Day 25: Fangs for Nothing

October 25, 2022

Dear Disney,

There is 7 days left in the 31 Days of Disney Halloween. Darling and I have looked through many different genres and styles of Disney movies and shorts: animated and live action; hand-drawn and CGI. Today’s feature comes from Disney: Launchpad, a very interesting program that helps diversify the Disney stable of story-tellers. Season One of this series/program brings us this delightful coming-of age/acceptance story, “Growing Fangs”.

As this short is still relatively new, I will not spoil the story to anyone. However, the logline from the story is “Val Garcia, a Mexican-American half human/half vampire teenager, struggles to fit in either world.” I can tell you a few more things without spoiling too much. Val, played by Keyla Monterosso Mejia, is wonderful.

Similar to the Halloweentown series, Darling and I are not the target audience, but unlike the previous series, “Growing Fangs” portrays something that we can identify with. Darling and I can still remember what it was like to try to fit in. To have a secret that you are afraid to tell your friends because of the fear of the unknown, of being denied or rebuked by someone you care about and for. This short did all of these things and more.

This Halloween season, and really anytime, try out the short “Growing Fangs.” I think you all will really like it.

Sincerely,

Jim Dear and Darling

p.s. For more information about the Disney Launchpad program, check out Disney Launchpad.