Hexed

Disney’s 3D animation division is back with another modern fantasy, this time focusing on the coming of age for Billie, a teen who feels miscast and out of place in her suburban life and discovers the magical realm of Hexe.

The trailer begins with a faint piano vamp that doesn’t seem to be a callback yet to any particular tune. A tambourine holds the rhythm faintly as we see our protagonist, Billie, discovering she holds witch-like magical powers in her hands that are difficult to control. At 0:28 a faint bass vamp enters, ending at 0:35 with the slapstick punchline as she accidentally destroys the bathroom.

The vamp reenters at 0:42, this time with a ticking sound, heightening expectations for something coming. At 0:54, after another pause, a cello enters. Beginning at 1:02 we see the studio cards (“from the studio that brought you Frozen and Zootopia,” which is a good sell), at 1:22 we hear a faint hi-hat pattern that turns out to be a subtle tease for the featured musical track. Notice that at 1:30, once the door to Hexe begins to be activated, we get a heavy electric guitar chord—a notable shift.

Finally, with the reveal of Hexe at 1:36 we hear the tune—Miley Cyrus’ “Edge of Midnight”, a track that’s heavily based on Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen.” It’s more than a remix, and not quite a cover. Notably, it’s an intergenerational choice—something Gen X moms and their teenage daughters can both identify with.

Strings and epic percussion augment the track, as trailer music selections often do. A couple of vocal lines from the track provide the apex, along with a tease of Billie’s burgeoning powers as a witch.

Overall, the trailer is clearly built on a steady lead up to that snippet of the song and its accompanying action, and it works for its subtlety, not giving too much away too soon. It spends an appropriate amount of time instead introducing us to this world and its characters, which as a franchise is new, if thematically predictable, territory for Disney.

Hexed arrives in theatres November 25th.

— Curtis Perry