-Justin Nordell
To celebrate their 100th Anniversary this year, Disney has been pulling out all the stops across its theme parks, merchandising, streaming service, and beyond to look back on their century of successes and commemorate the occasion. Releasing in theaters this Thanksgiving is their latest animated feature to honor their centennial, Wish and if Disney’s intent was to honor its past while moving to its future… they certainly achieve that goal. But is the film actually good?
Rosas is a magical kingdom where its citizens live carefree existences thanks to their magical ruler King Magnifico (Chris Pine, Star Trek). All citizens on their eighteenth birthday (or when they settle in Rosas) take part in a special ceremony where they think of their one true wish in their heart, and the king takes it from them for safekeeping so that they can live their lives unburdened by their wishes that may never come true. A benevolent ruler, Magnifico holds wish granting ceremonies many times during the year where he selects citizens from Rosas and not only gives them their wish back but makes it come true. Wish opens on just such a day where a wish granting ceremony is scheduled – it ALSO happens to be the 100th birthday (I see what you did there Disney) of Sabino (Victor Garber, Titanic). His granddaughter Asha (Academy Award Winner Ariana DeBose, West Side Story) thinks that this can be no coincidence and believes that her Saba (Hebrew for grandfather) will have his wish granted on this hundredth birthday. Asha is a fiercely independent seventeen year old living with her mother Sakina (Emmy Nominee Natasha Rothwell, The White Lotus) grandfather, and a baby goat named Valentino (Disney mainstay Alan Tudyk, King Candy in Wreck it Ralph) after her father passed years ago. Asha is not yet eighteen and hasn’t been able to give her wish to the king yet, wanting nothing more than to become his apprentice and help her family’s wishes come true.
Asha has an interview to become the king’s apprentice where he reveals where he keeps all of the kingdom’s wishes. She sees her Saba’s wish, to write and perform a song that will inspire a generation, and brazenly asks the king to grant it at the ceremony. The king dismisses Asha and tells her that the wish is far too dangerous to grant because it is too open ended – what could the song inspire people to do? Asha assures the king that he is incorrect and that her Saba is a good man who could never inspire a rebellion or anything negative, but the king dismisses her and lets her know that her grandfather’s wish will never be granted. Heartbroken for her family, Asha runs off to a tree she used to sit in with her father as a child and decides to make a new wish on a star… only to have the star come down from the sky! This feisty magical star bursts into Asha’s world and shows her the magic all around her, but more importantly inside of her… and it may be the only way Asha can grant the wishes of her family and the kingdom.
Taking Disney’s “a dream is a wish your heart makes” mantra a little too literally, Wish has the unfortunate burden of being an anniversary film… and it feels like it. With constant winks and nods to Disney’s past – from subtle references to Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid, to having Peter Pan be an actual character in the kingdom and Asha’s seven friends… be updates on the seven dwarfs. No seriously. Dahlia (Jennifer Kumiyama, The Sessions) is the groups bespectacled leader Doc, Gabo (Harvey Guillén, What We Do In The Shadows) is the short tempered Grumpy, Safi (Ramy Youssef, Poor Things) is allergic to everything and can’t stop sneezing… it’s all incredibly on the nose. As such, Wish has a hard time standing on its own as its constant attempts to throwback to classic Disney, including a return to the storybook opening and an entire song sequence of singing animals in a forest. Even the 3D animation of Wish is rendered to have that Walt Disney Animation 2D hand-painted look. But as I noticed from the audience sitting around me in my theater… all of these things become distractions for adults rather enchantments for kids.
Where Wish truly shines (no pun intended) is its music. “This Wish” is the most anthemic Disney song in a decade and an absolute showcase for DeBose’s Broadway vocals. Written by Julia Michaels, the singer songwriter responsible for the over-a-billion-streams-and-counting earworm “Issues,” Wish’s songs feel like an amalgamation of classic Disney, Manuel-Miranda modern Disney, and glossy pop… and it’s all pretty great. Unfortunately beyond its stellar soundtrack and representation of a biracial princess in Asha, Wish just doesn’t go far enough in any direction: it’s message is beautiful but one Disney has made many times before; Valentino the goat gets a laugh or two but he simply isn’t as fun or funny as the animal sidekicks we know and love from Disney; and most egregious of all… the villain just simply isn’t good (a problem Disney has been grappling with since Emperor’s New Groove and Tangled… heck Encanto didn’t even have a villain).
Wish is certainly a culmination in one hundred years of Disney magic, but unfortunately it is simply just a sum of its parts rather than something that comes together to be truly magical. BUT if you’re a Disney enthusiast, MAKE SURE YOU STAY THROUGH THE END CREDITS for something truly lovely.
Grade: C+
Philadelphia RowHome Magazine's Blog 