Passes the Bechdel test

Raya and the Last Dragon

Name: Raya and the Last Dragon
Released: 2021

2021. Directed by Paul Briggs and Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim and Paul Briggs.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
11 women characters. 11 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 25 scenes out of 80.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

The film

Long ago, in the fantasy world of Kumandra, humans and dragons lived together in harmony. However, when sinister monsters known as the Druun threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, those same monsters have returned, and it's up to a lone warrior to track down the last dragon and stop the Druun for good.

Released: 05 Mar 2021
Genres: Animation, Action, Adventure
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 74 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 13 wins & 62 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Raya 225 lines, woman
Sisu 86 lines, woman
Sisu-Human 68 lines, woman
Boun 65 lines, man
Young Raya 59 lines, woman
Namaari 45 lines, woman
Tong 34 lines, man
Benja 33 lines, man
Young Namaari 18 lines, woman
Virana 16 lines, woman

Full cast, 24 people

Kelly Marie Tran as Raya (voice)
Awkwafina as Sisu (voice)
Gemma Chan as Namaari (voice)
Alan Tudyk as Tuk Tuk (voice)
Izaac Wang as Boun (voice)
Benedict Wong as Tong (voice)
Daniel Dae Kim as Benja (voice)
Thalia Tran as Little Noi (voice)
Sandra Oh as Virana (voice)
Dichen Lachman as General Atitaya / Spine Warrior (voice)
Patti Harrison as Tail Chief (voice)
Lucille Soong as Dang Hu (voice)
Jona Xiao as Young Namaari (voice)
Sung Kang as Dang Hai (voice)
Ross Butler as Spine Chief (voice)
François Chau as Wahn (voice)
Paul Yen as Merchant (voice)
Ren Hanami as Additional Voices (voice)
Sierra Katow as Merchant / Fang Officer (voice)
Gordon Ip as Merchant #2 (voice)
Jonnie Park as Chai (voice)
Vincent Rodriguez III as Additional Voices (voice)
Kayla Melikian as Additional Voices (voice)
Lucian Perez as Additional Voices (voice)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 80

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 2	12	0
3 to 4	0	0
5 to 6	12	7
7 to 8	7	3
9 to 10	17	13
11 to 12	31	0
13 to 14	6	8
15 to 16	7	4
17 to 18	5	1
19 to 20	22	0
21 to 22	25	1
23 to 24	28	0
25 to 26	30	0
27 to 28	21	9
29 to 30	20	4
31 to 32	4	4
33 to 34	5	1
35 to 36	10	1
37 to 38	11	2
39 to 40	10	0
41 to 42	10	3
43 to 44	28	2
45 to 46	14	0
47 to 48	26	5
49 to 50	18	12
51 to 52	21	2
53 to 54	7	6
55 to 56	6	3
57 to 58	16	7
59 to 60	17	0
61 to 62	26	0
63 to 64	5	3
65 to 66	8	12
67 to 68	20	4
69 to 70	0	1
71 to 72	2	0
73 to 74	4	9
75 to 76	9	11
77 to 78	1	0
79 to 80	11	3

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

YOUNG RAYA: I have something to say... YOUNG RAYA: Who’s hungry? VIRANA: Go ahead. It’s alright. YOUNG NAMAARI: I’m Namaari. Of Fang.

YOUNG RAYA: Seriously? Your mom actually said that? Awkward. YOUNG RAYA: Okay, next question - hand-to-hand or swords? YOUNG NAMAARI: Blades all day. YOUNG RAYA: Right?

YOUNG NAMAARI: The spirit of Sisu. I can feel it. YOUNG RAYA: It’s the last bit of dragon magic left in the whole world. YOUNG NAMAARI: I see why Heart guards it so closely. Thank you, dep la. You’ve been very helpful. YOUNG NAMAARI: In a different world, maybe we coulda been friends. But I have to do what’s right for Fang.

YOUNG RAYA: There is no way you’re taking Sisu’s Gem. YOUNG NAMAARI: Sorry. It’s Fang’s now.

RAYA: Sisudatu... I don’t know if you’re listening. I’ve searched every river to find you. And now I’m here at the very last one. Look, there’s no… RAYA: Okay. Here goes everything. RAYA: Suva de dra sim Mandra de dra lim Bavaa de dra Tomben. RAYA: I know, buddy, I haven’t forgot -

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 79 are women's.

532 lines from women, 141 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

11 women and 12 men in the cast. 11 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 7 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 78% of the words (5,095), men 22% (1,460). Women have 79% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

7 of the 22 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Don Hall (man), Carlos López Estrada (man)
Written by: Qui Nguyen (man), Adele Lim (woman)
Story by: Qui Nguyen (man), Carlos López Estrada (man), Kiel Murray (man), Paul Briggs (man), John Ripa (man), Adele Lim (woman) and 2 more
Produced by: Osnat Shurer (woman), Peter Del Vecho (man)
Shot by: Rob Dressel (man)
Edited by: Fabienne Rawley (woman), Shannon Stein (woman)
Music by: James Newton Howard (man)
Production design by: Paul A. Felix (gender not listed), Cory Loftis (man), Mingjue Helen Chen (woman)
Cast by: Jamie Sparer Roberts (woman)