Under Wraps (2021) 💀

The remake that unwraps the same idea, adds more noise, and somehow loses some of the magic.

🎬 Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

So the first thing that hit me with this movie was the trailer, because the trailer already tells you this is going to be a very different beast from the 1997 one. The original trailer had this simple charm to it. It was basically just, hey, here’s a mummy, here’s some kids, it’s Halloween, have fun. This one comes in with way more modern Disney Channel energy. Everything is brighter, louder, faster, shinier. The music is more pumped up, the editing is quicker, the reactions are bigger, and the whole thing feels like it’s trying to make sure nobody under the age of twelve looks away for even two seconds.

And that’s not automatically a bad thing, because trailers are supposed to sell energy. They’re supposed to say, hey look, this is fun, this is exciting, this is for a new generation. But at the same time, the second I saw it, I could already tell this version was going to lean less into cozy Halloween charm and more into polished Disney remake mode. It has that look. That very clean, very carefully lit, very “we have updated this for modern children” look. And once you notice that, you really can’t unsee it.

So as a trailer, yeah, it does its job. It tells you you’re getting a family-friendly adventure with a mummy and some kids running around trying to solve a problem. But it also quietly gives away the movie’s biggest issue before the movie even starts. It feels a little too manufactured. A little too assembled. Like it came off a conveyor belt labeled “Halloween remake, please add glowing object and extra running.”

⚠️ Content Warning ⚠️

This is still extremely safe. There’s a mummy, some chase scenes, a few spooky visuals, and some mild peril, but let’s not kid ourselves here, this thing is not trying to scare anybody. It wants to be exciting, not creepy. It wants to be playful, not eerie. So if the old Disney Channel original was a cozy October sleepover movie, this one is that same sleepover after somebody replaced the pumpkin lights with LED strips and started yelling every five minutes.

📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

The story is basically the same foundation as the original. Three kids accidentally wake up a mummy named Harold, discover he is not actually dangerous, and then get pulled into trying to help him while dealing with people who want him for their own reasons. So far, so familiar. On paper, that setup still works. It’s a good setup. It’s clean, it’s easy, and it gives you a strong center right away.

Where the difference comes in is in how this movie handles that setup. The 1997 movie felt like a weird little Halloween hangout movie where the fun came from spending time with the characters and seeing Harold try to exist in this unfamiliar world. The 2021 version feels a lot more plot-driven. It wants there to be a clearer objective, more motion, more structure, more momentum. It doesn’t just want kids hanging out with a mummy. It wants a mission. It wants a deadline. It wants complications.

And again, that sounds smart in theory. Usually when you remake something, you think, okay, maybe we tighten the story a little, maybe we raise the stakes a little, maybe we make things feel bigger. But the problem is that by doing that, this version loses some of what made the original work in the first place. It gets more polished, but less personal. More active, but less charming. More technically “movie-like,” but somehow less lovable.

👥 Character Rundown

Marshall is now played by Malachi Barton, and he’s fine. He’s perfectly watchable. But compared to the original version of Marshall, he feels more muted. Less naturally oddball, less messy, less like a real kid who got in over his head. He feels like he knows he’s in a Disney Channel movie. That sounds harsh, but that’s the best way I can put it. The performance isn’t bad, it just feels more controlled.

Gilbert, played by Christian J. Simon, honestly brings the most energy to the trio. He feels the most alive, the most reactive, the most like he’s actually responding to the insanity around him. There’s a spark there. He helps keep the group from feeling too flat, because without him, I think this trio would’ve felt a lot more generic than it already does.

Amy, played by Sophia Hammons, is still the grounded member of the group, but this version leans harder into her being the sensible one. She’s there to stabilize things, to think things through, to keep the boys from completely losing the plot. She works for what the movie needs, but again, there’s that same overall problem where the characters feel more designed than lived-in. The original trio felt scrappier. These kids feel more filtered.

And then there’s Harold.

This time he’s played by Phil Wright, and this is where I kept circling back to the same frustration. He’s not bad. Let me be clear, he is not bad. But he doesn’t hit the same way the original Harold did. The original Harold had this odd sweetness to him. He felt like an actual person under the wrappings. This Harold feels more like a remake version of a character than a fully lived-in character on his own terms. He has moments, but they feel more guided. More shaped. More like the movie is making sure he stays within certain lanes.

That really is the pattern with this whole remake. Nobody is terrible. Nothing is a trainwreck. But the looseness is gone. The rough little Halloween heart of it got cleaned up, and in the process, it lost some of its personality.

⏱️ Pacing / Flow

The pacing is one of the biggest differences between this and the original. This movie moves fast. It is constantly trying to keep something happening. There’s always a chase, a problem, a clue, a plan, a new obstacle, some new burst of energy to keep the machine running. And while that does keep the movie from ever feeling sleepy, it also makes it harder for anything to really land.

It doesn’t breathe enough.

That’s the problem.

The original had more room to just let Harold exist and let the kids bounce off him. This one feels like it’s nervous about slowing down. Like if it pauses too long, somebody somewhere in a boardroom is going to hit a giant red button labeled “children may become bored.” So the movie keeps pushing forward, and as a result, a lot of the quieter charm gets flattened out.

It’s the difference between a movie that trusts its premise and a movie that keeps trying to prove itself.

✅ Pros

What I do think works here is that the movie is watchable. It’s not dead on arrival. It has enough energy to carry itself, and the cast is doing what they can with the material. Christian J. Simon brings a lot of life to Gilbert, and the movie at least understands the basic appeal of the story. Harold is still meant to be sympathetic. The kids are still meant to care about him. The story still revolves around trying to help instead of just fighting a monster, and I appreciate that it didn’t completely throw away the emotional core.

I also think the production is solid in that very Disney way. It looks clean. It moves quickly. It has enough Halloween atmosphere to qualify as seasonal viewing. You can throw it on in October and there is at least some charm in seeing a modern Disney Channel attempt at a mummy adventure.

But those positives all come with an asterisk, because they mostly amount to, this works well enough. And that’s kind of the whole movie in a nutshell. Well enough.

❌ Cons

The biggest issue is the loss of charm. That’s the wound this remake never really heals. It’s technically bigger, but emotionally smaller. It adds motion, but loses warmth. It updates the structure, but sands down the weirdness.

And the weirdness mattered.

That was part of the appeal.

The original wasn’t a masterpiece, but it had this loose, goofy, very 90s Halloween soul. This remake feels more focus-grouped. More polished into acceptability. It has that modern remake problem where everything is supposed to be improved, but improvement in one area quietly drains the life out of another.

And if I’m being really honest, this movie feels like it was made by people who understood the plot of Under Wraps more than they understood the vibe of Under Wraps.

That’s the real issue.

Because plot-wise, sure, they got the basics. But vibe-wise? Something slipped through the bandages.

🧠 Final Thoughts

This is not some offensively terrible remake. It’s not a disaster. It’s not one of those movies where you sit there wanting to throw a shoe at the screen. But it is one of those remakes that makes you ask the annoying question all remakes should fear: why did this need to exist?

Because when I compare it to the 1997 film, I don’t really come away thinking this version improved the story in any meaningful way. It just changed the flavor. It made it louder. It made it cleaner. It made it more obviously modern. But it didn’t make it more memorable. If anything, it made it feel more disposable.

That’s what keeps this movie in such a weird middle zone for me. It’s perfectly watchable. It’s perfectly harmless. Kids who never saw the original might have a decent enough time with it. But as a remake, it doesn’t really justify itself beyond “hey remember that old one?”

And that’s never the best reason to remake something.

⭐ Rating

I’d give this a 5.8 out of 10.

That feels fair for the kind of movie it is. It’s not terrible, it’s not unbearable, and it’s clearly made for a younger audience who probably won’t care about half the things I’m side-eyeing here. But compared to the original, it just doesn’t have the same magic. It’s okay. And sometimes “okay” is the most frustrating rating of all, because you can see the better version sitting right next to it.

⚠️ Spoiler Warning

Alright, now let’s get into the wrappings.

💀 Spoilers

So once Harold wakes up, the movie follows the same general shape as the original. The kids realize he’s not evil, they decide to help him, and now they’re stuck protecting him while outside forces start closing in. But the big difference here is that this version is way more focused on the mechanics of the plot. The amulet matters more, the chase matters more, the mission matters more. Everything is pointed toward solving the situation as efficiently as possible.

And that’s where the emotional side starts slipping away.

Because when the original did this story, it felt like you were spending time with Harold. Here, it feels more like Harold is part of the objective. He’s important, yes, but he’s also part of the movie’s to-do list. Keep Harold safe. Figure out the mystery. Get to the next location. Stop the villain. Finish the plan.

So by the time you get to the goodbye, it lands, but it doesn’t really hit.

That’s the problem.

It functions. You understand what the movie wants you to feel. Harold has to go back, the kids have to let him go, and the story wraps everything up the way you expect. But instead of feeling bittersweet in that warm, earned way, it feels more like the movie has reached its final checkpoint and is now turning in its homework.

And that sounds mean, but that’s honestly how it played to me.

The ending isn’t bad because it’s wrong. The ending is weak because it doesn’t have enough emotional weight behind it. The movie did not spend enough time making this version of Harold feel truly special, so when it asks you to feel that goodbye, you understand it intellectually more than you feel it in your chest.

That’s why this remake left me with that weird flat feeling.

Not angry. Not impressed. Just flat.

Because there are pieces here that work. There are moments where you can see what they were trying to do. But the whole thing never quite comes alive the way it needs to. It just keeps moving. And then it ends.

And you sit there thinking, yeah, that was a movie.

But the 1997 one?

That one at least had a little dusty Halloween soul in it.

This one just has better lighting.