Disney+ releases the Flora & Ulysses movie trailer and poster, revealing the streaming service's newest superhero is a squirrel. Adapted from the Newbery Medal-winning children's book of the same name by Kate DiCamillo, the Flora & Ulysses cast is loaded with comedic talent pulled from the world of TV, both behind and in front of the camera. The screenplay was written by Brad Copeland, who wrote for and produced Arrested Development, while the cast includes Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother), Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), Bobby Moynihan (SNL), and Danny Pudi (Community). This will be the second movie from director Lena Kahn, whose debut The Tiger Hunter (which also starred Pudi) was well received after a limited release.
All those recognizable names will be taking a backseat to child actor Matilda Lawler playing the titular Flora, a comic-loving girl who adopts a squirrel that just happens to have super powers. The new Flora & Ulysses trailer from Walt Disney Studios shows Flora discovering her pet's abilities via a message left on a typewriter, in which it names itself Ulysses, and other footage reveals the rodent has some classic powers. Flight? Check. Super strength? Most likely. Human speech? Not exactly. Check out the full Flora & Ulysses trailer and poster below.
People who love superheroes as much as Flora does are sure to notice plenty of references in this trailer alone, suggesting Flora & Ulysses is littered with Easter eggs. Disney+ flexes their Marvel-muscles by including a comic panel of Iron Man in an introductory montage, and Ulysses is sure to earn applause from Deadpool for his "superhero landing" just over a minute in. The references aren't only to comics, either - a shot of a blanket-wrapped Ulysses in the basket of Flora's bike suggests Kahn is trying to recapture the family-friendly wonder of movies like E.T. Audiences will have to wait until February 19 to find out whether Flora & Ulysses can pull that off, but given that the author of the original book also wrote The Tale of Despereaux, anything seems possible.
Source: Walt Disney Studios