Today a Disney short film was released that requires almost no words. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waitit gets you in the mood for Christmas with The Boy & the Octopus, for a good cause.
The first Sunday of Advent is only two and a half weeks away, and because Christmas is known to be the time of gifts, Disney is now releasing a new short film – for free. The four-minute adventure The Boy & the Octopus is the work of none other than Taika Waititi, who won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit and has already directed Thor 3 and Thor 4 for Disney.
New Christmas movie from Disney celebrates the holidays with a fantasy octopus from Taika Waititi
Disney gets us in the mood for Christmas with real directing stars. And not just with the animated short Christmas on the Horizon (by director David Lowery and screenwriter Alfonso Cuarón), which starts on Disney+ in three days, on November 15, 2024. Disney is already spreading pre-Christmas joy with another cinematic excursion by Taika Waititi: The Boy & the Octopus.
Watch Disney’s fantasy Christmas short The Boy & the Octopus here:
The Disney short film begins in a way that is quite uncharacteristic of Christmas: on a sunny sandy beach by the sea, a boy wearing a diving mask plunges into the waves – only to be surprised by a tiny octopus underwater. After the initial shock, the child’s bubbling scream is soon followed by a close friendship. The cute, eight-armed octopus now accompanies the child everywhere he goes, even on his head. Soon the first snow falls and Christmas time approaches, which gives the marine animal’s fate an unexpected turn.
For a special purpose: The boy & the octopus are full of Disney Easter eggs
I wonder if the little octopus is related to Hank the octopus from Finding Dory? In any case, Disney pulls out all the stops here, peppered with references such as an instrumental version of “In Your World” from The Little Mermaid, a Buzz Lightyear character from Toy Story, a Mickey Mouse hat, and a toy lightsaber from Star Wars.
The whole thing is, of course, peppered with the typical Taika Waititi humor, for example when the boy has to cover his octopus friend’s eyes when he sees a sushi restaurant with seafood specialties.
