Wishing for a Better Movie

After a century of creating classic children’s films, franchises and theme park rides, The Walt Disney Company celebrated its 100th anniversary in the month of October. To honor this event, the mass media corporation released a film for the occasion on Nov. 22, marketed with the phrase “100 years in the making” (American Broadcasting Corporation). The animated musical movie created for the occasion is called “Wish” and is directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn. The main character in the film, Asha, voiced by Ariana DeBose, is a young girl living on the utopian island of Rosas. She stands up to the main villain and ruler of the island, King Magnifico, voiced by Chris Pine, who hoards the townspeople’s wishes and dictates which are granted. Asha works to prove that wishes are one’s own by miraculously summoning a star. Interestingly, “Wish” is said to be the origin story of Disney’s iconic logo that appears before each of their films, which is composed of the melody of “When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio” and a sparkling star animation which was originally above Cinderella’s castle.

Rather than being received warmly by Disney fans, “Wish” was met with ridicule long before the film was even released. To create the songs in the musical film, Disney hired popular music experts Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice, who are behind hits by artists such as Justin Bieber and The Jonas Brothers respectively, though neither are known for their work with musical numbers. After Lin-Manuel Miranda’s critically acclaimed “Encanto” score, fans had high hopes for a brand new Disney villain song. Disney’s YouTube channel released a first look at “This is the Thanks I Get?!”, one of King Magnifico’s songs, a few weeks before the film’s release. The song was met by a slew of complaints and insults online, with the redundant lyrics such as “I let you live here for free/I don’t even charge you rent” garnering negative attention. Notable criticisms included comparisons to Miranda’s style, with some users on TikTok going as far as to say the film’s music was created with generative artificial intelligence (AI) with a Miranda song as the prompt.  Other accusations of using AI, although baseless, were directed at the film’s color palette, art style and rendering. “Wish” was made with both 2D and 3D animation to pay homage to the company’s early watercolor animations; however, its blended visual effect has had many watchers say that it looks incomplete (Inside the Magic). Senior Lydia Min has qualms about the visual elements of the film.

“The choice to blend both 3D and 2D art was an interesting one,” Min said. “It might be the reason it feels so ‘unfinished’ to some people. It [was] not a ‘bad’ or ‘good’ choice, just a bit unpolished in the way they used it. It was a horrible choice for a 100 year anniversary for sure; this type of experimentation should have been saved for a less [significant] time.”

In addition to visuals and music, the central story of “Wish” is being criticized for being mass-produced and unmemorable. The film is full of references to past Disney films, examples being a character modeled after Peter Pan, Asha’s cloak looking like that of the Fairy Godmother from “Cinderella”, her friends being modeled after the dwarves from “Snow White” and so on. Viewers state that hiding beneath these heartfelt references is lazy worldbuilding and a lack of character complexity, causing the movie to feel stifled by corporate powers and not allowed to reach its full creative potential (Vulture). Relationships between characters are neglected and themes of following one’s dreams are barely explored due to the hazy nature of the film. Why did the Rosas feel motivated to give their wishes to King Magnifico? How did Asha meet her best friends? Questions like these are left for the viewer to ponder as the credits roll. Thus, critics of the film are torn between two sides: an oversimplified plot riddled with unnecessary references versus an artfully balanced heartwarming homage to Disney masterpieces (British Broadcasting Corporation). However, many reviews such as one from The Los Angeles Times paint the story as uninspired and simply a run-of-the-mill Disney feature, not giving enough attention to its core characters or morals. Junior Emi Han reflects on the film’s lack of nuance after watching it.

“[Character wise,] all of [Asha’s] friends are introduced at the very same time with zero background,” Han said. “They never get explained and if they do it is [minimal]. [Many] are just stuck in for [seemingly] no reason because they do not get any background. Even the main characters and villain hardly get anything to go off of; they barely talk about [Asha’s] dad who is supposed to have a large effect on her because he was the reason she made the wish at all.” 

Currently, “Wish” has a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 48% and an audience score of 81%. The film underperformed at the box office, garnering only $31.6 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday break, undershooting box office analysts’ predictions of $45 to $55 million (Consumer News and Business Channel). This is in stark contrast to past Disney films that set high-grossing records when released on Thanksgiving, a prominent example being the “Frozen” franchise. Due to its lofty identity as Disney’s centennial film, “Wish” finds itself constantly being compared to beloved Disney classics—the exact movies it often references during its runtime. It is possible that “Wish” will find a solid fan base once it has been moved to the streaming service Disney+ after its theatrical run. Despite this, responses to the film show that its lackluster visuals and music as well as dull plot leave fans wishing for a little bit more. Junior Dakota Fanter believes that Disney’s new venture with “Wish” felt insufficient next to the films it is meant to celebrate.

“The movie itself had that traditional heartwarming feel Disney is known for, although to me at parts it felt incomplete or rushed,” Fanter said. “Hearing some people refer to the movie as looking like an ‘AI nightmare,’ I was able to understand what they were saying because some lyrics or visuals just felt redundant. When looking at other Disney movies—like the ‘Frozen’ franchise—every little detail was thought out and explained. With ‘Wish’, it was not. [However], there are many little Easter eggs that felt like it was Disney’s love letter to their animation history.”