A Thorough Analysis of ‘Wish’: Disney’s Lackluster 100-Year Feature Film
Walt Disney Studios released their newest original animated film, Wish, on November 22nd, 2023. In the midst of an era of live-action remakes and sequels, Wish is the studio’s first original feature film since Strange World (2022). It also features Disney’s first Afro-Iberian princess, Asha.
After turning 100 years old on October 16th, 2023, Disney created Wish to pay homage to the studio’s century-long journey of being a pioneer of animation. Throughout the story, there are several easter eggs eluding to the classic Disney films that fans know and love.
However, the film has received brutal feedback before and after its release. Along with having mediocre 3D animation, the original plot, soundtrack, and characters fell short of memorable or impactful. At the time of this piece, the film has only received $8.3 million in box office earnings against a $200 million budget upon its opening day. Wish has received a 50% critic score and 83% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.9/10 on IMDb.
What happened to this highly anticipated film? Why did it fall short of what was expected? Is Disney hitting a major bump in the road?
Let’s take a deep dive into Disney’s newest film, Wish.
Disclaimer! This articles contains major spoilers. If you have not seen Wish (2023) and do not want to be spoiled, DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT!
The Story
The film begins with Disney’s classic story book opening, as seen in early projects such as Snow White (1937) and Pinocchio (1940). With Asha (Ariana DeBose) as the narrator, she reads the story of King Magnifico (Chris Pine), who studied magic in order to become a sorcerer and grant the wishes of his people. However, after tragedy struck, he, his wife, and his citizens settled on the island of Rosas. The city’s culture is based on Hispanic and Mediterranean culture.
The scene transitions to Asha, her grandfather Sabino (Victor Gaber), her mother Sakina (Natasha Rothwell), and her goat sidekick Valentino (later voiced by Alan Tudyk). Asha explains that once a year, one person is randomly selected by King Magnifico to have their wish granted in a public ceremony. The day of the ceremony is the same day Sabino turns 100 years old and he desperately hopes that his wish will finally be granted. Additionally, the King is holding interviews for a new apprentice, which Asha has applied for.
After helping Sabino get ready for the ceremony, Asha rushes off to her current job as a tour guide. In her first song, ‘Welcome to Rosas’, she goes on to explain how when someone turns 18 years old, they are able to give their wishes to King Magnifico to hold onto or grant later. However, this results in that person forgetting their wish entirely. The King and the citizens treat this ceremony as taking a heavy weight off of their chests.
Afterward, Asha goes to the castle to prepare for her interview with King Magnifico. Here, the film introduces Asha’s seven friends that are nods to the seven dwarves from Snow White. Dahlia (Jennifer Kumiyama) is Asha’s voice of reason who has a slight crush on the King. Gabo (Harvey Guillén) is grumpy and skeptical. Simon (Evan Peters) is the sleepy friend who will serve more purpose later. Safi (Ramy Youssef) is the comic relief with bad allergies. Bazeema (Della Saba) is shy and reserved. Dario (Jon Rudnitsky) is goofy, but intelligent when he needs to be. Hal (Niko Vargas) provides optimism for the group.
As Asha sets off to her interview, the film officially introduces King Magnifico’s wife, Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral). She thinks very highly of per husband, but is aware that he is capable of going off the deep end. She fully believes that Asha is the perfect candidate to be the King’s apprentice. After providing a brief bit of advice, she leaves Asha in the castle’s study to wait for the King.
While in the study, Asha spots a spell book that is locked away by a spellbound casing. King Magnifico enters the room as Asha is observing it. Here, the audience is given the impression that King Magnifico is cool, collected, and professional. Despite the interview starting off awkward, he and Asha are able to bond over their passion for granting wishes to the people and their experiences with loss.
Asha tells King Magnifico and the audience about her diseased father who taught her about wishing on stars. Additionally, King Magnifico shares his backstory of his family being murdered by thieves. King Magnifico is so impressed by Asha’s resolve that he decides to show her the room where he keeps the citizen’s wishes.
In the film’s second musical number, ‘At All Costs’, Asha and the King sing a duet expressing their passion for granting wishes. However, their feelings come from completely different places in their hearts. Asha sings about granting the wishes to bring people happiness while King Magnifico wants to keep the wishes locked away for himself. Asha finds Sabino’s wish among the collection and asks the King if the wish can be granted. But King Magnifico is taken aback by the request.
Sabino’s wish is very simple, as it shows him playing his guitar for the citizens of Rosas. King Magnifico claims that the wish is too vague and potentially dangerous. He goes on to explain that not every wish can be granted because many wishes can be considered dangerous for Rosas. Asha is aware of the existence of potentially dangerous wishes. However, she tries to defend the wishes that deserve to be granted. King Magnifico takes this as a threat and lashes out as Asha, writing her off as being too young to understand.
Cut to the ceremony, King Magnifico gathers the people of the town in a flashy display and shows how he collects the wishes of the people. Out of the crowd, he chooses a random person to have their wish granted rather than Sabino’s wish. After the ceremony, King Magnifico tells Asha that she is no longer considered for the apprentice position and sends her home.
Asha, Sabino, and Sakina sit in disappointment at the dinner table. Asha tries to open up about what she saw in the castle and tries to tell Sabino about his wish. But Sabino only gets angry and Asha leaves the house with Valentino.
In the film’s third feature song, ‘This Wish’, Asha expresses her grievances and wishes on a star for the people of Rosas to have their wishes granted. The wish causes a wave of magical light to shower over Rosas and Star comes down to Asha. Star is a non-verbal entity that communicated through facial expressions and body language.
Asha is confused and freaked out by this phenomenon. But soon warms up to Star as she realized it’s there to help Asha see her wish through. Star shows off its abilities by using star dust to bring inanimate objects to life and make Valentino talk. The fourth feature song, ‘I’m A Star’ is meant to be an introduction to Star’s abilities and to give Asha encouragement in her path to success. The song also pays homage to Disney’s talking animal and objects trope.
Asha goes back to the castle to retrieve the wishes of Sabino and Sakina and tells her friends about her plan. Her friends are wary, but willing to help her after learning about the King’s true intentions. While Asha goes to the King’s study to get the wishes, her friends are in charge of creating a diversion.
Meanwhile, King Magnifico is disturbed by the wave of light that traveled through Rosas and believes he is being threatened. He considers turning to his forbidden book of spells, but Queen Amaya manages to talk him out of it. Instead, he makes an announcement to the kingdom about the event, claiming that their is a traitor among the people.
Dahlia distracts the King by asking him a seemingly ridiculous question about gathering information about the traitor. This question leads to a string of other questions about what King Magnifico is doing with the citizen’s hoarded wishes. This upsets the King and he silences them by telling them that whoever finds the traitor will have their wish granted.
As King Magnifico storms off in a huff, he sings the fifth featured song, ‘This Is The Thanks I Get’. In this piece, he is trapped in his own delusions about how great he is and believes the citizens of Rosas are selfish. Toward the end of the song, he becomes progressively angry and consults the forbidden spell book. Meanwhile, Asha and Star manage to find Sabino’s wish and retreat without being seen.
Back at her home, Asha gives Sabino his wish and he regains the motivation to pursue his passion. But this happy moment with Asha’s family is interrupted by King Magnifico storming in and declaring that someone turned her in. With him, the King has Sakina’s wish in hand. As punishment, he crushes the wish and learns that he can gain power from the wishes. However, destroying someone’s wish affects the victim with a heavy sense of depression and dread.
After learning this, King Magnifico goes back to his castle to create a staff made of forbidden magic. Here, Queen Amaya sees that her husband has gone off the deep end. But she is unable to talk him out of his evil-doings this time around after he threatened her.
Meanwhile, Asha, Sabino, and Sakina are retreating to a deserted island off the coast of Rosas to escape. But Asha decides to have her mother and grandfather hide on the island while she swims back to Rosas to help the people.
Back in the city, King Magnifico has called for a manhunt for Asha. He also accuses Asha of destroying her mother’s wish. It is revealed that Asha’s sleepy friend, Simon, ratted her out. As a reward, he is granted his wish of being a knight for King Magnifico. However, he is also put under the King’s mind control to hunt down Asha. Additionally, Simon publicly announces the names of Asha’s other six friends.
After seeing this display, Asha and Star retreat to the castle, where they meet up with her six friends. In the sixth feature song, ‘Know What I Know Now’, Asha and her friends devise a plan to get the wishes and stop King Magnifico from doing any more damage. Later, Queen Amaya joins in on the cause. While Queen Amaya and Dahlia decipher the forbidden spell book, the other five are responsible for releasing the wishes while Asha created a diversion for the King.
Asha and Star go into the woods, where King Magnifico is looking for her. Star makes a magic wand out of a small branch for Asha, but Asha is very bad at casting spells. However, it is revealed that King Magnifico sent in Simon as a decoy while the real King was still at the castle. Star and the wishes get captured and the King uses a spell to literally tether the citizens to the ground.
However, the people and Asha manage to defeat the king in the seventh feature song, ‘This Wish (Reprise)’ by using the power of their innermost desires to defeat King Magnifico. The wishes get released and the King gets sucked into his staff. No longer being under King Magnifico’s control, Simon apologizes to Asha and the group for ratting them out to the King.
Queen Amaya becomes the new ruler of Rosas and encourages the citizens to put in the work to make their wishes come true. Star makes Asha a real magic wand and she becomes the Fairy Godmother of Rosas.
The film ends by closing the storybook from the beginning. The end credits feature ‘A Wish Worth Making’ by Julia Michaels and golden silhouettes of all classic and modern Disney characters, starting with Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) and ending with Splat from Strange World (2022). There is a brief after-credit scene of Sabino playing ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ on his guitar.
The Characters
Asha is the main character of the story. She is Disney’s first mixed-race princess, being of Afro-Iberian descent. She has a great passion for learning about wishes and wants to be the King’s apprentice. But when she learns the truth about what is being done to the people’s wishes, she takes it upon herself to stop the King’s plans. She briefly mentions that her inspiration came from her father, but there is no other mention of him beyond that for the rest of the film.
Star is the non-verbal being that comes down to Asha in her time of need. It is meant to be a nod to the wishing star from Disney’s Pinocchio (1940) and uses magic star dust to help Asha in her quest.
King Magnifico is the film’s main protagonist. He founded Rosas after learning the ways of sorcery to grant the wishes of his people. But his intentions turn sinister over time, as he is very egotistical and uses the wishes to strengthen his magical abilities.
Queen Amaya is King Magnifico’s wife. She is a patient woman who acts as King Magnifico’s voice of reason. But when she learns of her husband’s plans, she joins Asha in her mission to save the people of Rosas and their wishes.
Asha’s friends serve their own minor roles as they help Asha in her mission. Each one is meant to be a nod to the seven dwarves from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Dahlia is Doc, Gabo is Grumpy, Simon is Sleepy, Safi is Sneezy, Bazeema is Bashful, Dario is Dopey, and Hal is Happy.
Valentino is Asha’s goat sidekick. He does not serve any other purpose except for the attempted comic relief. Unfortunately, his jokes tend to fall flat.
Sabino is Asha’s grandfather. While he does not serve much significance in the story, it is possible that he is meant to represent Walt Disney Studios, as he is 100 years old in the story and, like the company, brings happiness and entertainment to the people around him once he pursues his wish.
Sakina is Asha’s mother. Not much is known about her and she plays a very insignificant role in the film. We never learn what her wish was, even when Asha made it a point to get the wish when retrieving Sabino’s.
The Soundtrack
The story features seven original songs, including a bonus end credit piece sung by Julia Michaels. The soundtrack was written by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice with the score composed by David Metzger.
While the film has a couple of gems, the soundtrack is an aspect of this musical feature that falls flat. Many of the pieces are either too fast-paced to keep up with or do not fit with Disney’s theatrical storytelling brand.
‘Welcome To Rosas’ introduces the audience to the setting and the rules of this new world. While the animation and the choreography are good, these aspects end up having to carry the appeal of the song. The pacing is very fast and the lyrics attempt to squeeze in too much information all at once.
Song Verdict: 5/10
‘At All Costs’ was an unexpectedly beautiful piece. The song is a duet between Asha and King Magnifico as they give their perspectives on what the power of wishes means to them. The song is poetic along with there being beautiful animated visuals.
Song Verdict: 9/10
‘This Wish’ fits in the best with Disney’s theme of making dreams come true. This piece was very prominent in its advertising, setting the tone for the rest of the film. In this song, Asha laments about how badly she is treated by King Magnifico and makes a wish for the people of Rosas to have their wishes come true. Despite some of the pacing being a bit awkward, it is a good and passionate piece.
Song Verdict: 10/10
‘I’m A Star’ is one of the more generic songs of the film. The message is meant to introduce Star’s character while encouraging Asha to chase after her wish of helping her people. It also pays homage to Disney’s trope of talking animals and inanimate objects. However, the tone is very generic and fits way too much information into each line, making it hard to decipher the meaning behind it. Other than possibly being visually appealing to younger audiences, it is possible that this song could have been scrapped altogether.
Song Verdict: 2/10
‘This Is The Thanks I Get’ is King Magnifico’s villain song. Upon the song’s early release, the piece received harsh criticism from Disney fans, as it did not match up with the many iconic Disney villain songs of past and recent projects. Toward the end, King Magnifico’s tone becomes more sinister and evil. But the majority of the song is much too cheery, sounding more like a man complaining about his job rather being a genuine villain.
Song Verdict: 3/10
‘Know What I Know Now’ is sung by Asha, her friends, and Queen Amaya. This is the battle song where the group devises a plan to take down King Magnifico. While the tone is spot on for what is it going for, the song, unfortunately, is still very generic and forgettable.
Song Verdict: 4/10
‘This Wish (reprise)’ is the song that Asha and the citizens of Rosas sing to defeat King Magnifico. As they sing, they gather the power of their inner most wishes to overpower the King. There is some change to the lyrics to better fit the scene. Otherwise, this plot device seemed like a rushed way to put an end to the story.
Song Verdict: 3/10
‘A Wish Worth Making’ is featured in the end credits of the film. The message of the song is very straightforward, as it is about making a wish that the listener knows is worth making. The end credits also feature golden silhouettes of all classic and modern Disney characters, giving the reel a nostalgic atmosphere for Disney fans.
Song Verdict: 10/10
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, Wish fell short of what it could have been. What was supposed to be an homage to Disney’s 100 years of animation became nothing short of a poorly-disguised advertisement with a lackluster story. The nostalgic aspect was present, but that is truly all it had going for it.
The characters were either too generic or too goofy. Asha was yet another cookie-cutter adorkable female protagonist with an animal sidekick and her friends were nothing short of forgettable. King Magnifico felt like less of a villain and more of a moody teenager throwing a tantrum. Sabino, Sakina, and Queen Amaya simply felt like another presence in the room rather than impactful characters. There was not much emphasis on the importance of Asha’s father after being established as her inspiration to work for the King. Valentino and the other talking animals attempted to be the comic relief, but merely came out as loud, annoying, and painfully unfunny.
The soundtrack only had four memorable songs, one of which being the most lackluster villain song Disney has ever produced. The rest of the tracks were generic, awkward, and forgettable. Lastly, many fans were upset about the appearance of the animation. Due to the watercolor character designs, many parts of the film look unfinished, especially scenes that take place in daylight. Originally, the film was supposed to take Disney back to its 2D animation origins. However, this idea was scrapped in an attempt to appeal to the more popular CGI trend.
Film Verdict: 4/10
What did you think of Wish? Did you enjoy the film? Do you think Disney should have gone with a different direction for their 100-year anniversary? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!
