Trailers of the Week: ‘Toy Story 4,’ ‘Detective Pikachu,’ ‘Dumbo’
There’s a whole heapin’ helping of cuteness that hit us this week, starting with the first glimpse of the Pokemon Detective Pikachu movie that sent millennials into a frenzy. We also got: a high-concept teaser for Woody, Buzz and the gang’s new adventure; an underdog story involving small-town beauty pageants and taking on body-shaming haters; expanded looks at a manga adaptation and a live-action take on a Disney classic; and what may be the trailer of the year for the best movie of the year. Here’s your best-of trailer round-up for the week.
Alita: Battle Angel
“Does it bother you that I’m not human?” I mean, those freakishly large anime-style eyes are a little unnerving, if we’re being honest. This James Cameron/Robert Rodriguez collaboration drops another trailer, further detailing how the dynamic duo plan on turning the legendary manga series about a young, half-human/half-machine woman (Rosa Salazar) into a bleeding-edge blockbuster. Namely, by dialing the digital backgrounds and effects up to 11 and laying out a lot of hot cyborg-on-cyborg set pieces. Seriously, this looks like The Matrix on PEDs, and we’re not sure if that’s a good thing or not. You’ll catch glimpses of Mahershala Ali and Jennifer Connelly too. It hits theaters on Feb. 14th, because Valentine’s Day!
Dumbo
The more we see of this live-action redo of Disney’s airborne-pachyderm classic — “from the imagination of Tim Burton,” declareth the clip — the more we’re genuinely looking forward to seeing what the filmmaker and studio come up with. And man, does this look trailer make it look maxi-Burtonesque! The circus scenes pop. The A-list cast includes a dashing Colin Farrell, Danny De Vito as a ringmaster verging on a Penguin-like grotesque, Eva Green in Lulu Brooks cosplay and Michael Keaton in silver-fox mode. And there’s a glow of childlike wonder around every bit featuring the underage actors. We’re so there. It hits theaters Mar. 29th.
Dumplin’
Meet Willowdean Dickson (Patti Cake$ Danielle Macdonald), a young, plus-size woman who takes care of — and in lives in the shadow of — her Type-A personality, pageant-hosting mom (Jennifer Aniston). Sick of being treated like trash by the judgemental locals, she stages a protest by entering herself in one of these beauty contests. “I’m not the Joan of Arc of fat girls,” she claims, which doesn’t mean she won’t inspire the neighborhood kooks and freaks to join her. It’s directed by Anne Fletcher, who also did The Proposal, 27 Dresses, the first Step Up movie and Hot Pursuit. If you like any of those films, this may be for you. Check it out Dec. 7th.
Gloria Bell
Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio does the English-language remake of his own 2013 dramedy, about a middle-aged woman looking for love in all the wrong places. Which, if you’re going to do this at all, it’s best to cast Julianne Moore as your lead (this is true of most films, now that we think of it). The teaser here also emphasizes that this 2.0 version is skewing more toward the romantic-comic side of things, even as it showcases Moore and John Turturro going from swooning over each other to slightly sour. Plus the Laura Brannigan song shows up! See it in theaters starting Mar. 8th, 2019.
The Informer
What happens when an ex-con (Joel Kinnaman) who’s been corralled into being FBI informant finds himself accidentally aiding and abetting the killing of an undercover cop? Answer: He gets sent back into prison to run a drug smuggling operation for a kingpin the Feds are hoping to nab. Yes, things do go south. Yes, our man does have to escape to protect his family. This may be the crime drama that finally proves the bulked-up TV star can hack it as a B-movie action hero. Also Common plays a cop who goes by the nickname “The Hangman, so there’s that. Opens Mar. 22.
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu
Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. Also, like, he sounds like Ryan Reynolds and is a pokémon who can only be heard by a young man (The Get Down‘s Justice Smith). The Internet damn near cracked in half when this trailer dropped on Monday. You’re either really looking forward to this — some folks simply have to collect ’em all! — or you’re really, really confused. It hits theaters on May 11th, 2019.
Roma
How great is Alfonso Cuarón’s valentine to the neighborhood of his youth? Even his freakin’ trailer is a masterpiece. A montage of moments from the movie set to Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky,” this promo peek pretty much sells the movie beautifully: It’s sensual, surreal, spectacular and suggestive of an intimate story told on an epic scale. Theatrical engagements (limited, unfortunately) begin Nov. 21, before this Netflix movie settles into its streaming home beginning Dec. 14th. Try to see it on a big screen if you can. You’ll thank us later.
Toy Story 4
You know how you don’t think you miss a thing, and then the thing sort of circles around back to you, and you go, “God, how great would it be to see that again?” That’s the reaction you’re likely to get watching this high-concept teaser regarding the return of Woody, Buzz and the gang, coming back to a theater near you in June of 2019. Also, Tony Hale voices a new character: A plastic spork named Forky. We’re counting the days.