossbow, and accidentally hits Sisu with it. Raya is furious, and goes after her. With the last dragon gone, the darkness is getting much worse.
Big spoilers…….usually the main character of the film has to be the hero, but that would be too predictable. This was Raya’s mission, and she is letting Namaari finish it, hoping she will do the right thing. After everything she has done, Namaari gets another chance, for the one millionth time. Raya gives Namaari her piece of the orb, and let’s herself get turned to stone. Raya’s teammates don’t trust Namaari, but they do trust Raya, and they are with her. The fate of everyone is in Namaari’s hands. Is she going to let them all down? This is her last chance to earn Raya’s trust. She has to listen to what her conscience is saying, and that is "be a better version of yourself, be a team player, and do what is right.” Namaari realizes she has had enough of being a traitor. She is letting her good side take control. Namaari puts the orb back together, and everyone is saved.
Good guys should never die in a Disney movie. Although they have gotten away with that at times. Like Tadashi in “Big Hero 6”, Ray in “The Princess and the Frog”, Bing Bong in “Inside Out”, Mufasa in “The Lion King”, and Bambi’s mother. But it’s good to know that everyone in “Raya and the Last Dragon” has a happy ending. Not only were the humans brought back, but the dragons as well. Hurray! I knew they couldn’t be stone forever. I didn’t even believe Sisu would stay dead. You should never kill off a character as kind as her.
Namaari has earned Raya’s trust, and the two of them are friends again. Namaari is starting to feel like a better person now that she has done the right thing, and Sisu is very proud of her because of that.
Raya was in her early teen years when her father was turned to stone. Now she’s in her early 20s, and he hardly has aged a day. He should be happy waking up to a peaceful world. Raya was the last thing he saw before being turned to stone, now he sees what a a great leader she has turned out to be. The father has a lot of catching up to do with Raya.
Jimmy Cricket always says “When you Wish Upon a Star, Your Dreams Come True”. Well the father didn’t need a shooting star to have his wish of having all of Kumandra live in peace come true. All it took was a special daughter, and a dragon with a big heart. It won’t just be a brand new beginning for Kumandra, but it’ll also be reliving the past when everyone got along.
The people at Disney are very proud of what they achieved through the years with their popular animated features. For “Raya and the Last Dragon”, they were able to successfully make an animated feature at home during a pandemic.
My rating on “Raya and the Last Dragon” is five out of five stars
