Hi, friends, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
I am pleased to say that with this entry, this blog is again partnering with St. John's United Methodist Church for their Summer at the Movies series! For the next four weeks, they will be screening a movie each week, with me supplying both a devotional about the movie to be passed out at the screening, and an accompanying blog entry on the Nightcrawler Experience to reveal even more theological lessons that can be taken from the movie.
For this first week, we will be looking at Disney's newest animated feature, 'Raya and the Last Dragon.'
(Credit for this image goes to the user "Sonic the H fan" on the Disney wiki at https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Raya_and_the_Last_Dragon?file=Raya_and_the_Last_Dragon_Poster.jpeg)
This film has a pretty detailed plot/ backstory: Once upon a time, the land of Kumandra (Located somewhere in Southeast Asia) was ravaged by these evil spirits known as the Druun, which can turn people, animals and dragons into stone. The final dragon, Sisu, concentrated all her power into a magical gem that she used to banish the Druun. This revived Kumandra's people, but not the dragons. The people of Kumandra then turned against each other to try and gain control of Sisu's gem for themselves, and ultimately divided into five tribes: Heart, Fang, Spine, Tail, and Talon (Named after their respective locations along a long, dragon- shaped river).
Centuries later, Raya, the young princess of the Heart tribe, has been trained and appointed as the new protector of the gem. Her father, Chief Benja, earnestly believes the tribes can be united again, and to that end, invites leaders of each of the other tribes to come to his palace for a friendly dinner to hopefully help improve diplomatic relations between the five tribes. Things turn ugly, though; The gem is ultimately smashed into five pieces with each tribe greedily grabbing a piece, causing the Druun to reawaken and begin ravaging Heart before then moving on to the rest of the land. Raya's able to escape before the Druun can turn her to stone, but her father's not so lucky.
Some years after that, Raya is now a young adult, attempting to use Heart's piece of the gem to find and reawaken Sisu. She does so, and the two of them set out to gradually recover each of the other four pieces of the gem, which currently remain in the possession of the leaders of the other four tribes, who won't exactly be eager to part with them. They figure that if they can reassemble the gem, Sisu can use it to defeat the Druun for good, and again restore everyone who's been turned to stone.
Sisu isn't quite the invincible force that Raya envisioned, but she still proves to be quite useful to the cause. They also meet a very interesting assortment of allies along the way: A young boy from the Tail tribe named Boun who uses his boat restaurant to help provide them with river transport since the Druun cannot cross water, an adorably devious baby con artist (Yes, you read that right) from the Talon tribe named Noi and her monkey friends, and a towering but good- hearted Spine warrior named Tong.
On their mission, they have to avoid Raya's rival Namaari, princess of the Fang tribe, who learns of Raya's mission and is determined to get the gem pieces herself.
I must say, I was a lot more impressed with 'Raya and the Last Dragon' than I thought I'd be. From the initial trailers, I was afraid it would just be yet another over- the- top "I am woman, hear me roar"- type film (Don't get me wrong, I'm all for women empowerment and all, but in recent years, films featuring this theme have started becoming really repetitive, as well as preachy in how that message is presented; Even the best and most noble of messages can start to leave a bad taste in one's mouth if forced on us too constantly or too heavy- handedly), and one which would take itself way too seriously. I am pleased to report I was wrong on both counts. It contains LOADS of tension- taming humor throughout it to keep from getting too serious for its own good, and while Raya is a strong and inspirational character, the "Girl- power" angle isn't done in a preachy way.
It has a lot of great action in it, too. Each scene with Raya going into the base of one of the tribes and retrieving one of the pieces of the gem has some form of unique yet quite thrilling action sequence in it, all amazingly animated.
Now, for the character run- down:
Rather than making Raya some dime- a- dozen invincible perfect heroine, she actually has some flaws and depth; It was at least partially her fault that the gem was broken and the Druun reawakened, due to her trusting someone she shouldn't have, and she consequently wrestles with both her guilt over that and her newfound inability to trust anyone. Seeing her gradually learn to trust others and strive to achieve her father's dream of reuniting the nations of Kumandra is quite satisfying. While Raya isn't one of Disney's best heroines, she's still a good addition to their ranks who's enjoyable to watch.
Her pet/ primary means of transportation, Tuk Tuk (A creature that's sort of like a cross between an armadillo and a roly- poly, but grows a LOT bigger than either of those creatures) is a delightful creature. He has some funny moments, usually involving his love of food and how easily distracted he is, and also proves to be VERY useful to Raya. What's more, he gets extra points for the fact that his assorted grunts and roars are done by one of my favorite actors, Alan Tudyk, who I'm delighted has become such a staple voice actor for Disney over the last decade or so (He's voiced characters in every Disney animated movie from 'Wreck- it Ralph' up to now, and voiced characters in a couple of Disney's animated TV shows, AND was the voice of Iago the parrot in the live- action 'Aladdin' movie they made two years ago).
Sisu makes for an excellent supporting character. She has been worshipped as this all- powerful being for her initial defeat of the Druun, but it turns out that she was just the deliverer of the gems' power, with her siblings (Who were then turned to stone) doing most of the actual work in channeling their magic into it. This gives her a lot of insecurity, but she also has an adorable amount of wonder relating to the world around her. A scene in which she discovers that things could be bought through credit is hilarious, and a great indictment of the attitude that many today can have regarding it. She also proves to be a surprisingly good source of wisdom and guidance for Raya along her journey. Next year, Sisu will almost certainly be making my Ten Favorite Movie Characters of 2021 list, she's practically got a reserved seat there!
The other friends Raya makes over the course of her journey are all delightful as well. Boun brings a good amount of humor and his boating skills certainly make him a great asset to them over the trip. The baby con artist Noi and her monkey friends are such a hoot to watch, cute and funny in literally every scene! Tong is generally pretty funny too, and becomes increasingly likable and sympathetic when he lets his tough facade drop a little and opens up to the others. Much like Raya and Sisu, these different companions have all lost loved ones to the Druun, and do a lot to help Raya in her quest to help restore all of them.
As I indicated in my devotional that was passed out at the screening, the central theme to 'Raya and the Last Dragon' deals with trust. These problems within their nation started when the people of those different areas stopped trusting each other, and Raya learning to trust others is what ultimately saves the world.
I pointed out that we need to trust others more, and ESPECIALLY put our trust in God. I used Psalms 56:3 ("When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.”) and Proverbs 3:5-6 (“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”) to help drive this point home.
However, I'd say that is certainly not the only valuable Biblical lesson that can be taken from 'Raya and teh Last Dragon.' Another important one I can think of is on the importance of unity. People can do so much more when they forget about their differences and work together to achieve common goals. Raya and her friends help show this in the film's climax, when they (Characters from each of the tribes) help to evacuate a village before it's overrun by the Druun, saving countless lives and providing everyone there a perfect glimpse of the strength of unity in action.
Raya's father Chief Benja also makes a wonderful statement earlier in the film, when speaking to the other tribe leaders: "We can tear each other apart, or we can build a better world." There is so much truth in that statement for all of us. Over even just the last year or so, we have witnessed horrific division among the American people, and pointless social unrest and destruction breaking out nationwide. This needs to stop, with people of all races, genders and political persuasions needing to do what they can to encourage peace and unity. I regularly pray each day for this country, that its people could learn to come together in unity and thus build a better world for all in spite of their differences.
This is most definitely a Biblical lesson. Ephesians 4:3 says of believers, "You are joined together in peace through the Spirit, so make every effort to continue in this way." The body of Christ's main strength is in how diverse it is. It unites people of different races, cultures, and ethnicities, and with a whole multitude of different strengths and talents they can bring to the table. We have some who are scholarly, while others are better at worship. We have some who are skilled at prayer, while others are more about action. That is exactly how God intended it to be. This enables the church to better serve God and help to build His Kingdom on Earth, which is why peace and unity in the church and all around us desperately need to be encouraged.
John 10:16 says that there is "One flock and one shepherd," we as believers are all part of the same flock in the eyes of our shepherd, Jesus. We need to avoid petty squabbling over our differences, and focus on the common goal of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as we can.
There you have 'Raya and the Last Dragon,' a very fun and exciting new addition to the Disney library which teaches valuable lessons about the importance of trust and unity.
That's all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Come back next week when I'll be tackling the next film that St. John's will be looking at in this series. Until then, take care, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!
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