Raya and Namaari look like the 20-something grown women that they probably are. Those melancholy elements - shared by the refreshingly none-too-sacharine preceding short “Us Again” - shouldn’t repel younger viewers, though, who’ll surely be taken by the rollicking chases and kinetic fight scenes captured by a dynamic and mobile “camera.”Īnd yet perhaps most welcome is the retreat from the Bratz aesthetic in the character design.
Makeshift families are de rigueur in sojourns like these, but screenwriters Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim ever-so-lightly suggest the losses the Druun has dealt them. Without meaning to, Raya and Sisu build a ragtag mini-army on their journey across Kumandra - a team that comes to include a gentle giant (Benedict Wong), a boy-wonder restauranteur (excellent newcomer Izaac Wang) and a naughty quartet I won’t spoil. (An early scene involving a simmering pot of soup with ingredients from all over Kumandra is so delectable you can practically smell the chilis and lemongrass wafting off the screen.) Delightfully, the imaginary land of Kumandra - which also includes snowy mountains and dried-up deserts - is also home to a small bestiary of chimerical creatures, like Raya’s trusty Tuk Tuk (a cross between an armadillo and a pill bug) and the giant cats Namaari and her soldiers ride into battle.
But a focus on its conventional form - even its epic sweep and clever world-building - misses the elements that make the feature so bracing, from its mournful tone and relatively novel stakes to its many tributes to Southeast Asian cultures. Raya and the Last Dragon sends its titular characters in search of the gem pieces hidden in Kumandra’s other realms. Awkwafina Joins Mahershala Ali in 'Swan Song' for Apple
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