Nominated for Best Animated Feature 
Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) has searched her ravaged world for the last dragon, Sisu (Awkwafina). Only Sisu's magic can banish the Druun, giant swirls of energy that turn people to stone. Sisu had done this once before, 500 years ago, when her brother and sister dragons sacrificed their magic to create a gem capable of banishing the Druun. An act of childhood betrayal sees the gem smashed and scattered around the world. Raya and Sisu must travel to each capital, retrieve the gems, and drive the Druun away again. On their tail is Princess Namaari (Gemma Chan), who wants the exact same thing as Raya, but wants her nation to be the one in control of the magic.
First things first, this is a beautifully animated film. The colors are lush, the details are fantastic, and everything moves. It's not going to win, but it is beautiful.
The story is terrible. Yeah, I said it.
In this plague-ridden year, where almost one million people in this country have died because a small minority advocated not taking any kind of precaution, where we now have multiple strains of a highly contagious virus because a vocal few threw hissy fits about staying at home and making small sacrifices for the greater good, a film about "can't we all just trust each other and get along" falls a little fucking flat. Call me a cynic.
Maybe in a few years, when I'm not quite so angry all the time, I will revisit this and think it's a lovely piece of filmmaking. Right now, I just can't handle the naïveté. It's currently streaming on Disney+.
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