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(CNN) – Disney’s latest animated adventure can be viewed in two ways: “Stripe and the Last Dragon” features another daring female lead from an underrepresented group and lovable (in one case magical) sidekicks, who embark on a poignant quest. The deeper message, however, involves the toll division and mistrust inflict on a mythical realm, giving the otherwise pretty good movie a pretty timely snag.
Reading too much political subtext in this movie, which hits theaters in addition to Disney +, like “Mulan,” at a premium rate, won’t be a problem for kids to watch. However, the adults who join them may find something deeper in the themes, in a movie that is otherwise colorful, action-packed, and more than a little complicated in establishing its premise.
Representing the first Southeast Asian heroine of Disney animation, the title Stripe (pronounced “Rye-uh”) is both a warrior and a princess, happily voiced by Kelly Marie Tran from the recent “Star Wars” movies. . She presents the story in an opening narrative, in which the dragons fought a threat 500 years earlier to the mythical kingdom of Kumandra, which was subsequently divided into five separate lands.
Raya’s father (Daniel Dae Kim) remained in possession of a gem containing the last vestiges of dragon magic and dreamed of reuniting the kingdom. But those plans go awry, leaving a dystopian landscape that forces Raya to travel to each of the various lands, even though they are wary of each other, to gather the gem and restore harmony to their rebellious world.
It’s a lot to digest, including the title dragon, Sisu, voiced by Eddie Murphy in Awkwafina’s “Mulan” energy. The dragon promotes the idea of trusting others, but Raya has a bit of a history with the princess of the Fang lands, Namaari (Gemma Chan, the “Crazy Rich Asians”), who is just like her in battle.
The aforementioned cronies are plentiful and in some cases quite amusing, including an extremely useful creature / means of transportation known as the Tuk Tuk (with the unintelligible voice of Alan Tudyk) and a child thief. The dragon, sadly, should be the centerpiece of the action, and the design is a bit too cartoonish and cuddly-friendly, less majestic and magical, at least most of the time, than just a bit silly.
As always, there are some beautiful images along the way and a great payoff after what amounts to the episodic nature of Raya’s journey. But the film looks too much like committee work than inspiration (the film credits four directors or co-directors and 10 names for contributing to the story), losing the spark that has characterized the studio’s best animated film, including Pixar’s recent “Soul”.
In that sense, Raya’s challenge somewhat mirrors that of the film itself. All the pieces are there, but the true measure of success comes down to how well they put together.
This story was first published on CNN.com, “‘Stripe and the Last Dragon’ mixes serious message with animated action.”
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