Raya and The Last Dragon Review: I Wish to Join This Fellowship of Butt Kickery

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Raya and the Last Dragon was an amazing movie

What Happens in Raya and The Last Dragon?

Raya is a young girl who lives in the remnants of a land once known as Kumandra, a prosperous and peaceful land protected by dragons, that was destroyed by an evil creature called the Druun. After the Druun turns all the dragons and a lot of humans to stone, the last dragon named Sisu creates a dragon gem that defeats the Druun, but Sisu disappears. The loss of the dragons creates a power struggle amongst the humans as they each want the gem and they eventually split the land into 5 lands, Heart, Fang, Tail, Spine, and Talon. 

Raya comes into the story 500 years later as we see that she is the princess of Heart and her father is the guardian of the dragon gem. He hopes to reunite with the tribes as Kumandra once more. After an incident where the gem is destroyed by a different tribe, the Druun is released once more into the world and Raya’s father is turned to stone. 6 years later Raya is on the hunt, trying to find the last dragon to save her father and maybe Kumandra altogether.

Who Are The Characters in Raya and The Last Dragon?

Our main two characters are Raya and Sisu. Raya is the main protagonist and a wonderful character. She is dedicated to her cause, and loyal to those around her. Her trusting, go-lucky nature gets her in trouble, and it changes the way she views the world.

Sisu is the funniest character in the movie without a doubt, and she brings great energy. Her humour comes from her unique view of the world, and her lack of awareness considering she was asleep for 500 years. She views the world with wonder and hope. It’s this hope that makes her a great fit to help Raya on her journey.

Raya and The Last Dragon Review

This movie is incredible. It blew every expectation I had out of the water, and I had pretty high expectations to begin with. With it being a Disney movie, I expected big things and big things we got. The in-theatre experience was awesome, and it was great to be back in theatres for the first time in 4 months. The characters are great, the entire movie is funny, and is an entertaining watch from start to finish.

Raya and The Last Dragon feels like a return to the Disney of old. Not to say their newer stuff hasn’t been good, but this movie is awesome. It feels like it would fit into the humour of Aladin, but it has so much more action. The storytelling is phenomenol, and it seems to open doors into this new world.

The thing that surprised me the most was the quality of the action in this movie. The fight scenes feel so real, and the movements feel very natural from an animation standpoint. As an animated Disney movie, quality action isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, but it might be something we should expect more of moving forward.

We see different fighting styles from different groups in this movie, and it goes to show the amount of effort put in to make sure everything was perfect. After seeing this one, I’d love to see more movies in the genre from Disney paired with their great storytelling.

I loved the action and the effort put into animating, but it’s the Disney storytelling that pulls this movie together. We see ups and downs, we see comedy, and we see great character interactions. The movie is fun to watch, and the story will capture your emotions. The challenges faced by the characters make them lovable, and it makes the story that much more in-depth. 

Without a doubt, Raya and The Last Dragon contains some of my favourite characters written by Disney. Sisu is hilarious and Raya is an example of dedication to a cause. They make for a really solid pair, and their development is infinitely linked. They grow and change based on each other, and the development is very deep. Some of the secondary characters play large roles, and they all feel important in some aspect. There is very little wasted material or screen time, and it makes for a captivating watch. 

I loved this movie and I think you will too. It’s a perfect combination between comedy and action, and the characters are absolutely lovable. Although $35 to buy a movie might be steep, it is totally worth the expense if you can’t go see this work of art in theatres.