Or it comes true Pixar or Disney Animation, an animated movie from Disney is never the same in the end as it is in the beginning. The production model is such that it takes years to make a movie like Raya and the last dragon something and everything can change – as long as that change makes it better. During production on Raya, that was true, with one particularly important exception.
“We knew we wanted to tell a story that reflected what we see in the world,” producer Osnat Shurer told io9. “The biggest problem is the sense of division, of division, of using our differences against each other instead of coming together for the greater good of this beautiful planet we call home. So we started working on the idea. “
To say that things have been extra tense in the world for the past few years is an understatement – it seems like everything gives people a reason to be angry with each other. It’s the same throughout Raya and the last dragon in which the five tribes of Kumandra – Heart, Claw, Fang, Spine and Tail – all disagree about possession of the magical Dragon Gem. But with the actions of Raya and the titular last dragon Sisu, that may have a chance to change.
“When you make a movie like this, it takes so long to make that you can’t really plan when it comes out in terms of everything else going on in the world,” Kelly Marie Tran, Raya’s voice, told io9. “So the fact that it’s coming out now and the message feels so relevant, I think says a lot more about our filmmakers and just knowing that Disney animated movies are doing really well and it’s kind of tapping into this universal humanity and this humanity that is recognizable across generations. ”
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Tran continued, “It’s really, really hard to do, but specifically with this movie and what’s happening in the world today … I think the lessons Raya has learned are lessons we can all take with us. I know it’s a lesson I personally want to take away in order to play her. “
According to Shurer, outside of Raya’s general characters, the dragon and the idea of a divided world, the other main element that came out from the beginning was the message of trust and togetherness. It’s what became the backbone for everything else that evolved.
“Almost everything about the film has changed in the five years that I was on it,” said Shurer. “But not some of the main ideas, [such as] we always wanted it to be a movie about getting together. But you get deeper and deeper as we do the shows and as we work on it and refine it, and we started to ask ourselves, “What does it take to get together?” It’s not that simple … What we came up with is trust. That you have to learn to trust each other … So that deepened and many other things changed too. “
Which things exactly? The characters from each of the countries, who they are and how they play out in the story that has evolved [changed], ‘Continued Shurer.There was a point when they came from different places. Boun [a young boy who helps Raya on the journey, voiced by Izaac Wang] was by Talon and we’ve rearranged some of that as we came to better understand each country and their psychology and social attitudes towards the world. So there was a lot of rearranging.
According to Tran, there were also changes in the film’s main relationship. “The relationship between Sisu and Raya was one that changed a little bit because we just wanted to make sure it was right,” said Tran. ‘And I don’t think we even knew what that meant. But I think it’s so great now when we’ve had a few more sessions and we’re really able to figure out their dynamics. But that was definitely something that was constantly changing during the sessions. “
Something else that changed while everyone else was creating Raya was, well, the real world. The past five years have taken a toll on us all, and while the filmmakers had no intention of making a movie that felt so good right now, they saw it coming when they made the news.
“There were certainly moments in the making of the film when we were very aware of how this film, which was meant to be timeless, was incredibly timely,” said director Don Hall. “I think it encouraged us to keep going because we felt we had something to say.”
Raya and the last dragon is now in theaters and beyond Disney + with Premier Access.
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