'Under Wraps': A 2021 Halloween Remake
This remake of the Disney Channel Original Movie of the same name brings a strong representative cast.

Awkward teen Lucy escapes dull suburbia and archaic gender constraints when she’s thrown into the absurd world of the buff and brilliant builder Louisa at ‘Nails & Beauty’. This is the alternative beauty salon where Louisa and her assistants perform unconventional beauty makeover treatments involving power tools, cement baths, and unique builders-tea ‘hot-stone’ therapies. Through a revelatory transformation à la Louisa, Lucy discovers a new mode of womanhood and a space where she belongs.
This remake of the Disney Channel Original Movie of the same name brings a strong representative cast.
The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.
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