Wish (2023) - Review: Plenty of Other Stars in the Sky

 

Love them or hate them, there are few things more influential on the culture of the world than Disney. Even if you don’t watch movies or couldn’t tell Sleeping Beauty from Snow White, chances are you know who Mickey Mouse is, even if you don’t know he’s Mickey Mouse. Those three circles have founded a company as big as God, and now with its 100th anniversary this year, the house of mouse has crafted an animated film meant to embody all of its biggest and most iconic aspects, for better or for worse. 

The film, aptly titled “Wish,” takes its central concept from the wishing star featured in so many of Disney’s classic films. It follows Asha, voiced by Ariana Debose (“West Side Story (2022),” “Schmigadoon!”), a young girl who dreams of having her wish granted by King Magnifico, voiced by Chris Pine (“Star Trek (2009),” “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”), a magician king of the city of Rosas with the power to grant the wishes of his kingdom. However, after an anthropomorphic wishing star falls from the sky, she begins to question Magnifico’s power and magical hold over the people of her city. 

It’s a genuinely interesting concept, and the idea of crafting a film based around the concept of wishing and the wishing star is a far more compelling approach to an anniversary film than just doing a big Mickey Mouse animated film or a compilation movie. However, in trying to craft a film that feels so quintessentially Disney, directors and co-writers Chris Buck (“Tarzan (1999),” “Frozen”) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) and co-writers Jennifer Lee (“Frozen,” “Wreck-It Ralph”) and Allison Moore have instead tried to create a film made of magic first and foremost, instead of that Disney magic being the end product. 

What is here is a clear attempt to reverse engineer the kind of final product Disney magic that seems to so often be a near perfect accident. By approaching it like that, it ends up delivering a film where half of the time it feels like a sanded down product, devoid of any sense of identity other than “Disney fantasy film.” 

Luckily, the voice cast is doing surprisingly good work with the material they’ve been given. Debose manages to be a bright and energetic Disney heroine, leaping and laughing through the adventure. Her talking animal sidekick, Valentino the goat, is voiced by the always charming and excellent Alan Tudyk (“Firefly,” “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil”) to great effect, and while not as great as the main cast, the supporting group of Asha’s friends and family are charming, if not particularly memorable. Meanwhile, Pine is an absolute scene stealer. He’s clearly having a blast playing the bad guy, and every scene he’s in drips with overblown villainy and delight. 

The movie’s visual style is clearly an attempt at breaking up the more mundane, smooth, safe aesthetics of the past few Disney films, while also maintaining a link to Disney’s hand-painted past. However, it always hits a major stumbling block, because while it is a nice visual choice, when compared to other CGI animated films that experiment with their aesthetics, it feels woefully underwhelming. Simply put, it's an admirable goal but it feels like a complete afterthought alongside movies like “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and “Nimona.” 

As with most of Disney’s big animated films, this one is a musical, and unlike most of Disney’s big animated films, the music in “Wish” is largely mundane. “Welcome to Rosas,” “This Wish,” and Pine’s villain song “This is the Thanks I Get?” are all standouts, but the other tracks vary wildly. “At All Costs” sounds weirdly and overtly romantic for its place in the film and “I’m A Star” is the epitome of generic musical songwriting. Then you have tracks like “Knowing What I Know Now” which aren’t just bad but simply feel as though they don’t belong in the film. 

It seems easy to call the film a disappointment, but it is at least a credit to the basic levels of storytelling competence at the House of Mouse that “Wish” still manages to deliver a basic amount of enjoyment even with the film as a whole disappointing. It’s nothing incredible, but it’s serviceable, and those who are already hardcore Disney fans or who know the difference between Sleeping Beauty and Snow White will likely find something to enjoy. 

But for the centennial anniversary film for a studio with a history as illustrious as Disney’s, “Wish” is undoubtedly a disappointment. Its serviceable in many aspects and carried by its central voice cast, but the music is mostly forgettable or disappointing, the animation’s stylistic choices don’t go far enough, and it feels as though its checking boxes in the Disney aesthetic instead of creating those aspects organically. Maybe things will go better come the 200th anniversary. 2.5/5