‘Wish,’ lacks creativity
Disney production poorly attempts fairytale narrative
“Wish” is a lifeless attempt at an animated fairy tale that fails to leave any lasting impressions on its audience.
The film is Walt Disney Animation Studio’s most recent production, being distributed under Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures.
“Wish” was directed by Chris Buck, known for multiple award-winning animated films such as “Tarzan” (1999) and “Frozen” (2013).
The film takes place within the mythical kingdom of Rosas, ruled under King Magnifico (Chris Pine) and Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral).
Magnifico is a powerful sorcerer that grants the wish of one of his subjects during a monthly ceremony. As soon as the people of Rosas send him their wishes, they are sealed off and forgotten by their owners until he chooses to grant a wish during the ceremony.
The main character, 17-year-old Asha (Ariana DeBose), fails to become Magnifico’s apprentice after asking him to grant the wish of her grandfather Sabito, to which he refuses. She discovers that some of the people’s wishes that Magnifico keeps in his palace will never be granted.
Distraught, Asha wishes upon a star, only for it to come to life. Asha teams up with the star in an effort to return the ungranted wishes back to the people of Rosas. In the meantime, Magnifico turns to dark magic in order to assert his power over the kingdom.
The most glaring issue within the film are its cheesy, completely forgettable pop-style tracks.
Magnifico’s villain song, “This is the Thanks I Get?!,” sounds like it was written by OpenAI, with its absolutely laughable lyrics, such as “See this kingdom?/ I built it up /And you still complain? / Ungrateful much?”
As a character, Asha falls within the same “quirky female lead” character archetype that Disney has been insistent on running into the ground for the past decade, similar to the likes of Rapunzel from “Tangled” (2010) and Anna from “Frozen” (2013).
Asha’s talking pet goat, Valentino, was a very obvious attempt from Disney to create a humorous character that would be a hit with audiences. Despite this, he ended up being rather obnoxious, serving no benefit to the film overall.
The film poorly attempts at blending 2D and 3D animation, visually coming across as awkward-looking and unfinished. Character models often appear as if they haven’t been fully rendered.
The plot of the film comes across as vague and forgettable, focusing heavily on the wishes without giving much worldbuilding to the kingdom of Rosas itself.
“Wish” is a mediocre Disney cash-grab that suffers due to its lackluster storyline, characters, and music.
