Apr 15, 2024

First trailer for Netflix's musical "Thelma The Unicorn," directed by Jared Hess and Lin Wang

Netflix this morning released the trailer for "Thelma the Unicorn," a new musical comedy from the unlikely duo of "Napoleon Dynamite" director Jared Hess and "Unikitty" showrunner Lin Wang. The film will be released on May 17.

Streamer has produced several animated blockbusters with colorful and humorous CG animal films for younger audiences (think "Leo" and "Back to the Outback"), and "Thelma" has many of the same elements that made those films successful Thelma" contains many of the same elements that made those films successful. The film is based on the children's book of the same name by Australian author Aaron Brady, who also produced the "Bad Guys" series, recently animated by DreamWorks.

Thelma the Unicorn follows a pony with dreams of becoming a music star who takes an unexpected leap of faith when she is transformed into a unicorn. According to Hess, who wrote the screenplay with his wife and frequent collaborator Jerusha Hess, the film is about learning to live life as your authentic self:

Thelma feels out of her league and doesn't fit in her own skin. She has big dreams, but she doesn't believe that the world will make those dreams come true because of the way she looks. I think we can all relate to that feeling of insecurity and feeling that we are not good enough. The way we approach this subject in this film is very unique and strange, but it has a lot of heart. We try to stay true to the themes of Aaron Bravey's book.

Micros Animation was the lead animator for the Montreal studio. Major creative credits Michael Lester (story), Trevor Dalmar (production designer), Paul J. Sullivan (art director), Denis Cushon (character animation), Guillaume Arantes (character animation (co-chair), John Powell (music), Edie Icioca (editor).

"Thelma" was produced by Pam Coates ("Mulan," "Scooby!) ) produced the film, with Blaby and Patrick Hughes serving as executive producers.

The film features a voice cast led by Brittany Howard as Thelma, with Will Forte, Jemaine Clement, Eddie Patterson, Marika Mitchell, Ally Dixon, Fred Armisen, Zach Galifianakis, and Jon Heder.