While Disney's modern princess films remind young girls that they can also be heroines, Raya and the Last Dragon teaches viewers about the dangers of adventure on their own. Similar to Mona, Raya embarks on a classic hero's journey.
Raya and the Last Dragon is Disney's first film to introduce a Southeast Asian princess, creating its own traditions. But when the drune attacks the bad guys, an enemy capable of turning everything into a stone, the dragons fought to defend themselves and humans alike.
The film moves forward on the foundations of Frozen and Moana,which launched a modern era of princesses that focus not on romantic stories, but on the independence of princesses and their determination to save their people and worlds. While Elsa and Mona spent all their films building their strengths, independences and freedoms, Raya's journey features moments when she faces the challenge of making new friends, relying on them to fight for her cause.
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Focus film Raya and the Last Dragon on topics of trust, which breathes new life into Disney's adventure and action cartoon format.
Raya's relationship with the Sisso dragon deepens when you move together through the areas of Comandra (tail, claw, spine, fangs, and heart). Raya and the Last Dragon are room to give Platonic relationships and friendships what they deserve.
he considers Raya and the Last Dragon are one of Disney's best grief-centric flames. Disney Princess films have always been about grief, with almost all princesses losing a family member (or more) at the beginning of their films.
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Disney princesses have always had a big impact on popular culture, especially among American children. Raya and the Last Dragon girls in Southeast Asia were two princesses instead of one, both adorable fighters, both of whom learned valuable lessons about relying on friends and family to help. (There are some obvious similarities with Mulan: A young girl uses her combat skills in her quest to protect her father, and a dragon companion is voice-over by a comedian).
Of course it comes out. Raya and the Last Dragon for an audience with higher expectations about cultural representation than those who grew up with Mulan.
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Disney has done a lot of research for the film. Moana, Disney relied on a group of artists, academics and others to help them with matters of cultural accuracy. But the fact that most of the other vocal actors (who make up a talent-filled list of Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Aquavina and Sandra Oh) are from East Asia, and since Comandra is a "fantasy" world inspired by several different countries from a wider region, the film risks blurring cultural signals to the point where it becomes difficult to identify them for people who are expected to understand the film's culture.
It's a fine line that needs to be treated with caution, and part of a larger debate about the extent to which films featuring unrepresented ethnic groups are asked to bear the burden of "shooting that group accurately." Mulan, this film mostly seems tobe American, with jokes about things like working on group projects at school that seem a little out of place in a supposedly fictional world.
I eventually enjoyed the action and distinctive feelings the film gave, with a princess who felt really excited about her. The scary drune also evokes the threats of Munonoki, Princess of Miyazaki.
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The bottom line
Raya and the Last Dragon offer a hero's journey with beautiful animations filled with action, the next perfect development for modern Disney princess movies. While princesses such as Moana and Elsa have spent their films learning how to trust their power, the first Disney princess from Southeast Asia is an already excellent fighter, able to overcome even the most powerful warriors (including her enemy and colleague Princess Namari). This gives the film space to focus on topics of trust, the importance of finding friends and family on your side, as well as addressing concepts such as grief, the core themes on which Disney princess films are not always adequately explored.