Disney's Hexed Looks Painfully Unremarkable...

[00:00:00]The first trailer for Disney's upcoming animated movie Hexed just came out very recently. I made a video on its initial announcement back in 2025, and then back in April, we got our first look at the movie's at two main characters, in which a lot of people would subsequently criticize the rather generic and unremarkable nature of these character designs. I didn't make a video on the designs themselves, but I made a video going over a certain someone responding to the criticisms that these designs received, claiming that people were raging and acting toxic and going ballistic and whatever over these designs without providing any actual proof of this. I don't doubt that there were people being toxic about their negativity towards these designs when they were revealed, but a lot of the criticisms that I would come across regarding these designs largely came off as calm and constructive. This certain individual also claimed that people were harassing the artists and animators working on this movie, again with no proof of this happening whatsoever, nothing to back up his claim. If this was true, then that's horrible, and I obviously do not condone that. This should go without saying, but please do not harass any of the artists or animators working on this movie. The fact that I don't believe it happened because of the lack of proof given does not mean that I support it in the event that it did actually happen. That's all that I'm going to say. People have a right to be underwhelmed by how the movie looks. I have a right to be underwhelmed by how the movie looks.

[00:01:41]There's no [ __ ] grift. There's no anti-Disney brigade. There's no Owl House conspiracy theory. There is nothing like that. It's just people expressing disappointment over the fact that Disney is putting out a movie that doesn't feel fresh or interesting.

[00:01:59]That's all there is to it. I can't wait for this guy to call me a toxic anti-woke grifter who wants Disney to collapse or whatever, simply because I think this upcoming animated movie from them doesn't look very good or interesting. Watch, he's going to somehow find a way to make this whole thing about Trump and wokeness and American politics and whatever, despite the fact that bro is a Canadian. Just you wait and see. Yeah, sorry about that, folks. It just felt good to get all that out of the way. Let's actually focus on what y'all clicked on this video for. The first trailer for Disney's next animated movie, Hex, just came out very recently, and it hasn't really given me higher hopes that the movie will turn out good, unfortunately.

[00:02:48]Now, I must preface, I don't think this movie will be bad, necessarily. This is less, "Oh my god, this movie is going to be absolutely abysmal and a crime against humanity." And it's more, "Oh, okay then, Disney's putting out a new movie, and it looks incredibly generic and unremarkable, and it probably won't do very well at the box office because of that." The movie follows a teenage girl named Billie who, get this, is not like the other girls. Everyone else at her school is so basic and boring, but then Billie is more edgy and alternative. Whoa, what an original concept. And then, as it turns out, Billie over here actually has magical powers. She ends up getting expelled from her school because of these powers, and while she's in her room, she gets sucked up into a portal taking her into the magical world of Hex, a world that's full of witches, in which she finds out that she herself is a witch, I guess. I don't know. It's yet another movie where a character enters a magical world and discovers that they might be special and unique after all. I don't think this movie is going to be bad necessarily, but it's just so generic. I didn't want to go into this movie negatively, but it doesn't provide me with anything new that I hadn't already seen before in tons of other media beforehand, Disney or not. There is nothing in this trailer that made me think, "Woah, I can't wait to watch this movie in theaters. It looks so amazing. I'll be seated day one." When I made my video on that certain someone's response to the criticism surrounding the generic nature of this movie, I frequently referenced this video from this woman going over the problems that people had with the movie's generic and predictable nature.

[00:04:47]And just in case, I'm going to provide a link to this video in the description below because why the hell not, you know? I did it for the other video, I might as well do it for this video as well. Why the hell not? Among these criticisms, you had someone bring up this piece of concept art released alongside the movie's initial announcement in 2025. Look at how colorful and unique this concept art looks. And then you look at the final designs for the two main characters and how unremarkable and average they are.

[00:05:19]And it would be pretty easy to conclude that this magical world would look much more generic in the final movie when compared to when this concept art. This image right here accurately summed up the concerns that people had regarding how this magical world would look in the final movie when compared to in the concept art. Well, to the movie's credit, it doesn't seem like this magical world will be as generic in the final movie as from what we see of it in the trailer. It does retain a little bit of that unique stylized charm that it had in the concept art. It's obviously not going to change the fact that the movie will still likely be generic and predictable. You know, Wish had a slightly unique art style and we all know how that film turned out despite that. But hey, at least it's something.

[00:06:10]I feel like this movie will have a lot of the same clichés that most modern Disney movies have without doing anything really new or interesting to make it stand out or feel fresh. Things that were interesting and fresh when the Disney Renaissance did them in the '90s or when movies like Tangled or Frozen did them in the early 2010s that are no longer interesting or fresh today in 2026.

[00:06:36]There's a scene in the trailer from when Billy first enters this magical world where she comes across a talking book and a talking quill and it's like, "Oh, wow, talking objects that don't talk in real life." You know, this was an original and fresh idea when Beauty and the Beast did it back in 1991, but it's not 1991 anymore. It's 2026, 35 years later. This just feels really stale and derivative. I'm sorry. It's not as magical or as whimsical as they want it to be because it's all stuff that we've seen before over and over again a million times. I genuinely cringe at the inevitable how do you do fellow kids moments the beginning of this movie will have regarding Billy at her school and how she's again not like the other girls. It just doesn't make any sense the more that I think about it. We already just got a Disney movie where the main character is a rebellious alternative teenage girl. Do we really need another one in the same year no less? This isn't a dig at Hoppers, either, by the way. I'll go into more detail about Hoppers later on into the video when the right time comes. Billy's mother, the lol XD awkward quirky adorable character who's supposed to be #relatable because we clearly don't have enough of those in these modern-day Disney movies, surprisingly doesn't appear much in this trailer. I would have thought the movie would focus on both Billy and her mother entering this magical world instead of only Billy entering this magical world, but I guess that's not what's happening here. Worry not, my fellow viewers, because not only is Billy supposed to be this edgy alternative not like the other girls character, but there's also a strong chance that she will also be another lol XD awkward quirky adorable character that's supposed to be #relatable.

[00:08:38]You know what they say, two is better than one. I find it really hard to have any strong feelings towards this movie, positive or negative. What I expect out of this is a movie that will ultimately just be fine, a movie that will exist, a movie that will very likely do poorly at the box office because of its generic nature, which will then cause people online to rant about how audiences don't actually care about original movies despite the fact that number one, these movies exist, and number two, this movie doesn't actually do anything new or original. Just because it doesn't have a number in the title doesn't mean that it's an original film. I'm not going to support this movie. I'm not going to encourage people to go out and support this movie just because it's technically original. It's not enough for it to be original. It also has to feel original.

[00:09:35]I'm not going to give my hard-earned money to a movie that is technically original, but is still largely generic and formulaic and been there, done that, and predictable, and whatever despite that, just because, well, at least it's not Avengers 93, at least it's not Despicable Me 46, at least it's not Star Wars 75, at least it's not Fast and Furious 81. You get the idea. I don't know if this is a hot take or not, but if it is, then it shouldn't be. I think a bad original movie is much worse than a bad movie that's a sequel or a remake.

[00:10:14]Like like let me explain what I mean by that. The Star Wars sequels are bad?

[00:10:19]Well, that sucks, but at least we'll always have the original trilogy and or the prequel trilogy. The live-action Disney remakes are bad? Well, that sucks, but at least we'll always have the original animated versions of these classic movies. You know, you can get like there's good versions of like a bad sequel or a bad remake, and then you can't get that with a bad original movie. There's no like good alternative to a bad original movie, especially one that doesn't even try to do anything actually original like Hex. You look at last year's Sinister, which ended up being an unexpectedly massive success at the box office despite being an original movie not based on any IP. And one of the reasons why it was successful was because it actually felt like a different unique experience. This is a horror movie about vampires, which, okay, not a very original concept, I'll admit it, but the way that it's executed, the way they pull off this not very original concept is what matters here. This movie feels original. It's like nothing you've ever seen before in a vampire movie. You cannot say that this movie is derivative of Nosferatu or Twilight or whatever. It has nothing in common with those movies besides the fact that they're all about vampires.

[00:11:43]Meanwhile, Hexed has the generic character enters a magical world storyline and seemingly does absolutely nothing new with it. Nothing to make it feel fresh or unique. Nothing to make it stand out from the many other character enters a magical world movies that we've gotten before. It might not turn out bad per se. I'm sure the movie will be watchable, but it wouldn't feel special or original. You'd get that feeling watching this movie that you've seen this exact same movie before at some point. And yes, I just compared A Sinners to Hexed. This is probably the only video in existence where you will see someone compare Sinners to Hexed, which means that this video that you are currently watching is infinitely more original and infinitely more unique than Hexed will ever be. Wow. I look at last year's Elio, a movie that notoriously failed at the box office, and although I didn't hate the movie, I can also understand why it did terrible at the box office. Believe it or not, acknowledging that a movie failed at the box office and understanding the reasons why it failed at the box office does not necessarily mean that I think the movie is bad. You can like a movie. You can even think that a movie should have done better at the box office while simultaneously understanding why it failed at the box office in the first place. Elio was a cute movie, but it's also a very unremarkable movie. It doesn't really do anything new that we haven't already seen before. Besides the fact that it's a Pixar movie, there was quite literally no reason to go and see this movie over the many other movies released that summer, all of which had some kind of draw to them that would compel someone to go and see them. Elio didn't have that draw. It was a perfectly fine, perfectly serviceable movie, which wouldn't be a problem if this was a DreamWorks or Illumination movie, but this is from Pixar. When you're the studio that provided audiences with movies like The Incredibles or Ratatouille or Coco, perfectly fine and perfectly serviceable will not do. This isn't like Elemental, which although it isn't on par with Pixar's golden age material or the few post-Cars 2 Pixar movies that are on par with their golden age material, it still stands strong and is an enjoyable movie despite that. No, Elio was just a weak movie. It's cute, but it's also weak.

[00:14:20]The biggest compliment that I can give to Elio is that it's the best movie Illumination has made since the first Despicable Me. Okay, but being serious for a second, the fact that Elio made less money at the box office than Snow White is just criminal, okay? Like, I know they're both Disney movies, so it doesn't really matter, but still, it should have at least outgrossed the Snow White remake, you know? Damn shame if you ask me. Damn shame. Hoppers did much better at the box office than Elio for a variety of reasons. One of them being that the movie felt more fresh and original. Elio is an original movie, but it didn't feel original. Hoppers is an original movie, and it actually feels original. It feels new. I look at the unhinged insanity of Hoppers' third act, and it's like nothing I've ever seen before in a Pixar movie or in any other animated movie for that matter. I can still remember what happens in Hoppers.

[00:15:26]I cannot remember a single thing that happens in Elio besides the fact that Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads it plays in an early scene of the movie.

[00:15:35]Which thinking about it more, that should have been enough to make Elio a billion dollar grossing film in an ideal world, but I digress. Hext might be original, but it doesn't feel original.

[00:15:48]It's the same thing as Elio, where it might be perfectly fine and perfectly serviceable, but this is Disney that we are talking about over here. Perfectly fine and perfectly serviceable is not what one would expect out of a Disney or Pixar movie, nor should it be what one would expect. Disney and Pixar movies should feel like an event, something to bring audiences into theaters, something that'll be cherished and remembered and beloved for years to come. I just simply don't see that happening with Hext. It just looks fine. It just looks okay.

[00:16:27]There is nothing about this movie that'll really draw audiences into it.

[00:16:32]There is nothing about this movie to make it stand out from the many other animated movies that have a similar premise. There is nothing about these two characters that'll make the audience care about and become attached to them the same way they became attached to Moana and Maui, or Nick and Judy, or Elsa and Anna, or the Madrigal family.

[00:16:54]And I'm just using recent examples. The point that I'm trying to make becomes even more clear and hard-hitting when you add in characters from the Renaissance era and earlier. I didn't make a video on it because I didn't think it gave me enough material to justify making a video on it, especially since I already made a video on it when it was initially announced last year, but I think Gatto has a lot of potential to be a big hit. I think Gatto has a lot of potential to be a great movie. I'm actually excited for this movie. I think this movie looks great, and I am eagerly looking forward to it. Not only is Gatto an original film, but it also feels original. I watched this teaser trailer, and yeah, it doesn't really tell me much about what the movie will be about, but it also has that classic Pixar magic that's missing in a lot of their modern-day movies. This movie actually looks interesting. That's another thing that's important in regards to this.

[00:17:55]Elio wasn't very interesting, but Hoppers was interesting. Hexed doesn't look very interesting, but Gatto looks interesting. Gatto looks like it will offer a more unique and memorable experience than Hexed, and it's like I'm not even just talking about like the unique animation art style or whatever that it has. That's the cherry on top.

[00:18:20]In general, I just have this really good feeling. I have this like really good vibe for Gatto. I am given a lot of reasons to look forward to Gatto. I am given no reason to look forward to Hexed. It just doesn't look like a very fresh or original film. I'm sorry, but I would rather support an original movie if it's actually good. I don't want to give my money to a generic-looking non-sequel movie just because it's original, because then I'd run the risk of allowing for more generic non-sequel movies to get made. Movies that would have so much potential to be good, so much potential to be the next big thing for Disney or Pixar, just completely wasted because of their mediocre and unremarkable execution. I know people will bring up how Disney and Pixar sequels usually end up being massive successes despite many of them like Moana 2 or Ralph Breaks the Internet ranging from mediocre to straight-up bad. Plus, the live-action remakes raking in tons of money at the box office as well despite a lot of these movies being terrible. But again, a bad original movie is much worse than a bad sequel or remake. There's a difference between Moana 2 being a generic and unremarkable movie versus Hext being a generic and unremarkable movie. There's a difference between the Moana remake being a bad movie versus Wish being a bad movie. We already have a good version of Moana that makes up for both the bad sequel and the bad remake. We don't have a good version of Hext or a good version of Wish and chances are we never will. That's the difference right there. Moana 2 made a billion dollars at the box office despite mid reception because of the goodwill that people had for the first movie. It obviously would have made a far more money had it been an actually good movie as evident by the monstrous success of both Inside Out 2 and Zootopia 2. Both of which had the insane box office performances that they had not only because of the goodwill that people had for their first movies, but also because they're actually great movies. I was so surprised by how great Zootopia 2 was. I was like, "Wow, the first great modern Disney movie in what feels like [ __ ] forever." I can't believe it, man. I can't believe it.

[00:20:57]Even then though, I just knew this was going to be a fluke. This being good does not mean all of their subsequent movies are going to be good. I still had low hopes for Hext and Frozen 3 and all their future movies after Zootopia 2.

[00:21:13]But hey, at least we got one great modern movie from them. That's better than nothing. Someone out there probably looked at the gargantuan success of these movies and thought, "Oh, audiences are stupid. They claim to want more original movies and fewer sequels, and then they ignore the original movies that Disney and Pixar put out and only watch the sequels that they put out." As if it's somehow the audience's fault that Inside Out 2 and Zootopia 2 are much better, much stronger, and much more memorable movies than Elio and Strange World. To wrap things up, I don't think Hext is going to turn out very well, nor do I think that it'll be successful in any way at the box office.

[00:22:00]If you're excited for the movie, then fine. Go ahead. Be excited for the movie. Just don't be [ __ ] annoying and try to change the minds of people who don't think the movie will be very good. You can like the movie and be excited for it while also understanding why most people aren't excited for it and why most people think this movie will inevitably be a box office failure.

[00:22:25]Speaking of which, when this movie does poorly at the box office, don't go on and on and on about how audiences don't actually want original movies and they only watch sequels and remakes and whatever because again, number one, these movies exist, and number two, there is nothing to make Hext actually feel original. This is like the bare minimum for an original movie. It might be an original movie, but it doesn't feel like an original movie, and that's what really matters at the end of the day. If it helps ease the inevitable backlash that I will get from the Disney adults at the expense of receiving twice the backlash from the Nintendo adults, I don't think this movie will be as bad as the Mario Galaxy movie. Yeah, I said it.

[00:23:14]The [ __ ] you going to do about it, huh?

[00:23:16]Despite everything that I've just gone over in this video regarding this movie, I don't even think this will be the worst animated movie of the year. Even with the very generic and predictable nature of this movie, they would have to try really [ __ ] hard to make this movie worse than cameos and references with no actual substance or depth the movie. I had fairly high expectations for the Mario Galaxy movie. I say fairly high because on the one hand, this is based on one of the greatest video games ever made, but on the other hand, it is an Illumination movie. To get a movie based on such an amazing game and then have it turn out the way that it did is just nothing short of insulting.

[00:24:03]Meanwhile, with Hexed, my expectations were Yeah, I'm not going to beat around the bush for this one. My expectations for this movie were completely [ __ ] nonexistent from day one, which means that I think it'll likely be better than the Mario Galaxy movie. I don't care how generic this movie will be. At least it might have a little bit of substance and depth in it. At least it'll have an actual plot. An incredibly generic by-the-numbers plot, but a plot nonetheless. At least it'll likely have slower moments instead of just having things happen chaotically for the sake of happening. The Super Mario Galaxy movie might be the only movie in existence that actually made me miss the cliché third act sad moment that a lot of animated movies have. That's impressive. This movie will still likely turn out not very good, but it cannot be worse than that [ __ ] Mario Galaxy movie. That's barely even an actual movie. This is probably a hot take even though it has a quite literally no reason to be one. I get it. Disney bad, but that doesn't mean we have to act like this piece of crap over here is better just because it's not from Disney. Disney's already taken the W when it comes to animated movies this year. Hex likely being not as bad as Mario Galaxy will just be the cherry on top. If all of this makes me a Disney shill now all of a sudden, then so [ __ ] be it, man. So [ __ ] be it.

[00:25:39]Anyways, that's about it. If you enjoyed this video, then be sure to like and if you new to the channel, maybe consider subscribing as it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you everyone for watching this video and I will see you all next time. Adios.