The first trailer for Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon is here, and it’s perfection. Will this lead to a sudden uptick in interest in armadillos?
Raya and the Last Dragon is a film of firsts for Disney—the studio’s first film to be inspired by Southeast Asia; to star a Southeast Asian actress, The Last Jedi‘s Kelly Marie Tran; and to be developed remotely, as production had just started in March when the pandemic hit.
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And it’s absolutely gorgeous, even in this quick little teaser. Here’s the summary:
Long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. However, along her journey, she’ll learn that it’ll take more than a dragon to save the world—it’s going to take trust and teamwork as well.
Tran voices Raya; Awkwafina voices Sisu, reportedly a dragon in human form who needs Raya’s help; we don’t know who voices Tuk Tuk, the armadillo, but he’s clearly a descendent of Bibo, the armadillo from Dreamworks’ The Road to El Dorado. (Okay, yes, Hall described Tuk Tuk to Entertainment Weekly as “a fuzzy bear meets ‘an insect version of an armadillo'” and he does kind of look like an overgrown pillbug, but that is a mouthful to say all at once when you’re squealing with delight.)
Raya and the Last Dragon is directed by Don Hall (Moana) and Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting) from a screenplay by playwright Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians). We’ll be able to fall even further in love with these characters on March 12, 2021.
Worth pointing out that armadillos (at least the kind you’ll come across in the southwest) are vectors for Hansen’s disease (leprosy), so don’t actually go about giving them high-fives.
Tuk Tuk reminds me of the dangomushi (dumpling bugs) that the kids were always obsessed with at the preschool in Japan where I worked. They adored those poor things and practically used them as currency. I wonder if Southeast Asian kids are similarly fascinated with whatever their local wood louse is called??
Getting a “tribes of Wakanda” vibe at the scene as the narration states the people are divided.
Also can point out that the writing team is of SE Asian background, as Adele Lim is Malaysian born and Qui Nguyen is Vietnamese American (and Raya has a lot Qui’s quirks all over her)….
My ludicrously petty hill to die on? This isn’t a teaser, it’s a trailer. A teaser is a tease—15…30 seconds, tops. More than two minutes it’s just a monkey-flippin’ trailer. Maddening.
@OP – Humans also vectors for disease as is virtually every other species. Unfair to give armadillods a bad rep when humans encroach in their space. Trailer looks great :)
Love the use of eskrima here.
I have no way of verifying this at all but I’m completely convinced that Tuk Tuk is actually based on a Pangolin.
They actually are native to Asia (unlike armadillos which only exist wild in South America and the southern parts of North America) they have armor plates, AND almost every remaining species of pangolin are severely endangered (and everyone knows that Disney LOVES to cash in on the animal conservation angle whenever possible, which I’m 100% ok with because it DOES help the animals).
Also the animation of Tuk Tuk just resembles a pangolin SO much more than almost every type of armadillo, if you really look closely at comparison photos, particularly in the facial features.
All that said, Tuk Tuk’s snout/nose is way too flat to REALLY look like EITHER, anddddd he appears to have antennae?? But also fur?
So while I am personally convinced he’s at least INSPIRED by pangolins I have to acknowledge that the whole movie is set in a fictional world BASED on South East Asia, which makes it entirely possible for Tuk Tuk to be a brand new Disney-created mythical creature with no actual relationship to ANY earthly animal
I’m still putting my money on pangolin, BUT I’m SO EXCITED to find out whether or not I’m right EITHER WAY!!
@@.-@ Celebrating Adele Lim for being one of the writers of this film is on par with celebrating a White Afrikaner for writing a movie about a fictional African nation populated by pan-African influences. The economically-dominant Chinese have a complicated relationship and history with the indigenous people of Southeast Asia. And to top it off, Nora “Blaccent” Lum is the only other revealed cast member… Put it another way, the movie is vibing like a Black Panther movie with T’Challa and a mystical panther voiced by Iggy Azalea =/
The armadillo definitely looks like a blend of hedgehog and pill bug.