WISH Review

This past Saturday I had the chance to watch an early screening of Disney’s latest animated movie, WISH. Starring Ariana DeBose as Asha, Chris Pine as King Magnífico, and Alan Tudyk as Valentino. This was Disney’s latest animated addition for the 100th-year celebration since the birthday of the company passed on October 16th. WISH is a mixture of themes and animation styles that we know dearly and well and new versions that we have seen in some of the recent years of the 21st century. Now while, everyone and anyone who knows me, knows I’m a Disney fan but I’ll give you all the truth. It wasn’t that great to me. And I was pretty disappointed.

I avoided seeing any and all trailers except for one. Their first theater trailer that plays the song “This Wish” was the only one I saw, and I cried. AT THE TRAILER. So I definitely went into this with high hopes and expectations. Personally, it was all over the place, as if multiple people put their ideas together and they said "Okay make it sell." Now let's start with the plot, or the supposed plot. Asha is this Afro-Latina(and we'll continue to say she's Afro-Latina even though they want to take it back now that the movie is out) who lives in the Kingdom of Rosas. Where their king, King Magnífico, grants wishes once a month that people have given up on their 18th birthday. Keeping them locked away, Asha finds out during an interview with the king that King Magnífico had the wishes locked up for selfish reasons. To control what happens in the kingdom. Seeing the selfishness, Asha ends up telling them they should be free which causes the King to send her home without a job. With determination to free the wishes, she herself makes a wish on a star, which becomes real! The non-talking star(we'll come back to that) helps Asha with her plan along with Valentino, her family goat who ends up talking. Asha, Valentino, and her other friends fight together to free them all as a community. Proving that they don't need the wishes, they just need to be themselves and have hope for a better future. Now here are my issues.

First off, there's a song between King Magnífico and Asha. At first seems like a great duet about greed on his end and hopefulness on her end. But if you listen to the words, it sounds as if it was meant to be a love song... This will go right over kid's heads but you can definitely hear it within the lyrics. Secondly, King Magnífico's character didn't make sense with him being a villain. Not once did he show selfishness, act conceded, or show signs of abusiveness until he became defensive about freeing the wishes. Thirdly, the songs... Now if you know me personally, you know I have a Disney song for dang near EVERY mood. I only liked "This Wish." King Magnífico's song, "This is the Thanks I Get," was completely horrible. The beat was not for a villain and the lyrics just made him sound more like a brat than a villain. Also, the song in the forest made no sense either. If the baby star is making everything else speak then why can't it speak? Now, what I did enjoy was her heartfelt belting of "This Wish." You can hear the pain and the hope within the song, which is why it's my favorite. The songs did have potential though! The lyrics were incredible, but there was something about the beats, and the placement of the songs, that didn't fit. Also, with all due respect... We don't need Lin-Manuel Miranda for every Disney project, there are other songwriters out there. I personally felt that they should've had someone who's worked on one of their older movies and someone else who's worked on their newer more recent movies. Lin-Manuel does good work, but he is everywhere. This could've been the chance to give someone else a chance in the spotlight. I enjoyed the mixture of animation styles and the themes used from old Disney animation films; starting with the storybook, our main character experiencing the loss of a parent and using that to fuel their motivation. I did like the characters as well, but there was no real backstory to any of them except Asha and the King, but they were also very very vague. They could've used the brief of the past they mentioned and used it to explain why they are the way they are. As for Asha's other friends, they could've been more involved in the movie. A huge importance to support the movie but we really only get to learn about one and the rest are kind of just there. Honestly, though, Valentino was the main reason I liked the movie. Yes, I love Asha. Her character and character design were beautiful and brilliant for not only the movie but the company as well. But they also posed her as a new princess being added to the team, and she's not...

I believe this movie had the potential to be phenomenal. But coming out right after The Little Mermaid, animated or not, did not meet the level of hype or greatness that I know and have seen them do. The movie itself had a gist of what it was going for but not a concrete story. It was perfect for the kids! But the kids aren't the ones paying for the movie or giving reviews. For something that is supposed to kickstart "new magic" for the company, I was expecting to make me feel love as it did in Elemental, make me cry as it did in Coco, and give me a good plot twist as it did in Frozen. But it didn't. For me, it's a solid 5. Mainly for Valentino and the baby star as the best duo, and for Asha as the first Afro-Latina character Disney has had, and the first animated movie character to have braids and to have them done right. I do hope for more old meets new Disney this upcoming year.

WISH will be out in theaters on November 22, let me know what you think about it and the hope for future Disney animated films.

<Photo credits to Walt Disney Animated Studios>