An Underrated Disney Movie Is Trending On Streaming
Raya and the Last Dragon is one of the top movies streamed on Disney+.
The underrated Disney film Raya and the Last Dragon is making a resurgence on Disney+, entering the Top 10 for the platform this week. If you missed this film when it came out, now is the perfect time to check it out. While it wasn’t as popular as some other recent Disney releases, it has beautiful animation, a unique Southeast Asian-inspired setting, and great characters.
Raya and the Last Dragon follows the warrior princess Raya as she seeks out the last dragon who could bring her father back and banish evil spirits from her land. The titular roles are voiced by Kelly Marie Tran and Awkafina, with the rest of the cast voiced by Izaac Wang, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Benedict Wong, Sandra Oh, Thalia Tran, Lucille Soong, and Alan Tudyk. The film was directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada with a screenplay by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim.
Raya and the Last Dragon may have ended up being more popular if the timing of its release didn’t, unfortunately, coincide with the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, the film was set for a November 2020 release date but was pushed back to a March 2021 release date. The state of movie theaters was still in flux, so the film also simultaneously premiered on Disney+ Premier Access.
While Raya and the Last Dragon could still be considered underrated for a Disney film, it still managed to rake in $130 million worldwide at the box office despite the tumultuous time it was released. It also had the impressive honor of receiving a nomination at the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature Film.
Raya and the Last Dragon didn’t manage to nab the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar, but Disney probably didn’t mind too much. That’s because Disney’s Encanto took home the award instead. Usually, the Best Animated Feature Film award is Disney and Pixar’s to lose, so this wasn’t a big surprise.
Although Raya and the Last Dragon wasn’t a mind-boggling success for Disney, it did receive great reviews with the critic aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes sitting at 94% and the audience score sitting at 97%. Clearly, everyone who sees this movie loves it. Which is why it’s not too surprising that it’s having a random streaming resurgence this week.
Raya and the Last Dragon was no slouch when it did release for streaming in 2021, as it was the third most streamed movie title of 2021. Once again, Disney ruled this category with Luca and Moana both taking the number one and number two spot on that list, respectively. Luca was released the same year as Raya while Moana came out way back in 2016.
Something Disney might be less pumped about is the fact that Raya and the Last Dragon was also the ninth most pirated film of 2021, according to tech firm Akamai. Still, the film had 8.34 billion minutes watched in 2021 on its official streaming platform, so Disney probably wasn’t hurting too bad. Now that the film is getting another streaming boost, there’s no reason not to revisit this underrated project or watch it for the first time this weekend.
