Disney’s animated adventure-comedy “Wish,” which opened in theaters in late November but began streaming on Disney+ April 3, was a disappointing flop to some, even though its worldwide gross is nearing $255 million.
However, the disappointment is not for the reasons most may think. I went into this movie already skeptical after hearing everyone’s dislike for the film, and while I wasn’t surprised that it wasn’t my favorite movie ever, I disagreed with the other critics.
Most people complained about how the movie script felt like it had been written by AI, and while I think that Disney went lazy in terms of script, it wasn’t my biggest issue.
The lousy story was a letdown. However, it was Disney’s choices of characters and their actions that were detrimental to the story.
Let’s start with the star of the show, (pun intended). Initially in the plans and sketches for “Wish” that were released by Disney, Star was supposed to be a boy about Asha’s age, and potentially act as a love interest for the female lead.
I think they may have scrapped this idea however because they wanted Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose) to be able to stand on her own without a man to help her.
I think this was a mistake. By removing the character of Star and replacing him with a nonverbal animate figure, the movie lost a lot of its potential for emotion and chemistry between him and Asha.
Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral) was the most confusing, a frustrating character for me.
She is introduced as the perfect loyal wife to King Magnifico (Chris Pine). However, at the slightest discontent, instead of communicating her concerns with her husband, or just trusting him, she turns her back on the king and runs to a group of teenagers to complain.
To top it off, Disney had the perfect opportunity to use true love’s kiss to bring Magnifico back, and yet Amaya instead settles for trapping her husband for all of eternity.
For a wife who was supposedly loyal beyond all doubt, she makes you question her motivations.
Magnifico was made out to be the villain in this movie, which is something I disagree with greatly.
His motivations were to protect his kingdom from the same tragedy he experienced as a child by taking and defending his people’s wishes. Wishes that are given to him consensually, and they aren’t even missed by the owners once gone.
And when entitled Asha comes in demanding that he makes her family’s wishes come true and he says no, he’s automatically labeled as the villain.
Sure, he ends up using an evil forbidden magic. However, I think it’s noble that he was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the kingdom, especially because he didn’t know about Star yet. For all Magnifico knew, there was some great imminent threat to his people’s wishes, and he didn’t hesitate to go to the mat to defend them.
On the bright side, some great things in this movie helped to make up for the bad choices. Valentino (Alan Tudyk), the talking goat, was more than just content to exist, crack jokes and scratch his rear against unsuspecting walls.
Another great thing that I saw in the movie was the diversity of characters. There were people of all cultures and identities and representation of disabilities, goals, etc. It made the movie somewhat likable despite its failings and helped to balance out to poor characters designed by Disney.
Grade: D
