Now Kumandra is a gloomy place to hang out, but Raya, with the help of the myth-like dragon Sisu - the creature she unearths and magically conjures back to life in the form of a hip but awkward teen girl just like herself - is off to the races to try and put the valuable Dragon Gem back together (it was broken into pieces) for the sake of all humanity. The valiant dragons tried to slay them but were extinguished. Suddenly the populace is the architecture. The backstory, explained in voice-over narration to open the film, tells us that about 500 years ago, Kumandra was taken over by Drunns - lethal fireballs that turn to stone any human, described as real baddies as a race, that gets in their path. In Mulan, that girl has to disguise herself as a man, but not Raya.

Maybe a more apt comparison here would be with Disney’s live-action Mulan. Both films feature a singular young woman of great strength taking on impossible forces, and both conveniently have fathers who have been put out of commission - thus it is up to daddy’s little girl to save the world instead. No, Raya is a strong and determined warrior girl hellbent on saving us all and returning the fictional Southeast Asian home of Kumandra back to its rightful place as a paradise on Earth when everyone stands united with a kindly dragon force to boot. The plotting just gets a little too jumbled and contrived, full of Disney Princess elements, but careful not to claim entry into that exclusive club. Young-teen girls will devour it, and that certainly is a good thing because, like many female-empowerment stories, this one has a strong message of hope as all semblance of humanity seems to be falling by the wayside. I know who this was made for, and I am not the chosen one.

And the last dragon full movie