Growing Fangs is a live action short film in the Launchpad series from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and was released on Disney+ on May 28, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Val Garcia, a Mexican-American teen who is half human/half vampire, has had to keep her identity a secret from both worlds. But when her human best friend shows up at her monster-infested school, she has to confront her truth, her identity, and herself.
Plot[]
Val Garcia is a half human half vampire who struggles to maintain her hectic life. Her human father and vampiric mother and grandmother have all decided to pull her out of regular school and have her attend monster school, which is accessed through a small doghouse in their backyard. Val misses her human friend Jimmy who was the only person who understood her, but her family refuse to have her inform him of her vampiric blood line. At monster school, she has a crush on the head of the basketball team Elsie Fang, of which she is unaware of. Val happily accepts the job of dressing up as their opposing team's mascot, the Horrid Human so that she can be close to Elsie. Before the game, Elsie has them celebrate by having her drink the last bottle of Gator-Bleed. Val reluctantly drinks it as her stomach cannot handle pure blood.
Before going out, Val speaks with Elsie's teammate and friend Dora who admits that she does not like playing basketball as she did not want to feel alone. As Val goes out in the mascot uniform, she becomes overwhelmed by the abundance of booing at her, combined with the drink making her queasy and runs to the bathroom. Elsie goes to check on her and discovers her half human trait after seeing that her face casts a reflection. Val goes to see Nurse Sherri who informs her that there is nothing wrong with her and tells her that she is a Muslim witch and thus her being human and vampire is nothing unusual, though she does tell her to not drink pure blood juice.
As Val leaves the nurse's office, she learns that Jimmy left a message on her cell phone. He had come to offer her enchiladas and mistaking the doghouse for containing an actual dog ends up transported to the monster school. Jimmy runs afoul of the monster students with Elsie threatening to bite him, but Val intervenes; revealing to everyone her half human trait. Cornered, she takes Jimmy's enchiladas (which contains garlic) and tosses it at Elsie as she and the other students flee. Dora comes back and reveals that she is actually a half human half werewolf and that she admires Val for being open. Val invites Jimmy and Dora to her house for dinner as her family happily accepts them as guests.
Cast[]
- Keyla Monterroso Mejia as Val Garcia
- Cristela Alonzo as Lupe Garcia
- Grace Song as Elsie Fang
- Olivia Sullivent as Dora
- Gilberto Ortiz as Jimmy
- Sean Burgos as Danny Garcia
- Terri Hoyos as Cuca Garcia
- Yonas Kibreab as Javier Garcia
- Zainab Johnson as Nurse Sherri
- Mirelle Sophia as Mimi
- Nicole Goosby as Niki
Trivia[]
- This short features an LGBTQ protagonist. The character of Val has a crush on Elsie and later it is implied that Dora has a crush on Val.
- The short aired on Disney Channel on October 8, 2021.
- Coincidentally, it aired on National Lesbian Awareness Day.
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