The newest Disney Princess film is out, ringing in 100 years of Disney. While it has some likable characters, lovely animation, and an interesting concept, it stumbles a little in the execution. In my estimation, it doesn’t fully distinguish itself as much as some of its predecessors.
Asha lives in the kingdom of Rosas, where every citizen gives their heart’s deepest wish to their king, the magician Magnifico, on their 18th birthday. Magnifico safeguards the wishes, occasionally using his magic to make one of them come true, and when Asha gets her long-waited chance to interview as Magnifico’s new apprentice, she learns a dismaying secret about the kingdom. Longing to improve the lives of the people, Asha makes a wish of her own, one she’s not handing over to Magnifico.
There are some neat ideas at the center of this movie. The notion that citizens forget their wish when they give it to Magnifico is really poignant—when a person can no longer remember what they want more than anything, how does that affect who they are? And while some of the wishes would likely be impossible without magic, others are really tangible. Why would people give them to Magnifico and hope he’ll grant it someday, instead of trying to make it come true on their own? And while Magnifico is undeniably vain and paternalistic, assuming he knows better than all his citizens, his actions are also influenced by trauma in his past.
Unfortunately, the story is kind of all over the place, and none of these themes get explored as much as I would like. The narrative often stays on the surface of its richer ideas, only periodically digging a little deeper before going back to action, gags, and cackling villainy. I don’t want to take away from the deeper moments, because they’re really well done. I love how affected Asha is when she sees all the wishes for the first time in Magnifico’s study, and the ultimate resolution of the film is beautiful. But at the same time, these excellent moments make the film as a whole feel like it’s performing below its potential—because I know it does have something to say, it’s frustrating that it so often makes the easier choice instead of doing something more complex.
I intentionally put off writing this review for about a week, because I wanted to give myself more time to think about it; it wouldn’t be the first time my opinion of a film improved as I let it roll around in my head. But Wish has mostly stayed in a middling position for me—not a bad film, but not as good as it could be, and it doesn’t rise to the level of Disney’s better offerings, both classic gems like Aladdin or most recent wins like Encanto.
Part of it is the music, by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice. Again, it’s not bad, but for me, the songs have yet to really grab me. While they have improved for me with multiple listens, I feel like, for most part, the choruses are good but the verses and bridges don’t do enough to set themselves apart. This leaves them with a nice hook, but the full experience of each song feels a little lacking. And for my money, a lot of the lyrics are fine but unremarkable.
The film’s best assets are its animation and its cast. The visuals are beautifully done, especially the wishes—both Magnifico’s glowing orbs and the more overt personification of Asha’s wish. And as for the voice cast, Ariana DeBose is equal parts fun and endearing as Asha, and of course her singing is lovely. Chris Pine puts his all into voicing Magnifico, and Alan Tudyk is entertaining as Asha’s goat sidekick Valentino. I was distracted for like the first half of the film trying to figure out who voiced Sabino, Asha’s grandfather; it’s Victor Garber! The film also features Natasha Rothwell (Kelli from Insecure,) Harvey Guillén, Evan Peters, and Ramy Youssef—I wouldn’t have guessed any of them were in this, but it was a pleasant surprise to see their names in the credits afterwards.
Warnings
Scary moments for kids, thematic elements, some gross-out humor, and some “don’t try this at home.”
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