Hexed Is Disney's Original Animated Film for Thanksgiving, and Hailee Steinfeld Is a Teen Witch

Photo: Tony Mariotti, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hexed is the one original in Disney's holiday slate, and after a run of sequels that is worth noting on its own. It opens November 25 and goes to Disney+ in early 2027. Hailee Steinfeld voices Billie, a restless suburban teenager who accidentally unleashes magic she did not know she had and gets pulled into a witch realm called Hexe. Rashida Jones voices her mother Alice, who follows her in.

Photo: marcen27, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The second trailer came out this month and it is prettier than the teaser suggested. The witch world is all crooked towers and glowing ink, and the comedy comes from a pair of enchanted objects: Tracey Ullman as Ms. Quill, a feather pen, and Stephen Fry as Elias Quire, a talking book. Jodie Foster, Walton Goggins, Henry Winkler, Dan Stevens and Brett Gelman are in there too, which is a strange and promising list.

Photo: greginhollywood, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fawn Veerasunthorn, who co-directed Wish, and Jason Hand are directing. Wish was not a good film, and I know people will hold that against this one, but the trailer for Hexed has a looser, funnier tone than anything Disney Animation has done in a few years. It is a mother-daughter story at heart, which Disney has not really done since Brave.

Photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The premise changed along the way. When it was first announced, the lead was an awkward teenage boy. Somewhere in development it became Billie and her mother, and I think that was the right call. The family-secrets angle, where the mother clearly knows more about Hexe than she is letting on, gives the film a spine the teaser did not have.

Photo: Elena Ternovaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It opens the same day as Focker-In-Law and Hershey, and it is the only one of the three for kids. Does an original Disney film still get your family into a cinema, or do you wait for the Disney+ date now?