All parallels to pleas for bipartisanship aside, there’s a genuine emotional heft to the conflict at its center. Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) isn’t just the future leader of her land, she’s also a fierce martial artist who’s been training to inherit the role of protector of the gem containing the last of the era’s magic. Raya and the Last Dragon, which was directed by Don Hall (of Big Hero 6 and Moana) and Carlos López Estrada ( Blindspotting), and written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim, is a slick production, as much an action movie as a fantasy adventure.
Who could ever relate? Thank God there’s a cute baby to focus on. It’s a movie that takes place in a landscape ravaged by a plague, and one in which, we’re told, the only chance at a future appears to depend on its characters figuring out how to overcome the tribalism that’s splintered their nation. But however intentional the timing, Raya and the Last Dragon is on a level all its own - a dystopian saga that feels disorientingly primed for a release at the tail end of the pandemic, under a president who ran under messages of healing and unity. Zootopia was an unmistakable if imperfect allegory about racism the Frozen sequel pitted its royal sisters against their own kingdom’s colonialist legacy. Universal is set to distribute as always and a release date is on the books for 14 March 2025.Raya (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran) in Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon Photo: Courtesy of Disney+Īs Disney enters its ninth decade of animated features, the company’s been making gestures toward sociopolitical relevance in addition to repositioning its princesses as independent heroines and opening its animated universes up to be more inclusive. Reassuringly, writer/director Dean DeBlois, who has been the guiding force for the big screen trilogy, will be back to oversee the live-action version, which will have to tread a fine line bringing particularly the loveable toothless into the CG/live-action realm.
With critical appreciation and success at the box office, the film has also spawned several spin-off TV series. The movies told Hiccup and Toothless’ quest to combat humanity’s prejudice against dragons, the ache of overcoming the loss of a parent, and first love. The original trilogy of movies used the books by Cressida Cowell as a jumping off point and focused on the special friendship between a young and unheroic Viking boy named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and Toothless, an injured dragon he nurses back to health. Anything Disney can do, DreamWorks Animation can… also do? After years of going toe-to-toe (and sometimes besting) the Mouse House in terms of animated franchise, the company is now also going down the route of making live-action versions of its big hits.
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