Rating: ***
Review Date: 11/26/23
Cast: Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Jennifer Kumiyama
"We like crazy."
A classic tale of lies, corruption, teenage rebellion, and sticking it to The Man. Asha (Ariana DeBose) is a beautiful, bright, cheerful, and caring young woman who is applying for a job as a sorcerer's apprentice. The sorcerer is King Magnifico (Chris Pine), a pompous and vain ruler who has been corrupted by grief and power. He has the ability to grant peoples' wishes, but only ones that he deems are worthy. He hoards the other wishes, depriving their owners of hope and satisfaction, and eventually starts destroying them to fuel his own megalomaniacal needs. Of course, he justifies his behavior by adopting a victim mentality and gaslighting his subjects. A despondent Asha makes a powerful wish upon a star, which responds by delivering her the power to rise against Magnifico's tyranny and release the captive wishes.
Celebrating Disney's 100th anniversary, "Wish" leans heavily into nostalgia and is full of nods to other Disney classics. Unfortunately, it fails to come together and the overall result is disappointing. On the plus side, the animation is absolutely stunning, and that was the main draw for me. Asha is a fantastic character that embodies all of the classic Disney princess traits, and Ariana DeBose brings her to life with a superb performance. Sadly, the other characters are a bit flat and uninteresting, and only Dahlia (Jennifer Kumiyama) has a hint of personality. While the main story is serviceable, much of the dialog and humor is lacking. Valentino, the talking goat (Alan Tudyk), is simply not funny at all, and even a gratuitous fart joke failed to get a smile out of me. With the exception of Dahlia, Asha's "seven dwarfs" friends are uninteresting at best and otherwise just annoying. But perhaps the biggest problem with the film is the songs. It's certainly not unusual for Disney cartoons to break into overblown musical numbers, but these totally derailed the story and added no value. I found them to be annoying distractions more than anything else, and not very catchy.
Overall, it feels like Disney aimed high and fell short with "Wish," which is disappointing because there are several elements that I really loved about the film. It's like the production collapsed under the weight of its legacy and expectations, instead of just being a straight forward family-friendly call to arms about overthrowing corrupt leaders and crushing the patriarchy.