Things Only Adults Notice In Raya And The Last Dragon

As Raya and the Last Dragon opens, we see Raya riding her giant roly-poly companion Tuk Tuk (who appears to be some sort of massive armadillo/pill bug hybrid) through a barren wasteland dotted by human statues. Raya then explains how things got like this — 500 years before, dragons and humans lived together peacefully in a paradise called Kumandra. But their harmonious way of life was destroyed when malevolent spirits called the Druun invaded, turning everyone they touched to stone. The dragons fought to protect the humans, and finally prevailed over the Druun — but all of the dragons were turned to stone in the process save the last one, Sisu, who disappeared.

It's a beautiful story, but adult viewers are going to realize that it seems to have glossed over a few important parts. While Raya presents Kumandra as "paradise" and its people living in perfect harmony, Sisu later explains that the Druun were born of human discord. If that's the case, then Kumandra must not have been the idyllic, conflict-free world that Raya made it out to be. What's more, Raya eventually realizes that trust is the silver bullet needed to defeat the Druun, which makes you wonder — why was trust in such short supply 500 years ago? Could it be that the contentious feelings which led to the wars that divided Kumandra after the dragons disappeared actually began long before the Druun ever showed up?

When Raya and Namaari (Gemma Chan) first meet as children, the two instantly bond over their shared interest in — what else? — dragons. Almost immediately, they're sharing secrets and dreaming about their future — but it turns out to all be a ruse, orchestrated by Namaari's home tribe of Fang so Raya will lead her to the dragon gem. From that moment on, Namaari acts as an antagonist — until the end of the film, when Raya realizes that the key to defeating the Druun is trust, and literally puts her fate in Namaari's hands by giving her Heart's piece of the dragon gem.

It's a moving arc for both characters — and could hold additional significance, from a certain point of view. Some adult viewers may notice that while Raya never gets an explicit love interest in the film, her relationship with Namaari hits many of the same beats often reserved for romantic relationships. The way they meet closely mirrors Anna and Hans' first encounter in Frozen, when Hans is explicitly set up as Anna's love interest (before later being revealed as a villain), and their interactions throughout the film can easily be interpreted as flirtatious. Even Raya's voice actor, Kelly Marie Tran, sees their relationship as romantic, telling Vanity Fair that while Disney's official stance says nothing about Raya's romantic inclinations, "I think if you're a person watching this movie and you see representation in a way that feels really real and authentic to you, then it is real and authentic." Young kids probably won't think much at all about the implied subtext of Raya and Namaari's relationship, but for older viewers yearning for representation, their connection may feel particularly meaningful.

In the story Raya tells of the history of Kumandra, after Sisu sacrificed herself, the surviving human tribes went to war with one another over possession of the dragon gem, which held the last remnants of dragon magic. However, at some point along the way, someone had to have noticed that Sisu's body was missing. Unlike the rest of the dragons, who had been turned to stone, Sisu just vanished. What's more, somehow, a legend began that Sisu had been washed away down the river, and that her body lay at one of its many ends. This is the story Namaari tells Raya early in the movie — which turns out to be true, since it leads Raya to find Sisu six years later.

And yet even though none of these stories would've existed without someone having an idea about Sisu's fate and making a record of it, it appears that no one ever thought to go looking for the heroic dragon. Even while all of the tribes of Kumandra were at each other's throats over the final scrap of dragon magic, it didn't seem to occur to anyone to seek out the real live dragon that was very much within reach. It seems bizarre that Raya was the first to go searching for Sisu, but every indication points to the conclusion that she was. Kids may not think to ask why, but adults will likely wonder what kept anyone else from seeking out Sisu's resting place.

During Raya's visit to Talon Tribe to locate their piece of the dragon gem, she comes across a seemingly abandoned baby — only to realize the baby is a con artist intended to keep her distracted while a trio of Ongis rob her. Despite their dishonest beginnings, the baby and her monkey-like companions throw in their lot with Raya, and wind up being indispensable in the adventure that follows. Eventually, we learn that the baby's name is Noi, and it quickly becomes clear that she's uniquely precocious, able to both move and think on the level of someone many times her age.

But while Noi and the Ongis mostly serve to provide comic relief, adults will likely realize the profound tragedy inherent in a baby who has had to learn the skills of someone much older and fend for herself because she lost her entire family. In the real world, such a child would've likely perished if they weren't taken in by an older caretaker; the option to be adopted by a trio of benevolent sticky-fingered primates wouldn't really exist. In Raya and the Last Dragon's fantasy world, Noi is able to forge a new path for herself as a street-smart trickster and thief, but adults won't be able to ignore the deep sadness of a small child forced to grow up too fast because if she didn't take care of herself, no one would.

When Sisu is explaining the nature of the Druun to Raya and Boun, she describes them as "a plague born of human discord." While that line was scripted long before the COVID-19 pandemic, there's no denying that it probably lands differently than originally intended when watching the film while wearing a mask in a theater capped at 50% capacity, or at home because you haven't engaged in indoor recreation in public places for a year due to the highly contagious virus sweeping across the world. While the coronavirus doesn't turn anyone literally to stone, it has felt for many as though they are frozen in time, unable to move forward until something is done to halt the spread of the disease.

What's more, the way Raya and her friends eventually defeat the Druun also carries particular weight when viewed during a pandemic. Raya realizes that instead of insisting on an every-man-for-himself approach, the only thing that will work is if the members of the different tribes present a united front, trusting one another to do the right thing and accepting that in order to achieve the best outcome for Kumandra as a whole, it may require individual sacrifice. Kids will probably be able to accept the story of the Druun as mere fantasy, but in a world where vaccine and mask debates are still raging on every front, adults may not be able to overlook the obvious parallels.

Imagine this: a group of gems, each imbued with immense magical power, fall into the wrong hands, and as a result, vast numbers of people are supernaturally wiped out in the blink of an eye. Half a decade later, a group of survivors come together, determined to locate all of the scattered gems and use them to bring back all the people they've lost. The effort involves some tricky heist work, but despite some bumps along the road, they're finally able to reassemble all of the gems. Ultimately, through their teamwork — and the heroic sacrifice of their leader — they're able to reverse the dark magic of the past and bring back everyone they've lost, although they'll never get back the years in which some were gone while their loved ones aged without them.

Sound familiar? Obviously, that's a broad summary of the plot of Raya and the Last Dragon, but it's also the basic storyline of 2019's Avengers: Endgame, the massive climax to a decade's worth of Marvel Cinematic Universe adventures. Obviously the two aren't exactly the same — among other things, the time jump in Raya is six years, not five, and the Druun are a very different type of villain than Thanos — but it's still hard to ignore the parallels. Kids may not notice some of the big picture similarities, but if their parents are superhero fans, they may get a kick out of just how much overlap there is.