‘Raya and the Last Dragon’: an exploration of trust

Above : “Raya and the Last Dragon” is one of five films nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. (Photo/Disney)

Movie review : “Raya and the Last Dragon,” directed by Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, John Ripa. Featuring the voices of Kelly Marie Tran, Daniel Dad Kim, Awkafina.

Note : In advance of the Academy Awards ceremony, which will be held March 27, I’ve been trying to catch up on all the nominees I somehow missed. Today: “Raya and the Last Dragon,” which has been nominated for Best Animated Feature.

Trust is one of those social conventions upon which all others depend. No matter how strong you are, how intelligent, how capable, if you can’t trust those around you, you aren’t likely to thrive. You may not even survive.

In the Oscar-nominated Disney animated feature “Raya and the Last Dragon,” a betrayal of trust is what brings down society. And a re-establishment of that trust is the one thing that can revive it. But such a feat doesn’t come easily.

Set in the fictional Asian realm of Kumandra, the film focuses on Raya, a young woman (voiced by Kelly Marie Tran ), living with her father Benja (voiced by Daniel Dae Kim ). For 500 years, Kumandra has been split into five different kingdoms – Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon and Tail – all named after the areas in which they sit along a dragon-shaped waterway.

The split was caused by an evil force known as the Druun, which permeated the peace of Kumandra and, like Medusa, turned those humans they encountered into stone statues. Yet they were kept from destroying the last of humanity by a dragon – the last dragon – known as Sisu. Concentrating all her dragon magic into one precious gem, Sisu fended off the Druun – and then disappeared.

Benja’s kingdom, Heart, took possession of the gem, and all those years later Benja serves as its protector. Moreover, he trains Raya to do the same job, and she proves to be capable, as handy with a sword as with her wit. But, too, Benja entertains the hope that he can reunite the five kingdoms, thereby restoring Kumandra. The sticking point? None of the kingdoms trusts the others. And all are envious of Heart.

It’s enough to say that the envy leads to a devious act that results in the gem (rather conveniently from a plot point of view) being broken into five separate pieces. This not only releases the Druun back into the world, but it nearly brings about the final end of humanity – except that Raya (and her pet armadillo-like creature Tuk Tuk) manage to escape. And so as each kingdom now owns a piece of the original gem, Raya – her own piece in hand – begins her quest: to find Sisu and figure out how to create a new gem.

Six years later, Raya does locate Sisu (voiced by the actress Awkafina ), who reveals that she was merely the gem’s caretaker. And so the two team up, intent on collecting the other four pieces in an effort to recharge it. As they proceed, they collect others: a boy boat captain, an actual con-artist baby and her three pet companions, plus a somewhat stolid giant.

You can guess where this is going. What’s good about “Raya and the Last Dragon” is that despite its predictability, the essence of the message remains paramount: Neither strength nor deception can save the day; the solution rests only with cooperation and, yes, mutual trust.

Even more so that most contemporary animated films, the team that Disney put together – two directors, two co-directors and a screenplay-writing team of at least eight people – has managed to create an array of impressive visuals. Of course, this is Disney, so that much is expected.

Less notable are some of the plot points, which range from the simply lazy to the confounding. Magic, like time travel, can be used to explain away pretty much any inconsistency. But to see a death, and then come to find out that the magic can pull off miracles, feels like the screenwriters didn’t know how to resolve a story problem and just decided to ignore basic logic.

And even the film’s basic theme, that trusting others is the only way for peace to return to the kingdom, feels strained when Raya’s nemesis – the warrior Namaari (voiced by Gemma Chan ) – betrays that trust again … and again.

Those qualms, though, aren’t likely to affect everyone the same way. The film’s technical aspects are so sumptuous, the obligatory humor that counteracts the occasional plot heaviness so pervasive, that many viewers – particularly the young ones – may not even notice.

As for anything else, well, maybe the Lovin’ Spoonful said it best: Do you believe in magic? Or, in any event, dragons? That’s probably good enough.