The Disney treatment, like the Druun itself, seems to neutralize whatever it touches, no matter how hard it works to preserve the distinctive elements of the non-Western cultures it has brought under its label, especially recently. The animators don’t stray far from the overall style of recent Disney fare like “Frozen” or “Moana,” though the film’s meticulously detailed environments - rainforest shrines teeming with visible moisture, snowy mountain fortresses shrouded in fog - are particularly impressive. Raya and company traverse multiple lands to collect the scattered pieces of the stone, giving the creators an excuse to indulge in expansive world-building, while snappy editing and rousingly choreographed action scenes animate these settings with comic strip panache. In typical Disney-princess fashion, our brooding heroine acquires a joke-slinging sidekick in nonhuman form: Sisu (Awkwafina), the titular last dragon, who (like Mushu in “Mulan” before her) isn’t a menacing behemoth so much as a klutzy, shape-shifting My Little Pony-like creature. Nguyen’s co-writer was Adele Lim, who is Malaysian American and co-wrote the script for “Crazy Rich Asians.” And Thai artist Fawn Veerasunthorn was the head of story.Faith in the goodness of other people - even those from distant lands and of different persuasions - is the governing theme of “Raya and the Last Dragon,” which the directors Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, and the screenwriters Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim, set in a fantasyland version of Southeast Asia complete with floating markets, water taxis and lots of shrimp congee. The team also traveled to Southeast Asia for research. “Raya” takes its visual inspiration from many countries, including Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. And I can't believe that's happening right now.” “To be able to do this for Asian Americans is truly, truly a huge dream come true - a dream that I always had, that I could never imagine actually happening. Just like how the Arthurian legend, 'Game of Thrones' and 'Dungeons & Dragons' can be seen as a mishmash of Western history,” “Raya” is using Southeast Asian influences to tell a new kind of fantasy story.Ī few years ago, Nguyen was hired to write for Marvel Studios, which then led him to Disney and “Raya and the Last Dragon.” “My dream was always to make superheroes, especially superheroes for people who don't often get to see themselves that way,” Nguyen said.

The last dragon movie