The Imperfections of What Makes Us Human: "Raya and the Last Dragon" Reflection

Love is a powerful emotion, and it can be said that it fuels every Disney film: a love for romance, a love for family, a love for culture. Love is what causes characters to follow one another without much question - why everything works out in the end and gives us the butterflies in our stomachs.

Raya... Raya is not about love. At least, it's not only about love.

Raya and the Last Dragon, directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, is the story of one girl's mistake that cursed an already broken world. That girl is named Raya. Her mistake? She trusted someone else.

In this movie, the land of Kumandra has been split into five kingdoms after the plagues of the Druun, evil entities that turn their victims to stone. The land's dragons ended the Druun and saved all the people, but their sacrifice turned them to stone. Only one dragon remained: Sisu, but no one knew where she was. The last remainder of their magic is an orb called the Dragon Gem, which is what kept the lands safe after 500 years. Raya's kingdom - the Heart Land - was tasked to protect it because while everyone knew the gem saved the people from the Druun, it was rumored that the gem is what also made the Heart Land prosperous.

And everyone wanted the Gem.

Raya's father, Chief Benja voiced by Daniel Dae Kim, believed it was possible for the lands to be one again, so he invited the other four kingdoms to his home: the Lands of Fang, Spine, Tail and Talon. There, Raya met Namaari, another daughter of a chief from the Fang Land. The two instantly shared a connected love and interest for the dragons, calling themselves “dragon nerds.”

Because of this strong immediate connection, Raya decided to show Namaari the Dragon Gem as another step to strengthen the new friendship. But when she shows her the gem, the truth was revealed as Namaari betrayed Raya and alerted her people of the gem's location. All the kingdoms converged on the gem, fighting over who was allowed to possess it, and it shattered into five pieces in the process, releasing the Druun back in into the world. The kingdoms fled back to their homes, each taking a piece of the gem in the process and leaving Raya and her father alone to defend themselves against the Druun. They were unsuccessful. Raya lost her father, and her home was abandoned.

And that is where the story begins.

Regret

As a child, Raya exhibited joy and confidence. She had been trained by Chief Benja as a guardian of the Dragon Gem, and in doing so, Raya had learned all she could about the other kingdoms in order to combat their fighting styles. She is skillful with her father's sword and quick on her feet.

And yet, there is a humility to her character. Kelly Marie Tran embodies in Raya an understanding to her flaws, who is painfully aware of the mistakes she has made and the regret she must carry on her shoulders because of it. She makes it clear to us from an early start that she blames herself for what has transpired, which has now been six years prior. As she prays to the last dragon Sisudatu to come help them, she cries as though it has been only days since the disastrous get-together.

“Look, there’s not a lot of us left, and we really… we really need your help. If I can be honest, I really need your help.

I made a mistake. I trusted someone I shouldn’t have, and… now the world’s broken. Sisudatu... I just really, really want my ba back. Please.”

She is alone. She no longer trusts anyone's intentions, she solely believes everyone is simply thinking of themselves. Her entire motivation to find the last dragon begins because she wants her father back. She's not out to save the world and be a hero. Frankly, I'm sure she doesn't believe she's worthy of being one. This film introduces our protagonist as anti-Disney as possible: there is no joy, no self-confidence.

Simply a woman of regret and determination.

Simply human.

Perhaps it is this open honesty of one's self that manifests the great dragon of Sisu to Raya. It is never thoroughly explained whether it was the location or Raya that brought Sisu back, so it is left to our interpretation.

Denial

Standing across from Raya in this tale is Namaari, who has also had a unique experience in the six years since the betrayal. Voiced by Gemma Chan, Namaari is not the antagonist of our story, though she does oppose Raya for the majority of it.

And even though she is directly responsible for the destruction to the Dragon Gem.

Unlike Raya, her kingdom of the Fang Land thrived since the return of the Druun, and her single parent Chieftess Virana (Sandra Oh) has survived. Because of this, Virana has seen the events of the betrayal as a win, even though the other kingdoms blame them for their misfortunes.

But does Namaari feel the same?

It's hard to tell. Namaari is not as blatantly open about her feelings as Raya, so it's hard to indicate what goes on inside of her head. She obviously feels remorse for the end of dragons and the plague of Druun, but her mission is very much centered around on what benefits the Fang Land. Even when Namaari learns that the last dragon has returned and Raya is finding the Dragon Gem shards in order to cast off the Druun once again, she has to think of her people first. Her mother even orders her to take Sisu and the shards from Raya, so when Sisu saves the world, the Fang Land can achieve some credit so their betrayal can be forgotten.

"If we had the dragon and the gem pieces, we would be forgiven. We could save the world. But more importantly, our people would remain safe."

Because while they know they made a mistake, the Fang Land doesn't acknowledge it. In the six years since their mistake, they never tried to find Sisu like Raya, though their large cat mounts make them the most capable to traverse over large stretches of land. Raya found Sisu with the help of a scroll she stole from the Fang Land. It was always possible for them to help, but they never did. Because deep down, they didn't want to. They were prospering. Why do something that could ruin their achievements?

And all that is seen in Namaari. At three different instances, she stands opposed to Raya. Both women wear the same colors: yellow, red and brown. Both have made equal mistakes, but only one has had to pay for them in six years of hardship to learn anything from it.

Namaari's denial of her actions is what makes her human.

Loss

Raya and the Last Dragon does an amazing job introducing the five distinct kingdoms that can be compressed to five unique characters: Raya, Namaari, Boun (Izaac Wang) from Tail, Noi (Thalia Tran) from Talon, and Tong (Benedict Wong) from Spine. Each of the five lands is unique from each other, to the snow-covered bamboo shoots of Spine to colorful water city of Talon. It is clear that all were inspired by Southeastern Asian cultures, and each have their own rich histories that we sadly only get to see snippets of.

The conflict with these kingdoms is that they don't trust each other, splitting into their own separate lands at the end of the first Druun plague. Raya's father was the only chief that wished for them to be reunited as Kumandra again, but that dream was returned with only laughs of disapproval. Raya herself never dreamed of joining with people of the other lands (remember, she had become a loner), but acknowledge at times she needs their help.

And for a price, Boun, Noi, and Tong join Raya and Sisu. They join the group not because they particularly liked Raya or because she was charming to them, but because they got something out of the arrangement. Like it's been shown, they are thinking of themselves. However, as the group come to learn one other, they realize they all have one thing in common: everyone has lost someone to the Druun.

It's such a simple thing this one detail. One could argue it was added to give everyone a slightly tragic backstory, but in reality, it gives everyone a common objective. It shows Raya that people don't necessarily have to all have the same interests in order to be friends. They simply have to have the same goal.

And that is what's so strikingly different to Raya and Namaari's short friendship. They had everything in common, but their goals were never the same. Both simply reciprocated what their parents wanted, without considering what they themselves desired.

It's intriguing to think what could have happened if both women lost their parents and their home when the Druun returned. Could they have been friends and worked together to retrieve Sisu?

Possibly.

Trust

Sisudatu (Sisu for short) the dragon is most certainly the surprise of the film. Disney captures Awkwafina in both her dragon and human form, especially if you look past the slightly controversial dragon eye-shape. (Yes, yes, I see Elsa eyes, too.) Though her legend amplifies her to be a magnificent dragon, Sisu reveals herself to be the weakest of her siblings; her "special dragon power" is that she's a really strong swimmer.

"Have you ever done like a group project, but there's, like, that one kid who didn't pitch in as much, but still ended up with the same grade?"

It becomes clear from the beginning that Sisu cannot save the day on her own, and the two of them need to work together in order to retrieve all pieces of the Dragon Gem. Where Raya shows maturity, Sisu brings a sense of naivety. In the dragon world, she’s young with no real experience on how the world works, especially humans.

A joke that carries on in the film is whenever the duo arrives in a new land in order to search for a piece of the Dragon Gem, Sisu is determined to give them a gift. She states that when you present someone a gift, they are more willing to trust you. And why wouldn’t anyone not trust Raya and Sisu? They only want what’s best for everyone.

While this is a fun gag for giggles, it also highlights the wisdom Sisu holds and her belief in humankind. All dragons - including Sisu's siblings - sacrificed themselves in order to save humans, and in return, all they've done is fight amongst themselves. But Sisu never lets that waver her belief. Even after Raya saves her again and again from the betrayal of humans, she continues to believe a little trust will go a long way.

Even when this trust kills her in the end.

It’s hard to watch Sisu not because she’s not a delight onscreen (seriously, I loved every minute of her) but because it’s a painful reminder of what we as humans could never be. Even at our best, people cannot put their full faith in one another. There will always be the fear of betrayal, even if there is no proof of the possibility.

To be like Sisu is impossible, because it is not what makes us human.

Reflect

This section contains major spoilers for the ending of Raya and the Last Dragon. You have been warned.

What Raya and the Last Dragon introduce beautifully is the idea that change doesn't happen overnight. History can have lasting impacts. Raya and Namaari both try to change who they are for the good of Sisu and Kumandra, but both falter back to their old beliefs. And both, yet again, have equal fault in the downfall because of it.

When Sisu argues to Raya that they need Namaari's help in order to obtain the last Dragon Gem piece and need to ultimately trust her, Raya eventually agrees to the plan because she trusts Sisu. However, her own distrust towards Namaari does not go away. So, when Namaari raises a crossbow at a defenseless Sisu, Raya feels she must protect her friend and fight off Namaari, who ends up misfiring and killing Sisu accidentally.

And the Druun attack at full force, petrifying Chief Virana and enraging Namaari. She fights an equally enraged Raya, both of them blaming each other for what has happened to their lands. In the meantime, the rest of the group are using the remaining gem shards to save the people of Fang, even though they are equally angry at Namaari for what has happened.

At the climax of the fight, Raya has the winning hand but takes a moment to stare at her reflection on her sword. Reflections have been seen throughout the movie: her father looked at his reflection in the same sword, Sisu reflected in Namaari's eyes, Sisu and Raya reflected in the river’s water. It is a moment to look at what matters rather than what’s in front of them. They get to look back, in a figurative way. And in that moment, Raya realizes her selfish anger towards Namaari is not what’s important. Saving the people of Fang is.

And Namaari agrees. Both of them work with the others to selflessly fend off the Druun until they are trapped in a pit full of the evil beings.

Five kingdoms, five shards of the Dragon Gem.

What transpires is the greatest act of trust in the film, even more than Raya and Sisu willing to talk to Namaari outside of Fang. Raya and the others sacrifice themselves in order to give Namaari the opportunity to do the right thing and restore the gem, just like Sisu’s siblings did with her hundreds of years prior.

And at first, Namaari betrays them. Again.

She sees a moment to escape and begins to take it. But she sees the others trapped in stone, and realizes that they did genuinely trust her. No games. No selfish desires. So she shouldn’t do the same.

Once she combines the fragments, even before confirming if it works, she walks over to her companions and joins them, turning to stone. As they put their trust in her, she puts their trust in them.

And it pays off.

Love

If it's not clear, I like this film. I like it a lot. I cried throughout the last 15 minutes, because it essentially had the happiest of endings. The land is restored, statues are turned back to people, everyone is reunited with their families, and even the dragons return! But, it felt extremely well deserved. Though the problems between the five kingdoms have not been resolved, they take a step in the right direction and finally join together at Heart for a party as one land. Kumandra.

The action in this film was spectacular, and the fight sequences were extremely well choreographed. It was simply beautiful storytelling.

It’s made me realize that all the older Disney films were simply one note, with one emotion projecting the story. And the same emotion all throughout. Raya and the Last Dragon was never one note, but it was never too extravagant of a story.

It’s simply a reflection of the human kind, with all our complexities and flaws.

Raya and the Last Dragon is currently playing in theaters and is available on Disney+ with Premier Access.