It could be argued that Disney exists because of wishes. Whether it was wishing on a star in Pinocchio, or the theme parks allowing families to live out their dreams, the idea of bringing hopes to life has been a constant for their last 100 years. It’s fitting then, that their newest animated movie is celebrating that century and the timeless tales that make up their DNA. The idea is grand and something that should be right at home with the universes they have created, however, the end result is mere shadow of what it could have been, and you’d be better off throwing your coins into a different wishing well.
The Kingdom of Rosas is a happy place, and all of its subjects live without need. King Magnifico (Chris Pine) and Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral) are benevolent rulers, who generally only enforce one law – each resident must give up their biggest wish to him in order to become a citizen and live happily ever after. This works for decades until one of the residents of the kingdom, Asha (Ariana DeBose) discovers that Magnifico actually hordes the wishes he doesn’t grant, and she begins to question this system of control. When he labels her an outcast and traitor for her rebellious streak, Asha is joined by her friends, a talking goat, Valentino (Alan Tudyk), and her own magical wishing star to overthrow him and return the stolen wishes to the kingdom.
Does that sound familiar? It should because the story is a mishmash of what feels like almost every Disney film and fairytale that has existed, regurgitated, blended into a smoothie, and presented for our consumption as something new and exciting. Except it’s not; it’s boring as we’ve done this for decades now, and no one over the age of 10 is going to find anything fun or engaging. The plucky young heroine who has to convince the townsfolk (oftentimes through song) that the beloved leader is actually the villain is about as cliched a story as I can think of, so I’m not sure why this route was taken when there are infinitely more unique ways to approach this.
Not even the songs, a mainstay in any Disney film, can save it. This isn’t to say they’re all bad, but no one is going to be driving home listening to the soundtrack because they want to relive those moments of the movie. Even the “I want” song, This Wish, is lazy and exists only so they can nominate it for an Academy Award. The best thing I can say about any of them is that they are performed well, and you can tell that Chris Pine was having fun with his solo outing.
I’m also very confused about the animation choices made since they are trying to do a combination of traditional and CG animation. In a year with Across the Spiderverse that presented a master course in this technique, what is attempted here is amusing at best and distracting at worse. Never mind they only used it sporadically which felt like they threw it in for laughs and giggles and that no one was minding the ship as it was sailing.
I guess the only good thing about Wish is that kids will love it, and while they’re generally the target audience, Disney has been doing this long enough so that adults can enjoy the show as well. That said, it’s fairly inoffensive to have on in the background, so parents aren’t going to want to rip their hair out when their kid watches it on Disney + for what feels like the millionth time that week. Wish should have been a celebration of the Disney’s accomplishments in the last century, but instead it’s a timid and tired movie that doesn’t give us anything new or worthwhile. Families will go see it in droves over the holidays, but the only wish that will be granted is for higher profits and not the experience we were hoping to have.