Author: Megan Williams

A year after the announcement that a live action remake is coming, the sequel for 2016’s ‘Moana’ had its first trailer revealed to surprised Disney fans. 

‘Moana 2’ continues the story of Moana (Auli’i Cravalho – Moana, Mean Girls The Musical) and Maui (Dwayne Johnson – Moana, Red Notice) as they travel the oceans after Moana receives a mysterious call from her ancestors.

The first film has truly beautiful animation and visuals, and the sequel looks to be continuing that quality. It looks incredible, and a lot of the imagery featured in the trailer is truly gorgeous. Plus, the original cast is returning to reprise their roles, something that I’m delighted to see.

The animated sequel makes more sense than the planned live action remake purely because of the concept of Moana traversing oceans to find her ancestors and other characters. But this concept could’ve also had potential to be a series, with each episode revolving around a different journey.

And, as of writing, it’s been revealed that ‘Moana 2’ was originally planned to be a Disney+ series but, due to the theatrical success of its predecessor, was changed to a feature film. While the visuals of ‘Moana 2’ are beautiful, Disney should’ve stuck to their original idea of turning this into a series. 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice! – Trailer Talk

Two months after the minute teaser, the full trailer for ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ is here!

‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ follows the Deetz family as they return to their family home after a tragedy. But Lydia’s (Winona Ryder – Stranger Things) life is turned upside down when her daughter, Astrid, (Jenna Ortega – Wednesday, Scream VI) discovers the mysterious model town in the attic. Now it’s only a matter of time before someone says Beetlejuice three times and unleashes the ghoulish character.

After seeing the minute long teaser, I felt as if another trailer wasn’t necessary; it had said all it needed to say. But, now that more of the sequel has been revealed, it’s raised my excitement even more than before. 

Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder return as their former characters and it’s like they’ve dived straight back into the characters that they’re known for. Keaton especially looks fantastic and is clearly having fun returning to play the ghoulish figure. But Jenna Ortega also looks like she’ll fit right in as Lydia’s daughter. 

The film’s visuals are brilliant. While 35 years have passed since the original, Burton hasn’t forgotten about the art of stop motion and practical effects, a huge aspect of the original film and that’s something I am thankful for. Visuals involving the sandworms in a desert and even a plane going down all look cartoony, but deliberately so to fully demonstrate the surrealism and weirdness of the film’s setting and narrative. 

After the teaser, ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ didn’t have to release another trailer to convince me to see it, but it clearly wanted to show off more of what’s to come and it looks brilliant. Not only do the original cast fit comfortably back into their roles, as if no time has passed, but the new cast also look great and seem like they’ll blend in perfectly with their counterparts. Plus, the visuals and overall aesthetic demonstrate that Burton hasn’t forgotten what made the original so special in the first place.

 

Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Final Trailer) – Trailer Talk

‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’ is the fifth instalment in the ‘Bad Boys’ franchise starring Will Smith (Bad Boys, Men in Black) and Martin Lawrence (Bad Boys, Death at a Funeral) as Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett, two detectives who suddenly find themselves on the run.

The original trailer for the film appeared out of nowhere, but it does look enjoyable. Moviegoers familiar with the franchise are surely to be treated to the action and car chase scenes that the previous films delivered. Plus, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence still have great onscreen chemistry nearly 30 years later.

But, despite its familiarities, it also looks like a film that belongs on a streaming platform instead of in cinema. The film doesn’t appear to add anything new to the franchise and some of the jokes featured are stale. According to IMDb, the film finished production only two months ago which is a worrying sign that implies this was rushed. 

‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’ looks enjoyable and features a lot of aspects that make the franchise fun to watch, but it also feels like something that would be released on Netflix. The familiar aspects could also be this film’s failings as it doesn’t add anything new to the franchise and, to a wider scale, the action genre. 

A Quiet Place: Day One – Trailer Talk.

Starring Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) and Lupita Nyong’o (Us, Black Panther), ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ takes place the day that the monstrous creatures came to Earth and the world went quiet as a result.

While some prequels can be deemed unnecessary, this is one that interests me. With the premise that these films have, I’d be curious to know how it all started and how long it took humans to adapt to the new way of silent life. But, with this also being a prequel, ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ looks to be more action-packed than its predecessors, purely due to the initial panic of the public as well as the actions taken by the military to try and stop the creatures. 

While fans know how the world in these films ended up, it’ll still be intriguing to find out what ultimately lead to that way of life, and it looks enjoyable. Plus the lead cast are fantastic and look like they’ll have great onscreen chemistry. While some prequels don’t always work, I believe this one will.

A Quiet Place: Day One is an upcoming American apocalyptic horror film written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, based on a story he conceived with John Krasinski. It serves as a spin-off prequel and the third installment in the A Quiet Place film series. The film stars Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, and Alex Wolff, with Djimon Hounsou reprising his role from A Quiet Place Part II (2020). 

A Quiet Place: Day One begins on an otherwise ordinary day in New York that is suddenly ripped apart by the arrival of horrific alien monsters that hunt by sound. A small group of survivors must band together in absolute silence if they want to see a brand new dawn.

Mufasa: The Lion King – Trailer Talk

Despite the remake of the beloved classic ‘The Lion King’ looking emotionless and stale, with nothing new to say, it was extremely successful at the box office. This inevitably means that a follow up film is to come but, instead of remaking ‘The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride’, Disney have decided to go backwards to tell an origin story. 

‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ follows Simba as he takes his place as king of the Pridelands while the origins of his late father are explored.

To give Disney some credit, the visual effects look a lot better than its predecessor, with the characters having exaggerated facial expressions just like in the original film. This is a huge step up from the emotionless faces that were shown in ‘The Lion King’ remake and demonstrates that Disney were willing to listen to criticisms of the film. And, just from listening to the music featured in the trailer, I’m looking forward to how the soundtrack will be. If it’s just as incredible as the snippets revealed, then fans are in for a treat.

But all this gets pushed aside when the biggest question rears its head: what is the point in this film? Exploring the origins of Mufasa doesn’t sound very interesting and, because of ‘The Lion King 2’, Simba’s journey into becoming king has already been told. One scene in the trailer that does stand out is where Timone and Pumbaa are fighting alongside Mufasa or Simba. It’s unclear which character this is but, if it’s the former, then it could be implied that the film’s narrative will be told by these two characters, akin to ‘The Lion King 1 ½’. If this is the case, then that could be interesting. But that’s a big if.

Overall, ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ looks visually better than ‘The Lion King’ remake, but it does seem like a pointless film to make. Instead, Disney should’ve remade ‘The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride’ or focused on an origin story for Mufasa’s brother Scar, which would’ve been much more interesting.