The Walt Disney Company (Disney) has grown and established itself as one of history’s most successful entertainment studios. To commemorate the company’s work over the last one hundred years, Disney released their original movie, Wish, with promises to infuse a century’s worth of Disney magic into the film.
Disney released the film in November 2023, just a month after the company’s one-hundredth birthday. The story follows seventeen-year-old Asha (Ariana DeBose) who lives in a kingdom created and run by King Magnifico (Chris Pine), a sorcerer with the power to grant anyone their greatest wish. As the film progresses, however, Asha learns more about King Magnifico’s sinister intentions, and she sets out on a journey to stop him alongside her goat sidekick Valentino (Alan Tudyk) and Star, a star who descended from the skies to help Asha.
Throughout the film lie several nods to past Disney works, both directly and indirectly. The amount of allusions in Wish—between 100 and 150—pays tribute to the company’s past and aims to feed on the audience’s nostalgia simultaneously. Asha’s seven best friends represent the dwarfs in Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with each friend vaguely resembling one of the dwarfs through their personalities, interests or appearance. Not all the references are as apparent as Asha’s cosmic companion, Star wears a heart on its face, a nod to the inspiration behind Mickey Mouse’s face: a heart.
Voice actors DeBose, Pine and Tudyk bring the film to life through their lively portrayals of their respective characters. No matter the tone of the scene, all actors played their roles with enthusiasm, adding so much life to the tale.
Though Disney’s initial plan was to draw Wish in 2D, the studio instead opted to blend CGI with traditional watercolor animation, creating a mix between older and modern Disney styles. The blend not only allowed the studio to pay tribute to its past creations, but it also made for a brand new, unfamiliar viewing experience for audiences.
Despite its fresh animation style and good performances, Disney’s Wish fell short in other categories. Taking from old classics, the studio aimed to recreate its traditionally evil villain in King Magnifico. Though he does his job, his unclear motivations and unexplored backstory fail to justify his actions as the movie intended. The beginning of Wish encourages audiences to sympathize with and understand the reasons behind King Magnifico’s actions. However due to the film’s poor pacing and inability to properly expand upon the king’s past, his path to becoming a villain held little weight, nor were his motivations clear.
Though the movie contains several good soundtracks, King Magnifico’s villain song fails to match the king’s character. As the king reaches his breaking point, he begins to sing an upbeat tune containing lyrics such as “I let you live here for free, and I don’t even charge you rent,” which demonstrates the redundant nature of the song. Despite it being a supposed Disney villain song, the energy the soundtrack contains does not resemble many classic songs from the company, nor does it fit properly with the timing of the movie. Though the music itself is well-composed and well-produced, the repetitive nature of the lyrics and the song’s inability to add much to the storyline overshadow its good traits.
Disney’s Wish does a fantastic job with its unique animation and enthusiastic voice actors, however, the character writing and soundtrack failed to meet the bar set by Disney’s previous projects.
