Movie Review - Wish

 

For many years, Disney have been that company that push for wishes and dreams to become true. This has been a reoccurring theme shared in most of their films, in particular the animated films (and their unnecessary live action remakes). All of which has led to this film which, despite only being conceived a few years ago, it has been marketed as a film that's been in the making for much longer than that. But I guess there is good reason for that, but regardless it's been described as the origin story for that wishing star you see in the Disney logo, which has been part of that logo for a number of years. But never truly been part of it until the days when those Pixar legends actually worked on Disney films and not their own films. Anyway it's been a pretty tough year for Disney and I have said a few times now why I think that is (no breathing room for anything), so let's see if this film will be its saving grace or a sign that maybe it's time to either change strategy or close up shop. Hopefully not the latter, but anyway, let's go:

The film takes place in the fictional kingdom of Rosas, on the Mediterranean Sea. Having studied the art of sorcery, King Magnifico (voiced by Chris Pine) has the ability to grant people wishes. Although a noble thing to do, Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose) whom he interviews to be his apprentice, learns of what he truly intends to do with many of the wishes that the people have given him to grant. She sets out to find a way to stop him from keeping people's wishes to himself and manages to summon a star from above who helps her do just that, but it ain't going to be easy.

While I appreciate that Disney are trying to keep up with the stylized animation scene that has become big since the Spider-Verse films with this film being a combination of current and old Disney animation, I think the film is very flawed and underwhelming in places. I get that this is meant to be an origin story for the wishing star that we see in the Disney castle logo, and is definitely a reoccurring theme in a majority of Disney's films (and not just the animated ones and their live action counterparts). But except for the villain who is very much as Disney villain as you can get (and maybe some of the songs too), this film just didn't work for me. It's clear that the company are just not doing well with these very underwhelming films and just releasing way too much at once across all their assets. I will give the film credit for trying something different and a back to basics approach for the company, but it is far from perfect and could've been worked on better. But it is what it is, and I hope that after this year that Disney will be back to the great company they have been and will hopefully be again. But this is not the film that will help them do just that, I'm afraid. 6/10