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Thursday, March 11, 2021
GO! magazine — A&E in Northeast Oregon
‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ stars on making history
(TNS) — Raya is a young war-
rior princess determined to save
the world — she just doesn’t trust a
lot of people anymore.
She does believe in Sisu, the leg-
endary dragon whose magic helped
save humanity the last time it was
threatened. But when Raya finally
meets Sisu, the dragon is not quite
what she expected.
“From a young age, Raya knows
exactly what she wants,” said Kelly
Marie Tran, the Vietnamese Ameri-
can actor who voices the titular
character in “Raya and the Last
Dragon.” “And then she experiences
something traumatic and she sort
of views the world differently. But
the whole time, she’s very much
fighting for herself and the things
that she believes in.”
Out Friday in theaters and
through premier access on Dis-
ney+, “Raya and the Last Dragon”
is set in a land called Kumandra
and is the first Walt Disney Anima-
tion film inspired by Southeast
Asian cultures. Directed by Don
Hall (“Big Hero 6”) and Carlos
López Estrada (“Blindspotting”),
the film’s screenplay was written
by playwright Qui Nguyen and
Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians”).
Starring opposite Tran is Awk-
wafina as the voice of Sisu, who she
said is unlike other dragons people
encounter in pop culture.
Disney/TNS
Raya, voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, and Sisu, voiced by Awkwafina, in “Raya and the Last Dragon.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen a dragon
that knows that she’s imperfect,”
said Awkwafina. “She loves openly,
loves food and is just kind of goofy.
But she has an innocence about
her that — thinking about her
now — I wish I had a little bit more
of, in terms of how she looks at the
world and how she looks at people.”
Tran, who came to fame as “Star
Wars: The Last Jedi” heroine Rose
Tico, appreciated that Raya is al-
lowed to experience a full range of
emotions during her journey.
“You get to see her be vulnerable
and sad, and then funny and witty
and sarcastic, and then like a total
badass warrior, and then just vis-
cerally and justifiably angry,” said
Tran, “which I didn’t know that I
needed to see in a character like
this. I don’t think that we normally
get to see female characters in this
very specific genre of film ever get
to be angry.”
Like her fellow modern ani-
mated Disney princesses — such
as Moana and Elsa — Raya’s
adventure is not about romantic
love. And Tran believes “’Raya’ does
a really good job of showing us that
there are many different ways to
be brave.”
“One of those ways is being a
warrior, and literally fighting,”
said Tran. “And one of those ways
is recognizing that maybe you’re
being blinded by your own anger or
your own trauma and trying to see
outside of that.”
Tran and Awkwafina discussed
“Raya and the Last Dragon,” their
thoughts on Hollywood representa-
tion of Asian characters and some
childhood favorites.
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Q: Raya and Sisu’s friendship is
one of the central elements of this
movie. What are your thoughts on
their relationship?
Awkwafina: I love the friend-
ship aspect all around. It just kind
of shows you how much trust is
needed, and how it can be found
in really subtle ways. Even food
in the movie resembles friendship
and trust and I think the happiest
times are over these very warm
meals. Sisu and Raya — they re-
ally balance each other out, I think,
as friends do. There’s one that
might be a little bit more trust-
ing, and one that wants to warn
that one of being trusting, but at
the same time learns that maybe
[they] shouldn’t distrust so much
and maybe [they] should believe
in people more. They have that
balance. And I think that exists in
every friendship.
Tran: I agree. I think that the
coolest part about seeing their
friendship, and the way in which
they learn from each other, is just
exactly what you said, Awkwafina.
The idea that we can have two
people who have very different
views of the world and yet they still
respect each other, and they’re still
listening to each other, and they
change each other, I think, in really
good ways. There’s a lesson to be
learned there for sure.