In Wish, Asha (Ariana DeBose) wants nothing more than to ensure her family’s wishes come true. But when King Magnifico (Chris Pine) shows his true colours, Asha ends up making a wish of her own that changes the course of the kingdom’s destiny.
Wish
Chris Buck (director), Jeff Draheim (editor), Jennifer Lee (writer), Dave Metzger (original score), Julia Michaels (songs), Allison Moore (writer), Benjamin Rice (songs), Fawn Veerasunthorn (director)
Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Evan Peters, Harvey Guillén, Ramy Youssef, Niko Vargas, Jon Rudnitsky, Della Saba (cast)
November 22, 2023
In the magical kingdom of Rosas, no one is more beloved than King Magnifico, a sorcerer with the power to grant wishes. But first, the denizens of Rosas have to give up their wishes to Magnifico, ostensibly to lift the burden of desire from them. Eventually, Magnifico will bestow their wishes — if he pleases. During an interview to be the king’s apprentice, our protagonist, Asha, learns that Magnifico isn’t as wonderful as he appears to be, and that his intentions for his people’s wishes are less than wholesome.
Despondent after having learned her hero is flawed, idealistic young Asha quite literally wishes upon a star. Only this time, the star comes right on down to help Asha (Pinocchio would be jealous), and to free the wishes of the people of Rosas. Of course, this is hardly an easy task. It isn’t long before Asha’s family is irreparably harmed, her friends are in danger, they face betrayal, and Magnifico goes full-bad. Like, green-colours-everywhere-evil; think Maleficient (Sleeping Beauty), Scar (Lion King), or Queen Narissa (Enchanted).
I was invited to a press screening for Wish and I decided to take a chance on watching the film, despite not knowing anything about it. I’m not a huge Disney animation fan (and I rarely like musicals unless they’re jukebox musicals), but to my own shock, I enjoyed myself at Wish. And I found myself tapping my toe to the songs too! The first musical number had me wondering whether we were just getting another Encanto—the setting is similar to its introductory song, and Asha’s goofiness certainly harkens back to Mirabel’s. But my fears of sitting through something derivative were soon put to rest.
Wish is very much its own story about absolute power corrupting absolutely, with a focus on how important it is to hold on to one’s wishes, no matter how implausible and unreachable they may seem. Though the mechanics of the wish-taking and wish-granting in Rosas weren’t as clear as I would have liked, the audience gets enough information to know that Magnifico has created a monopoly over the wishes, and we all know monopolies are bad. Asha, like many teenagers, sees the injustice in one man controlling who gets their wish and when, which leads her to grave danger. I think a lot of young audiences, and maybe even some older ones, will see themselves in Asha. I’m enjoying Disney’s pivot away from romance. That’s likely why I just couldn’t get into the greatest hits of Disney when I was younger and I’m glad younger (female) audiences have more to expect from their protagonists.
Needless to say, the animation in Wish is gorgeous. The office/library where Asha first meets Magnifico for her interview is so beautifully textured, one could almost feel the roughness of the tapestry and the cloth-bound books. And the characters in Wish all look distinct, and have distinctive voices. Aside from Chris Pine, who was thoroughly enjoying himself as the larger-than-life Magnifico, I recognised no other voices. I’m fine with this, since voice acting is about bringing a character to life, not recognizing an actor. When the credits rolled, I saw that I actually knew a ton of actors in the cast! Ariana DeBose, Harvey Guillén, Ramy Youssef, and Evan Peters, as well as Alan Tudyk, who has done a lot of Disney animals, actually. Yet, I recognised none of them. Now, the debate about whether well-known actors should do so much voice acting as opposed to, you know, experienced voice actors getting to do Disney, is a tricky one. I’m firmly in the second camp so I was a bit surprised to learn all these very normal-sounding characters were being voiced by well-known actors.
Wish being a Disney film, there are so many adorable animal characters, starting with Valentino (Alan Tudyk), Asha’s baby goat. Asha eventually finds herself in a forest, surrounded by bunnies, bears, squirrels, and hedgehogs. Plenty of toys to be made from this film, to the dismay of parents everywhere. But is Wish a children’s film? I wonder. I hear young people aren’t as easy to frighten as we used to be, but as someone who is still traumatized by Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, I can’t help but think Wish will be rather terrifying for young children. Protagonist Asha is put in a great deal of physical peril. Plus, Magnifico’s villainous acts are prolonged—when he destroys wishes, it causes people pain and sorrow. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it but will younger audiences have enough distance from the story not to be upset? I’m not sure.
I also felt the music of Wish, from songwriting pair Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice, was ideal for older audiences. I’m not a music expert but this film utilizes a few music genres for its soundtrack. Michaels and Rice are new to Disney so it’s not a surprise that the music isn’t all Disney-fied music. I felt like I was getting an almost Taylor Swift/Olivia Rodrigo vibe from ‘At All Costs,’ whereas ‘Knowing What I Know Now’ sounded like a marching band. Chris Pine’s solo, ‘This Is The Thanks I Get?!’, had that pop and R&B fusion that had my fellow audience-goers moving in their seats. Did I know Chris Pine could sing this well? Because he held his own in this film. Obviously, he wasn’t nearly as good as Ariana DeBose, who has an angelic yet adaptable voice, but not bad, Pine. Not bad, at all.
My only point of confusion was during the end credits of Wish which included stylized versions of Disney’s gallery of characters. This film marks Disney’s centennial but aside from a couple of Easter eggs, there wasn’t much else connecting Wish to the rest of the Disney universe. It seems a bit disingenuous to dedicate the end credits to other, more familiar characters instead of this story. It did make me wonder whether Wish was being set up as a prequel to the world of Disney, but again, there’s nothing in the film or the press notes I received to suggest that. Perhaps I’m overthinking things.
All said, I am amazed at how much I enjoyed Wish. It was an interesting story, the characters were fun to watch, even evil Magnifico, and their motivations made sense. The songs were surprisingly enjoyable to listen to. And it had a satisfying ending. I had a great time!
