Wish (2023)

[Eric Duncan]

Discuss

[Mojoguy]

I just saw the movie and I liked it. It wasn't a classic but not Cars 2 Tier like some critics are making out it out to be.

 

The lead is your typical spunky Disney lead female. The sidekicks are there for laughs and toy sales. Pine did great as the King and villian, though I thought the climax was a little weak with him Force Pushing Asha around.

 

Only weak part was the unremarkable songs. I came out of Frozen and Moana with Let It Go and You're Welcome on my head, this I vaguely remember the main Wish song.

 

I think there was a lack of a wow factor. Tangled has the kingdom, Ralph the different arcade games, Frozen had the ice magic, Zootopia the animals, Moana the ocean.

 

This had the BALLS of light.

 

At least DeBose and Pine are good singers.

 

Even if Wish movie doesn't make as much money, Asha will be appearing in the Disney parks and her dolls will be making money for Disney decades to come. In the end these movies are made to sell merchandise. Its a bonus if we like the movies too.

 

7/10

[Morieris]

Spoiler

So what is the deal with the king, is he being possessed by a book or is a throwback villain?

 

[Mojoguy]

You don't need to spoiler tag anything, this is the spoiler topic. 

 

The king chose to use the dark magic, so he is responsible for his actions. He took away his people's wishes, so he could keep them docile like Asha's friend.

[Morieris]

Oh they couldn't even do anything interesting with that huh.  Hoped a bit for a "He started it, but the magic took him over, but in the end it was still his decision to start" ala Facilier.

[MysteryMovieMogul]

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by MysteryMovieMogul

[Morieris]

I thought that was a joke but reading the wiki page, that's ... kind of what happens lmao

 

Jennifer Lee said ``We’ve never done this expansive of a whole journey of the villain.`` but from what I've seen people say...they still don't.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Morieris

[Webslinger]

There is much ado about Wish being released as part of Disney’s 100-year anniversary celebration of themselves, and unfortunately, it’s more of a cliché storm than a clever homage. The standard pieces of an animated Disney fairy tale musical are all there, but they are done in such simple, perfunctory fashion that they never really take flight. The animation looks nice and there are some decent musical numbers and humorous moments (even if some of their nods to other Disney properties are on the nose to point of feeling cringey), but the characters and storytelling lack the heart and vivaciousness of the studio’s much more successful films in the stellar run they carved out for themselves post-Princess and the Frog. The narrative goes through the motions as it ticks off boxes with little inspiration or sense of surprise or wonder. It’s a shame that the film doesn’t make the most of the talents of Ariana DeBose, who does appealing work as protagonist Asha, but has little character development and surprisingly few songs to work around. It also feels like Chris Pine – game as always – has to make do with material beneath his talents in the villain role. After the kind of roll Disney has been on in the last decade and a half, Wish is a letdown that feels like an overly simple, hollow echo of tropes the studio’s recent films have both subverted and played straight in significantly stronger fashion. While far from a disaster (I do imagine kids will enjoy it, and it has its moments and a cute sentient star), it is handily the weakest offering from the Disney animated canon in quite some time.

 

C+

[filmlover]

This wasn't awful but it is relentlessly derivative of the Disney formula while lacking the kind of magic we expect from one of their efforts, despite being touted as a celebration of the enchantment they've spread across the world for the past 100 years. Pretty animation, but the songs are completely forgettable, the humor is lacking, and the characters never develop much personality (despite capable main vocal performances from Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine). It honestly often comes off as one of the Disney wannabes we got in the 90s than an actual product from the house that The Mouse built.

 

The most dedicated of Disney fans will likely enjoy finding the little Easter Eggs to previous classics, but that is more likely to make one eager to actually wish themselves they were watching those titles again instead of this one. You can find worse Disney movies than this, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing.

 

I did highly enjoy the end credits tribute to Disney Animation's movie catalog though!

 

C+

[YachtyLogs]

The worst part of the credits were them skipping over Meet the Robinsons and Black Cauldron. Meet the Robinson bros we keep losing 

[filmlover]

3 minutes ago, YachtyLogs said:

The worst part of the credits were them skipping over Meet the Robinsons and Black Cauldron. Meet the Robinson bros we keep losing 

The Rescuers movies didn't make an appearance either I believe.

[YachtyLogs]

13 minutes ago, filmlover said:

The Rescuers movies didn't make an appearance either I believe.

Correct. I also don't remember seeing great mouse detective but I also may have missed it. Was disappointed by the omissions honestly. The credits were cool but I'm a big Disney history guy so seeing them not include some movies was kinda weird to me even if Disney is embarrassed of them or something. 

[Dingdong]

This was very good! At All Cost transported me and gave me chills, together with This Wish and Knowing What I Know Now.

 

My only complaint was I’m a Star number was pretty generic, and the animation on that one was pretty clunky.

 

But overall this is extremely great!

[filmlover]

8 hours ago, YachtyLogs said:

Correct. I also don't remember seeing great mouse detective but I also may have missed it. Was disappointed by the omissions honestly. The credits were cool but I'm a big Disney history guy so seeing them not include some movies was kinda weird to me even if Disney is embarrassed of them or something. 

Great Mouse Detective was in there. I think the only omissions were the Frozen/Wreck-It Ralph sequels, Meet the Robinsons, The Black Cauldron, the Rescuers movies, and the various anthology movies from the 40s.

[AniNate]

I'm fighting against the tide on this but from a pure entertainment standpoint, this was only behind the 2016 titans for me as far as the CG era goes. I vehemently disagree with everyone ragging on the soundtrack, thought all of the songs were great. The art style I'm less passionate about, but I still appreciate that they attempted something different here and I don't think it deserves the nasty criticism it has received.

 

If the narrative maybe lacks depth, I still think the overall message is a good one and it's no worse than the usual streamlining in Disney movies. Star and Valentino both were appealing sidekicks and I enjoyed the interplay between Asha and her dwarf-proxy friends. That is the big thing the movie has in its favor imo, that all of the characters remained enjoyable to watch, even the ones that are supposed to be annoying in-universe.

 

Hopefully it gets a reappraisal somewhere down the line when it's further removed from the expectations set up from the 100th anniversary and the general Disney cynicism, because it really doesn't deserve the fate it's been subjected to imo.

[Morieris]

I didn't hate this as much as I expected, but I do agree with the criticisms (besides the animation looking unfinished, I think it's just a style choice that might not work for everyone)

 

Yes the rules in this world regarding magic are not set up too well, and that could be easily ignored if the story didn't focus so much around it. ex. yeah we don't know why Mirabel didn't get a gift from Casita, but the story isn't finding out why and giving us a story about a magic system, the story is about how Mirabel is being poorly treated by people for not being magical. This story revolves around the magic system and it could have used a few more question.

 

There is a way better story about Magnifico that's just waiting to be written. Disney's centennial celebration about a traumatized and paranoid man who goes into a descent into madness would have been incredibly unexpected lmao. His villain song works with the visuals but it still has no replay value outside of it to me.

 

• do they consider it heresy to wish on stars instead of give them to the king
• asha's nameless father said to look to the stars and wish on them. we don't know how he died. did magnifico kill him? ("i've seen too many bad things that I can't keep count")

Asha is boring. What a waste of Ariana Debose, who is genuinely good. I don't feel like Star was around too much either, which is odd.

 

I think there are a lot of fabulous ideas that aren't expanded upon, even without the stupid magic system.

 

Also, Gabo might be an asshole but he IS loyal. You could have kept him and Dahlia and the guy who betrayed them and gotten rid of the rest. I also, quite a lot, went "You know, I would have framed this shot differently for bigger impact."

 

The only reason I rate this higher than Mario because there are 2.5 songs I enjoyed.

Edited November 26, 2023 by Morieris

[titanic2187]

I am going against popular's opinion. I think this movie is a step-up from Encanto. The encanto's villainess plot bore me and Wish really bring that juicy conflict between "princess" and villain back alive. Also I have wish song stuck in my head more so than Bruno' song, which isn't even viral in all Asia.   

 

Overall not an all-time classic greatness but really doesn't deserve all the overly harsh criticism. 

[Dingdong]

44 minutes ago, titanic2187 said:

I am going against popular's opinion. I think this movie is a step-up from Encanto. The encanto's villainess plot bore me and Wish really bring that juicy conflict between "princess" and villain back alive. Also I have wish song stuck in my head more so than Bruno' song, which isn't even viral in all Asia.   

 

Overall not an all-time classic greatness but really doesn't deserve all the overly harsh criticism. 

I agree on the songs, well everyone just keeps saying to all the Disney musicals that the songs are boring or a step down from “Frozen” but the moment the songs blow up they shut up.

 

The songs for me are on par with Encanto’s and Frozen 2, if I rank the musicals based solely on their songs:

 

Frozen

Encanto

Frozen 2/Wish

Moana

Tangled

[dudalb]

 I have not seen it, but I get the feeling it migh have been too Mwta of rit's own good. The occasioanl reference to other Disney animatemed is fine, but this might have depended too much on it.

yes, Disney managed to pull that off iwth '"Enchanted" but they seem to have failed here.

And who would have predicted that in the US Napoleon would have  given Wish it's Waterloo at the box office.