‘Wish:’ Disney100 Expectations Nearly Crush an Otherwise Inoffensive Family Film

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company. Regardless of your thoughts about the corporation today, there is simply no denying the studio produced some of the greatest films in American cinema history. And Disney wants you to remember that. Constantly. That’s been readily apparent from the company revisiting its animated greats with live-action remakes. There’s no need to focus on original content and world building when you have built-in brands that everyone knows and loves, right? Right???

Following its 100th anniversary (or Disney100), the new animated film Wish debuts with these crushing expectations put upon it by Disney itself. First, it’s an inclusive, girl-power film with a lead character (Asha) voiced by Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose. Second, it must feel new to audiences accustomed to computer-generated animation, but it must also boast a hand-drawn look and feel as a throw back to the gorgeous animated films that started the company. Third, it should be a musical with wall-to-wall songs. Fourth, it needs to be funny but respectful of everyone and everything. Fifth, it needs to have a villain, but we need to understand why the villain  is bad (we just can’t have “bad for bad’s sake” cartoon villain anymore, I guess).

Naturally, Wish nearly collapses completely under all of these expectations. However, the film builds to a compelling conclusion that ultimately saves it.

The film takes place in the Mediterranean kingdom of Rosas where King Magnifico (Chris Pine) and his wife Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral) established a safe haven from the evils of the world. There, they welcome travelers and refugees in exchange for ownership of each citizen’s greatest wish. Meaning, Magnifico, now a celebrated magician, actually convinces each resident of Rosas to hand over their greatest wish so that he can examine each and potentially grant them. Spoiler alert, he never grants any wish that could endanger the utopia he built. Enter Asha to disrupt all of this when she wishes upon a star that floats down to Rosas and creates playing, magical havoc.

There’s little getting around the fact that Wish’s first 30 minutes are dull and flat. There are several relationships to establish, and the film takes time to set up the conflict between Asha and Magnifico. It’s not until Star’s appearance that the film starts to approach something lighter and… well, I was going to say spontaneous, but there’s truly not a spontaneous moment in the entire film. Everything feels calculated to fall into the Disney100 celebration. The film stuffs itself with potentially dozens of references back to other Disney films. Some characters directly reflect the Seven Dwarfs. Some characters reference other Disney films. Objects reference back to classic Disneyana relics. It’s not enough for Disney to build on that extraordinary legacy. We must be constantly reminded that Disney films are great without actually delivering something new that’s great.

It’s not to say that Wish is a bad film. It gradually overcomes its initial flatness with a thrilling finale in which Pine’s Magnifico is allowed to be a classic Disney villain. I also really liked Dave Metzger’s score and the songs by the songwriting team of Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice with “This Wish” an Oscar-friendly heroes ballad. If I had one wish for Disney films, then it would be that they work to blend more comedy into the at-times suffocating earnestness. Modern Disney characters are so programmed to be “right” and “honorable” that there’s little time left for any fun.

Remember site gags? Remember throw away jokes? I wish for those in Disney’s modern animated films. I wish for a little more fun. Frozen had it (maybe not Frozen 2), but the recent archetype for greatness in recent Disney animated films seems to be Tangled, a film that was legendarily plagued in its creative phase.

But Tangled emerged as a beautiful, inspiring, and often very funny animated film. I’d love to see Disney return to that style of filmmaking with something new rather than constantly trying to remind us that Disney films were great.

That’s not too much to wish for is it?