It has been a hundred years since the infamous Walt Disney Studios was established in 1923 and defined many of our childhoods. Whether it was a world with fairies and cursed spinning wheels, singing crabs, or cuddly aliens from outer space, audiences have been always amazed by the realm of possibility which gives Disney movies their magic. Ever since its official announcement in 2022, there has been a lot of hype generated for Disney’s latest film Wish, which is meant to act as a part of the studio’s centennial celebration and feature numerous easter eggs of the beloved past Disney films. But now, looking towards the future of animated cinema, we must ask ourselves where the boundary between appreciation and a lack of imagination is.
Wish is an animated film directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn and is a story about a young, brave girl named Asha (Ariana DeBose) as she makes a magical wish upon a star to help save her beloved island kingdom of Rosas, located in the Mediterranean Sea, from the evil King Magnifico (Chris Pine) who has the power to grant wishes. The supporting cast is mainly comprised of Asha’s trusty goat sidekick Valentino (Alan Tudyk), the loyal Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral), Asha’s loving grandfather Sabino (Victor Garber) and her best friend Dahlia the baker (Jennifer Kumiyama).
To start, in order to pay homage to the company’s roots and embrace their present, the animators attempted to combine the ideas of traditional watercolor 2D animation and 3D to create a movie that feels like a moving storybook. This choice of combination was likely influenced by Sony’s Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse which revolutionized animation utilizing a similar technique in 2018. However, within the movie the two stylistic choices clash far too often making the art feel disjointed and the motions of the characters seem unrendered. Most of the movie also features the same limited number of tones in its color palette making it seem dull and unfinished rather than vibrant and full of life.
In terms of the plot itself, the pacing was fair and most of the loose ends were tied up in a simple fashion but with the way the movie was advertised, it seemed that we would get the story of a lifetime rather than a retelling of so many of the other Disney narratives. Most of the movie focused more on making an endless number of jokes and references to other movies such as Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Mary Poppins. These bits were fun but didn’t allow the story to breathe on its own. The audience wasn’t given a moment to learn about or love the main characters. This was especially surprising considering that co-director Chris Buck is known for his unique storytelling in movies such as Tarzan (1999) and Frozen (2013) which are upheld by their strong characterizations. Granted, Wish is a children’s film meant to have a simple narrative. Nonetheless, children and adults alike deserve more than static caricatures. Asha, even as the main character of the story, was not very multidimensional and did not seem to have any emotional development or even learn anything about herself after the adventure. She’s adorkable, but not original.
But at the heart of it all, the center of every Disney movie is defined by their protagonist and villain. In Wish, the villain wasn’t evil, terrifying, or even fearsome. King Magnifico was truly just some guy. Yes, they incorporated the signature green color often associated with Disney villains along with his own musical numbers, but everything about him was lackluster. It’s not that I didn’t like him, I just didn’t care enough to dislike him as a character and found him annoying. Maybe that was the point, but he is simply not up to caliber to the other sinister villains of Disney’s past.
Moreover, the songs featured in the film weren’t very memorable. Now some were nice to listen to in the moment, but in truth many of us can recognize a number of Disney songs just because of how (over) played they are. They are belting ballads and serenades, expressing the inner feelings and motivations of our characters to catchy simple tunes, which is what made them attractive to children and adults alive. But most of the songs in the movie felt rushed and spoken rather than sung. Walking out of the theater, I could maybe recall a few lines to “This Wish”, but most of the songs seemed unnecessary or awkwardly written which is a shame despite the killer vocal performances of DeBose, Pine, and Tudyk.
All in all, I feel as if Disney used this movie as an excuse to bring up an endless stream of references for their classic stories than focus on writing this one. There was so much potential from the cast and crew that were bogged down by the expectations to pay homage to older characters. But in an age where nostalgia is sold to viewers by the bucket, as an audience we don’t need to be reminded of what Disney was more than we need to be shown what it still is.
2/5 Stars