Our thoughts on Disney’s Wish!
Hey All!
Walt Disney Pictures presents their latest animated feature Wish. Wish reunites the creative team behind Disney’s Frozen with Chris Buck (director of Frozen and Frozen 2) and Fawn Veerasunthorn as co-directors, and Jennifer Lee (co-writer of Frozen and Frozen 2) and Allison Moore as co-writers. The original songs for Wish come from Grammy nominated singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and Grammy nominated songwriter/musician Benjamin Rice.
Disney is currently celebrating their 100-year anniversary and Wish is very much a celebration of that in that it references and homages the last 100 years of animated features from Snow White all the way to Zootopia. While fans who have seen all the Disney animated features from the studio’s inception will be in a better position to find everything, casual viewers will also be able to follow and catch a lot from this easter egg extravaganza. This is the kind of film where there will be a barrage of articles and videos with similar headlines that say, “everything you may have missed in Wish.” There is something to be said for families, or even just groups of people, going and seeing the clever ways the homages are weaved into the story and the visuals, but the story itself is more than just a clip show of Disney’s Greatest Hits.
Asha, voiced by Ariana DeBose, is the heroine in an island kingdom which is ruled by the seemingly benevolent king Magnifico, voiced by Chris Pine. King Magnifico collects the wishes from the inhabitants of the kingdom and keeps them safe in his castle in an effort to keep the worry of not succeeding off the minds of the people. Obviously the taking away of ambition from a kingdom’s inhabitants isn’t just to keep them from feeling bad about failing, but also a way to prevent rebellions and uprisings. The story is very much how people should not be afraid of authority and realize that they are the ones who give power to those in charge and that’s something which needs reminding every generation.
The voice cast of Wish includes Academy Award Winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) as Asha, Chris Pine (Star Trek, Wonder Woman) as King Magnifico, and Alan Tudyk (Rogue One, Firefly) as Valentino the goat. Both DeBose and Pine play their parts perfectly and nail every song they sing by bringing their ability to convey emotion through their voice within the songs themselves. While that may seem like an obvious thing for a singing actor to do, not everyone is as accomplished at it and both Pine and DeBose excel.
Pine, particularly in the song “This is the thanks I get,” really brings the emotion and the menace in a way that makes it my favorite song performed in the film. You can really feel the frustration turn to rage as he pretty much goes full villain over the course of the song. Alan Tudyk as the goat is given the best lines in that they are full of truth and are very random, essentially the perfect comic relief. Some additional voices in the cast of Wish include Evan Peters (X-Men Apocalypse, WandaVision) as Simon, a stand in for the Dwarf Sleepy, Victor Garber (Legally Blonde) and Natasha Rothwell (Insecure) as Asha’s parents, and Angelique Cabral (Life in Pieces) as Queen Amaya.
Special care was given to the animation presentation of Wish. Wish does not look like anything that Disney has done in at least the last 15 years. The environments and characters movements stand out and are more reminiscent of early Disney. There are moments that if you look in the background, the setting looks more hand drawn.
The execution was brought to life using computer graphics, but the effort to call back to original Disney style is definitely there and just adds to the feel of Wish being an homage to the classic era. Additionally, Wish opens and closes with a story book in the same way that Cinderella and other classic Disney films.
At a little over 90 minutes, Disney’s Wish is an enjoyable Disney style story from Disney which also celebrates everything that has come in the last 100 years. For people who like to stay through the entirety of the credits, there is a sequence that ties everything together in a very sweet way. Wish is an ideal animated film for Disney Fans of every generation.
See this pure nostalgic fun in theaters now!
Welcome!
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