I really liked this trailer...until the true concept of the movie kicked in. The trailer opens with a smooth black spy. My first thought was that someone had done something genius. Since the studio won't make a James Bond movie with Idris Elba, another studio has made an animated spy film starting a badass Elba lookalike. It blew my mind. It looked fun. And I love the idea that Hollywood is taking a cue from Black Panther's success and making more movies with black heroes.
Then the spy gets turned into a bird. Which is how he'll spend most of the movie. Just like Tiana, the only Disney princess who has to spend most of her movie as a frog instead of as a beautiful human woman. What is wrong with Hollywood?! What was wrong with the idea of an animated spy film? Why did it need a “twist”?
We are having a year with an amazing crop of movies by black filmmakers. I hope it's not a fluke. I'd rather see the screens at my local cineplex populated with movies like Sorry to Bother You, BlacKkKlansman, The Hate U Give, If Beale Street Could Talk, Black Panther, and Creed II than Spies in Disguise.