Wish

This Thanksgiving, Wish, the newest film from Walt Disney Animation released in theaters. It follows a young girl named Asha who lives in a city where wishes are granted by the king. When she wishes on a star, she gets more than she asked for when a little star comes down from the sky to help make her wish come true. Wish is marketed as the celebration of 100 years of storytelling from Disney.

From a standalone movie standpoint, I thought the movie was decent enough. I think all of the songs were quite good with This Wish being the standout and the likely contender for an Oscar nomination. I thought Ariana DeBose was as great as Asha. She was a great singer and very talented. I thought that the Chris Pine villain, Magnifico was very well written. You can see where his reasoning is coming from and the change when he begins to be corrupted by dark magic. I thought the movie did a great job of painting his reasons as valid as all he wants to do is protect his city. His judgment may be a bit flawed but his main goal was initially good. I also liked the general premise of the movie. Having a town where you can get wishes granted was a very interesting idea and the whole battle between who decides which wishes were granted and what to do with the ones that weren't was very compelling. I also thought the animation style was very unique. It is designed to look like a storybook come to life instead of the traditional 3D animation which I think made the movie stand out a bit. Finally, I enjoyed all the little nostalgic moments and references to other Disney movies throughout the story.

What this movie lacks for me is from being the build-up of 100 years of stories as Disney marketed it. I wasn't expecting an Avengers: Endgame-type payoff or anything. I just was expecting a movie with a bit more wow to it. The story itself is fine, but it just isn't at the level of some of the classics. I liked the basic premise but felt it just didn't build things out enough. I think the movie could have been closer to the 2-hour mark and been much better. That would have left more time for Asha to grow and for there to be a bit more fun in the middle act. I also felt that they could have done a bit more with the Easter eggs and references. Nothing too in your face but maybe a familiar melody sprinkled in here or there or a throwaway line that was a quote from another movie. Anything that would have made it a bit more crowd-pleasing.

Overall, while the movie on its own is fine enough, as the 100th Anniversary celebration film, it didn't quite live up to the level it needed to. In any other year, this movie may have been more well-received. But as the 100th anniversary film, I think it needed to do a bit more.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

Recommendation: Check it out if you are a die-hard Disney fan otherwise wait for it to come out on Disney+