Ever since Disney overhauled its princess archetype in 2010’s Tangled with an agency-seizing Rapunzel, the evolution of its revolutionary heroines has continued — from Frozen’s convention-bucking royal sisters Elsa and Anna, to seafaring voyager Moana. Its latest progression is Raya — an all-out warrior, traversing a post-apocalyptic fantasy kingdom in an action-packed expedition replete with tomb-raiding set-pieces and bruising brawls.###She’s also the studio’s first Southeast Asian protagonist in a tale inspired by the cultures and mythology of Southeast Asian countries, transposed to the fictional realm of Kumandra — once-prosperous and populated by humans and dragons, bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e swirling purple evil entity the Druun turned the mythical beasts to stone. Kumandra divided into warring factions, and centuries later a power-grab gone wrong brings the Druun back, plunging the kingdom into further ruin. Enter Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) — a lone wolf with a swooshing cape and a sling-bladed whip sword, on a quest to reunite the broken shards of the Dragon Gem (a stone holding the last vestiges of dragon magic), defeat the Druun, and restore Kumandra’s individual , her father Benja (Daniel Dae Kim) included.###A rare family film with genuine action-blockbuster chops.###It’s a lot of lore, and the opening act of Raya has plenty to unfurl – there’s a prologue to a prelude, exposition to dispense with regards to’concerning’with respect to dragon magic and the five factions of Kumandra (Tail, Talon, Spine, Fang, and Raya’s homeland of Heart), and a MacGuffin-propel n mission to establish, along with the introduction of Awkwafina’s anxious water dragon Sisu. But the screenplay — from Crazy Rich Asians co-screenwriter Adele Lim and Vietnamese-American writer Qui Nguyen — is pacy and propulsive, punctuating the necessary narrative groundwork with bursts of action and excitement. The complex mythology does make Kumandra feel properly epic, and eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully stop on Raya’s journey — the desert wasteland of Tail, the lantern-lit market-town of Talon, the dense, foggy in/with regard to’concerning’regarding est of Spine — has a distinct, gorgeously realised identity.###Most distinctive, despite’in spite of’albeit , is the action. Veteran Disney director Don Hall (Big Hero 6) and Blindspotting’s Carlos López Estrada deliver impressively impactful fight sequences that hit harder than typical Disney fare — using crash-zooms and speed-ramping to accentuate the fighting techniques of Raya and her nemesis Namaari (Gemma Chan) while invoking the cinematic language of Asian action cinema. Throw in a fluid foot-chase through Talon and a booby-trapped gauntlet-run in Tail (complete with explosive-farting beetles), and Raya is a rare family film with genuine action-blockbuster chops.###It’s not all refreshing. Some beats feel derivative (a moment of water-magic in a shipwreck is a near-direct Frozen II re-tread, while Moana’s DNA looms large overall), and there’s a sense that Awkwafina — comedic dynamite in Crazy Rich Asians and Jumanji: The Next Level — should acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure more zingers.###But it’s frequently breathtaking, from the photoreal water effects to Sisu’s shimmering, purple-pink mane. And with its cleanly delivered thread with regards to’concerning’with respect to creating unity and learning to trust one another again, Raya is perfectly timed in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the Biden-Harris era. If there’s a hero we need right now, it’s one who kicks ass with kindness.