Disney Unleashes 2022 Holiday Spot, The Last Piece Of Its Christmas Ad Trilogy
Video screenshot via Disney UK
As the pandemic split loved ones apart, families spent their holidays living through the sweet yet stirring moments of Lola’s family.
Disney’s 2022 Christmas advertisement closes a full trilogy the animation great had been planning since 2019, entitled From My Family To Yours. Beginning with Lola—a Spanish name that also means “grandmother” in Tagalog—it has since expanded to chronicle the life of her granddaughter, Nicole, who now has children of her own and another on the way.
The latest short, The Gift, is told through the eyes of Nicole’s daughter Ella, who is now adjusting to make way for the new youngest member of the family. She’s been awaiting the birth of her sibling with trepidation, having noticed that the attention around her has been reduced.
The film features vocals by Jessica Darrow, who played the role of Luisa Madrigal in Encanto.
Throughout the series, Disney fills its festive commercials with a sense of hope and family bonding—crucial themes of the past years. An interesting link between past and present is a glow-in-the-dark Mickey Mouse plushie that Ella’s brother Max previously handed over to her, and she later learns to give this up to her younger sibling.
Fans will be enchanted to know that the sequel, as with the other videos, is peppered with Easter eggs from the Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars universes.
Sarah Fox, Disney’s VP of marketing and communications, tells Little Black Book’s Zoe Antonov that the cross-generational tale has allowed its storytellers to delve into the interwoven, personal lives of the characters, and that concluding the trilogy with the birth of a new sibling is “fitting.”
Plus, the interconnected story closes a year ahead of Disney’s 100th anniversary, and the company has something very special prepared for that, Fox hints.
Notably, animators have had the pleasure of improving the quality of the sets and props with every release, giving each film more texture, detail, and warmer lighting than the last.
The last three years have seen 58 artists in New Zealand contribute 6,100 studio hours to create the commercials, in addition to the work of UK-based writers, producers, consultants around the world, sound engineers, global researchers, and LA-based songwriters.
From My Family To Yours also explores Disney’s long-standing friendship with the Make-A-Wish nonprofit, which devotes its time fulfilling the wishes of children with critical illnesses. Last year’s short showcased the work of 13-year-old Dylan from the UK, whose dream was to become an animator.
This year, Disney is calling upon audiences to donate to the foundation through shopDisney at checkout, or the Make-A-Wish International channels, and promises to match all donations to US$100,000.
You can watch all three films in sequence below.
[via Little Black Book and Campaign UK, images via Disney UK]
