After delighting audiences at the Outfest LA Film Festival and HollyShorts Film Festival, Beautiful, FL arrives on Disney+ on September 29th alongside five other shorts from Disney’s Launchpad incubator program. This year’s selection is all about community, and this short features themes reminiscent of Pixar’s Coco. It’s about family and is “Dedicated to our abuelas, the pillars of our communities.”
(Disney)
At a sunny trailer park in Beautiful, FL, teenager Omara (Dariana Alvarez) is working on a recipe for a local ice cream competition inspired by the Polvorones that her late Tia Fria (Eileen Galindo) used to make. Struggling to recapture the beloved flavors of the traditional cookies, and with her mother (Lynette Coll) hard at work, Omara turns to her collection of peculiar neighbors for help while consulting the memory of her abuela on the ofrenda.
Omara navigates a tight-knit neighborhood of eccentric characters, including Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs, Elemental) as Mel, a devoted sunbather and gnome figurine collector. As she visits each neighbor and has them try her recipe, they remember something else about her abuela that can help craft the frozen tribute to her beloved grandmother. And the picture of Tia Fria comes to life in Omara’s imagination, adding another level of whimsy to a lighthearted story that otherwise could’ve been weighed down by grief. Instead, Beautiful, FL feels like a joyous story of keeping loved ones close even after they depart.
Director Gabriela Ortega pulls color out of the writing of Joel Perez and Adrian Ferbeyre. Characters are clearly written as colorful, like Arthur (Logan Jennings), another neighbor who performs in drag as Ahura Cain (sounds like “A hurricane”). But where her artistic vision for the film really comes to fruition is at the ice cream competition, where everyone is bedecked in pastel ice cream colors, including the celebrity chef and judge, Copernicus Cruz (Joel Perez).
(Disney)
The second batch of shorts from Disney’s Launchpad honors twelve unique voices through six shorts, and this one covers three of those voices. The theme of this season is connection, and Beautiful, FL is exemplary of that. Despite losing her abuela, Omara rediscovers her neighbors, who each had their own special friendship with her grandma. Through connecting with them, she can not only achieve her dream of honoring her abuela’s memory through a unique ice cream flavor, but also discover a new passion.
I give Beautiful, FL 5 out of 5 sprinkles.
Beautiful, FL premieres Friday, September 29th, exclusively on Disney+ as part of Disney’s Launchpad.
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