NOW critics pick the best new movies and TV shows coming to Disney+ Canada in May 2021.
Cruella
I’m not sure anyone was asking “What if Joker but Disney,” but now we have the answer: a lavish origin story for the infamous 101 Dalmatians villain – previously interpreted in live-action by Glenn Close, and now embodied by Emma Stone as a fashion prodigy in punk-rock London – no, seriously – with some rather radical ideas about what constitutes “reclaimed material.” Craig Gillespie directs; Emma Thompson, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mark Strong and Paul Walter Hauser co-star. It’ll be released in theatres and available on Disney+ as a Premium Access title – meaning subscribers can unlock it for a one-time fee of $34.99. Or, as was the case with previous Premium releases Mulan and Raya And The Last Dragon you can wait three months for it to join the standard service. May 28
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Before The Mandalorian, writer/producer Dave Filoni made a lot of Star Wars fans happy with the animated Clone Wars series, which spent years reshaping the narrative of George Lucas’s (understandably) loathed prequel trilogy into something a lot more satisfying, adding a host of new characters and expanding our understanding of those we already knew. Somewhere in there, he introduced the Bad Batch, a set of Imperial clone troopers whose production run went slightly off-model, resulting in specialized skills that let them become an elite fighting squad in their own right. This animated series will focus on the Batch (all voiced once again by Dee Bradley Baker) as they reinvent themselves as mercenaries in the post-war galaxy, running into adversaries from all over the Star Wars universe. The first episode will premiere on Star Wars Day, May the Fourth; subsequent episodes will drop every Friday. May 4
Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.
Marvel’s found some interesting ways to reconfigure its most baroque supervillains within the more “realistic” world of live-action storytelling – think of Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock or Michael Keaton’s Vulture – but there is absolutely no way they could have made M.O.D.O.K. work: the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing is a giant-headed cyborg who flies around yelling at Iron Man, and there is no way you can depict that in live action without going full Cronenbergian body horror. So Jordan Blum an Patton Oswalt didn’t even try, instead pitching Hulu on a stop-motion comedy that explores who M.O.D.O.K. is when he’s not trying to kill Tony Stark: a frustrated executive and overmatched family man. Voiced by Patton Oswalt. May 21
Black Widow
Made you look, right? This isn’t the solo adventure for Scarlett Johansson’s dearly departed Avenger; that won’t arrive until July. Instead, Disney has plucked Bob Rafelson’s 1987 thriller – starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell, respectively, as a detective and the woman she suspects of marrying and dispatching a series of wealthy men – from its recently acquired library of 20th Century Fox pictures. We would like to think it’s because the movie totally holds up, but mostly it’s just there to mess with people. May 21
Launchpad
One of the more intriguing elements of Disney’s diversity initiative is this line of short films, commissioned from “filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds [to] show audiences what it means to be seen.” The first six – Aqsa Altaf’s American EID, Hao Zheng and G. Wilson’s Dinner Is Served, Anne Marie Pace’s Growing Fangs, Jessica Mendez Siqueiros’s The Last Of The Chupacabras, Stefanie Abel Horowitz’s Let’s Be Tigers and Moxie Peng’s The Little Prince(ss) – arrive on Disney+ this month, arranged around the theme of “Discover.” May 28
Here’s the full list of new titles available on Disney+ Canada in May 2021 by date:
Star
May 7
American Horror Story
American Horror Story: Asylum
American Horror Story: Coven
Beneath The Planet Of The Apes
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes
Everyone’s Hero
Ferdinand
The First $20 Million Is Always The Hardest
Grown-ish (season 3, new episode)
Lola Versus
Murder On The Orient Express (2017)
Solar Opposites (season 2, new episode)
This Is My Life
May 14
An Affair To Remember
The Alligator People
The Blue Bird (1976)
Confessions Of A Shopaholic
Downtown (1990)
Grown-ish (season 3, new episode)
Solar Opposites (season 2, new episode)
May 21
Black Widow (1987)
Cowgirls ‘N Angels
The Crossing (season 1)
Deadfall
Deadly Instincts (season 1)
Deep State (season 1-2)
Grown-ish (season 3, new episode)
Gulliver’s Travels (2010)
An Innocent Man
Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. (season 1, premiere)
Pitch (season 1)
Rel (season 1)
The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
Solar Opposites (season 2, new episode)
Still Star-Crossed (season 1)
Tin Men
May 28
Aquamarine
The Full Monty
Grown-ish (season 3, new episode)
Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. (season 1, new episode)
Outrageous Fortune
Roll Bounce
Solar Opposites (season 2, new episode)
Disney+
May 4
Big Shot (season 1, new episode)
Disney Wander Over Yonder (seasons 1-2)
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (season 1, new episode)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (season 1, premiere)
Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken
May 7
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (season 1, new episode)
May 14
Big Shot (season 1, new episode)
Disney Special Agent Oso (seasons 1-2)
Disney Special Agent Oso: Three Healthy Steps (season 1)
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (season 2, premiere)
Lost Treasures Of Egypt (season 2)
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (season 1, new episode)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (season 1, new episode)
May 21
Air Crash Investigation (season 11)
Akashinga: The Brave Ones
Alaska’s Deadliest (season 1)
Big Shot (season 1, new episode)
Disney Big City Greens (season 2)
Drugs, Inc.: Dealer POV
Fury Files
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (season 2, new episode)
Inside Pixar: Unpacked
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (season 1, new episode)
Narco Wars (season 1)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (season 1, new episode)
Tinker Bell And The Legend Of The Neverbeast
When Sharks Attack (seasons 1-4)
May 28
Big Shot (season 1, new episode)
Bluey Shorts (season 2)
Cruella (premier access)
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (season 2, new episode)
Launchpad
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (season 1, new episode)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (season 1, new episode)
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