Riot’s Reviews: Wish
Disney celebrated its 100th year anniversary in October in the midst of what has been a bit of a mixed bag of a year for its studios. Online reviews have been all over the place, exemplifying some chinks/cracks in the armor of the entertainment giant’s fan base. After a century of entertainment, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there might be bumps in the road, and I’d argue the last couple years have seen more misses than hits. But as I pointed out while reviewing The Marvels, I don’t believe that the situation is a lost cause. No matter what way you slice it, there is a certain inexplicable magic that Disney brings to the table. A recent trip to the Anaheim parks reminded me of the feeling you get when you see all the time and effort that goes into the carefully curated experience. Disney invited audiences to wish upon a star and used this foundational concept to release its centennial work, Wish. Lately I have been wishing for the company to get back down to the basics and put out the quality products we’ve all come to love and expect from them. Was my wish granted?
I am delighted to report that (for the most part) the answer is yes. Wish takes a lot of steps to get back to the brass tacks I have been looking for. The nostalgia is activated at the onset, starting the film with an animated storybook opening, much like many of the oldest Disney films. I was particularly impressed with the animation style, as it took on a blend of CGI characters in the forefront while maintaining what looks like hand drawn, traditional watercolor backgrounds. The color palette relies on a lot of soft blue, purple, and green pastels, making the whole visual experience easy on the eyes. It has a very humorous, slap-sticky type of comedy throughout the film, which I thought was refreshing. I was particularly fond of a brief singing and dancing chicken chorus scene that catches you off guard by feeling somehow out of place but perfectly in tune with the rest of the movie (it was reminiscent of the dancing plates number from Beauty & the Beast). The music is catchy and emotionally absorbing but it suffers at times from what I am going to dub the “LMM Effect.” Using songs as exposition is perfectly fine guys, but try doing it in less words please. Even Ariana DeBose who as far as I can tell is an exceptional talent of a singer, seemed to struggle at times to handle the sheer amount of lyrics in the songs. While it made it difficult to understand her in brief moments, when she hit her stride she was sensational to listen to.
The characters, while not entirely winners, are unique and interesting. The dynamic between the two main characters, Asha (Ariana DeBose) and King Magnifico (Chris Pine) is compelling, regardless of some of the plot issues. Early in the film the two have a musical number together that gets stuck in your head for two reasons: 1) Pine is a shockingly good singer 2) the pair’s voices blend pretty seamlessly and compliment each other incredibly well. In my opinion, Pine had already established himself as an incredible voice actor in Rise of the Guardians, but he really stepped it up a notch as the villain of this story. Having a return to a strong dynamic between the hero(ine) and the established villain is something that has been missing from Disney of late. As far as side characters go, Asha’s pet goat (voiced by Alan Tudyk who is simply the best) was hit or miss for me, but I am certain he will be a character that kids will love. And the little anthropomorphic star (who’s expressions and antics could have been inspired from anime) was adorable, funny, and memorable. The other side characters of the story do muddle the waters a bit. For one, Asha has too many friends. Their sheer numbers are only really useful to advance the story once, leaving most of her friend group as underdeveloped characters and unnecessary players in the plot. For the most part, they seem to merely serve as vague callbacks to previous Disney characters and I’m not entirely certain that was intentional.
Wish’s real problems lie almost entirely in its plot. The rules surrounding the dynamic of the city, the wishes of its people, and just what exactly Magnifico’s motivations were are not defined incredibly well. It creates a myriad of questions that don’t really get answered and undermines the premise of what wishes really are and what they mean to people. It doesn’t stop the battle lines from inevitably being drawn and having an eventual return to an established villain helps keep the narrative moving. But Asha’s role in the whole thing and the wishing star’s involvement also creates more questions than answers and is essentially the catalyst to all of the real problems the people in the story begin to face. All in all, the plot issues combined with the minor issues I had with the characters and music weren’t nearly enough to stop me from enjoying this film (I didn’t even hate the retcon on the Fairy Godmother). Wish is quirky, fun, and deeply nostalgic with a ton of Disney related puns and throwback jokes for the adults to pick up on. Maybe it’s a lost cause to try and define the rules for wishing upon a star, but this movie will certainly make you want to start trying again.
Riot’s Rating: 8.5/10: I’m legitimately shocked to find that the critics are giving this one such a hard time. It seems to all be related to some resentment for the film being a giant marketing ploy. Considering Disney seemed to be not at all shy about admitting that is exactly what it was, I am not understanding the indignant response. But I often find myself at the opposite end of critics lately, so it is what it is (input shrugging guy emoji). I enjoyed the nostalgia and thought of the entire thing as more of a love letter to the fans than a supposedly cheap marketing grab.
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