However, beyond the things that make a serviceable Disney animated film, it’s evident that Raya and the Last Dragon aspires to be something more. Awkwafina sounds adorable as the dragon Sisu. Kelly Marie Tran‘s voice acting breathes life into Raya fantastically. The story falls short of having enough elements to make it a great movie on its own such as a complete arc for some of the characters but the film still manages to watchable. I haven’t been caught up with all the Disney animated films of the past decade but seeing how great the action was here left me impressed with the stuff they’ve been serving kids these past few years. And like a handful of these animated Disney movies, this one has tremendous action. It has all you need in a Disney movie stellar animation, a color palette that’s bursting, cutesy characters, and moments of warmth to boot. “Raya and the Last Dragon” is set to premiere March 5 on Disney+.Approaching Raya and the Last Dragon as a movie and not a benchmark for Asian representation in big media, it’s mostly just okay. “I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair.

I am the first woman of color to have a leading role in a ‘Star Wars’ movie,” she wrote. That same year, Tran wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times after she was harassed online and the target of racist comments. Representation in Hollywood has been a hot topic for years, and there was excitement in 2018 when “Crazy Rich Asians” became the first major studio movie since “The Joy Luck Club” decades prior to feature a predominantly Asian cast. SE Asian actors are sorely lacking in Hollywood.”ĬNN has reached out to Disney for comment.

Imagine how big it would be they actually casted Southeast Asian actors. But basically everyone, except KMT is East Asian. It sucks, it feels like Disney didn’t care to respect us.”Īnother tweeted, “I am actually very conflicted about the new Raya and the Last Dragon casting. “They basically put the whole region in a blender and hired so little south-east Asian actors for the roles. “A friendly reminder that actual South-East Asians are not thrilled for Raya and the Last Dragon,” one person tweeted. But the casting has sparked conversation, given that the story in the film has a Southeast Asian origin and many of the actors cast are of East Asian ancestry.

The new raya and the last dragon movie