Disney teamed up with Oscar winner Taika Waititi to bring holiday cheer to viewers around the world. The boy and the octopus tells the story of a boy who encounters an octopus while swimming at the beach, only to befriend the mollusk and join in the holiday celebration. While the 4-minute short begins on the beach, the boy and the octopus also find themselves on charming wintry streets and in the boy’s cozy bedroom – as well as in a sushi shop for a very Waititi pace.
Waititi has worked with Disney and its various companies on an impressive range of projects, including The Mandalorian, next goal winsand Thor: Ragnarok. It was even announced in 2020 that Waititi would direct a Star Wars film, although news has been scarce in this regard. Even before he began collaborating with the company, Waititi was known for creating stories filled with equal parts warmth and quirky humor, and The boy and the octopus It certainly lives up to that expectation. Check it out below:
The best Disney nods in The Boy & The Octopus
Unsurprisingly, The boy and the octopus is full of references to other Disney products and projects. While there are plenty of visual nods, the most exciting callback to other Disney properties is the instrumental version of The Little Mermaid‘Part of Your World’, which shows the short’s titular octopus enjoying life on the surface. It’s hard to imagine a Disney song more perfectly suited to a literal fish-out-of-water story like this.
Other Disney properties are central to the film in different ways. One of the octopus’s first introductions to human culture comes when the boy shows him a Buzz Lightyear action figure, and it isn’t long before the boy and the octopus fend off imaginary bad guys with a Star Wars lightsaber toy. Once the boy and the octopus go out on the town to window shop and enjoy the holiday decor, the octopus hides under a Mickey Mouse hat with his eyes carefully cut out to create a view.
Smaller Easter eggs also abound, especially in the boy’s room. Eagle-eyed viewers can find action figure versions of Goofy, R2-D2, C-3PO, Rex, Darth Vader, Emperor Zurg, Donald Duck, Pluto and more, and wall art starring Iron Man. A TV in the boy’s house shows Disney’s Santa Claus (1994) and, of course, the boy has an aquarium populated with a clown fish for a perfect Finding Nemo reference.
The boy and the octopus is on YouTube.