After last year’s hugely enjoyable and entertaining film ‘Sneakerella’, Disney Plus is back with yet another intriguing original film, aimed at youngsters. Titled ‘Chang Can Dunk’, it centres on — you got it — basketball, and a Chinese-American youngster called Chang, who wants to learn to dunk with panache. ‘Chang Can Dunk’ premieres on Disney Plus worldwide, and on Disney Plus Hotstar in India, on 10th March, 2023.
In essence, ‘Chang Can Dunk’ is a coming-of-age story, combined with the beloved triumph-of-the-underdog trope. The trailer will remind viewers of another film with a similar premise – Netflix’s Adam Sandler starrer, ‘Hustle’. Of course, the latter is set in the backdrop of the hi-profile world of the NBA, while ‘Chang Can Dunk’ is a regular high school sports comedy caper.
It’s obvious from the just-released trailer of ‘Chang Can Dunk’ that the movie will tackle head-on the discrimination that Asian American kids face in US schools. The film is written and directed by Jingyi Shao, and stars young actor Bloom Li as Chang. Dexter Darden plays his mentor-cum-coach DeAndre, who’s a former pro-basketball player and two-time Estonia League MVP. Ben Wang, Zoe Renee, Chase Liefeld, and Mardy Ma form the rest of the cast.
The official Disney synopsis for ‘Chang Can Dunk’ reads – “The film follows Chang, a 16-year-old, Asian American high school student in the marching band who bets the school’s basketball star he can dunk by Homecoming. The wager leads the 5-foot-8 Chang on a quest to find the hops he needs to dunk in order to impress his crush, Kristy, and finally gain the attention and respect of his peers. But before he can rise up and truly throw one down, Chang will have to reexamine everything he knows about himself, his friendships, and his family.”
‘Chang Can Dunk’ premieres on Disney Plus worldwide, and on Disney Plus Hotstar on 10th March, 2023. Have a look at the trailer of the film –