Taika Waititi has a long relationship with Disney and its studios. He directed a pair of Thor movies for Marvel Studios, won an adapted screenplay Oscar for Searchlight’s Jojo Rabbit, and voiced a droid in The Mandalorian, in addition to directing on the Disney+ Star Wars series. Now, he has added another line to that resume: directing the company’s annual holiday short.
The short, called Best Christmas Ever, bowed this week and is nearing 14 million views on YouTube. It centers on a young girl whose doodle comes to life after Santa Claus mistakes her drawing for a Christmas wish. John Goodman, whose voice work for Disney include titles such as Monsters, Inc. and The Princess and the Frog, voices the doodle.
“What makes this story uniquely Disney is the fact that it’s set in the world of a kid. It’s a kid and her new best friend, navigating the complex world together, and doing it just with the power of friendship and imagination,” said Waititi, whose upcoming credits include a Sony 3000 adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun.
Disney invited audiences to send in their own doodles, which were displayed Wednesday on the Time’s Square Billboard to help promote the company’s Christmas theme, which this year is Make Someone’s Holiday Magic.
Watch the short below.
