Wish feels like a classic Disney animated movie with heroines who dare to dream, killer songs, talking animals and power-hungry villains — and yet, it's missing some magic.
Directed by Chris Buck (Frozen) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (Raya and the Last Dragon), this new movie was created to celebrate Disney's 100th anniversary through the idea of wishes, the driving force behind the studio's most iconic characters.
As Cinderella sings, a wish is a dream your heart makes, and that's the spark that ignited the creation of Wish, an exciting blend of the past and the present with Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) voicing the main heroine.
With gorgeous hand-drawn animation being the biggest success of the production, Wish is a fun watch, even if sometimes it's dragged down by its own legacy.
After a Sleeping Beauty-inspired opening, the movie centres on Asha (DeBose), a 17-year-old girl living on the Mediterranean island of Rosas.
Her dream is to become the apprentice of King Magnífico (voiced by Chris Pine), a powerful wizard who not only rules the land but also helps protect people's wishes.
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When turning 18, every Rosas citizen gives him their most precious wish, and then forgets about it. "You forget without regret," says Magnífico, who argues this way people are not burdened by the frustrations of not having a wish come true.
However, forgetting their wishes also erases an essential part of themselves, removing their determination to fight for them.
Determined to do something about this injustice, Asha makes a wish upon a star, like in the classic Pinocchio song — and someone answers.
As she fights to retrieve her grandpa and mother's long-forgotten wishes, she will find that the beloved ruler of Rosas is not as magnanimous as everybody thinks.
Magnífico is an attempt at going back to the classic Disney villain, channelling characters obsessed with power and driven by dark magic like Maleficent, The Little Mermaid's Ursula and Aladdin's Jafar.
However, he's not as compelling, mysterious or scary as the aforementioned villains, and his overwhelming presence in this 90-minute movie — he even has two full songs for himself — doesn't make him a more appealing antagonist.
If anything, it takes screentime away from Asha, who could have been a more rounded heroine.
The plot's simplicity is a double-edged sword, as it sacrifices depth — and a certain adult edge we've come to expect from Disney's animation — in exchange for a painless concept and an Easter egg fest.
Yes, Disney nods can be found all over the movie, from Asha's friends paralleling Snow White's seven dwarfs to all sorts of talking animals evoking the likes of Bambi's Tambor.
It's fun for Disney fans, who will repeatedly point at the screen, but it's a shame those nods are less meaningful and more wink-wink.
What is truly exciting about Wish is its refreshing style of animation.
Following the innovations penned by short films like Paperman, Feast and Far From the Tree, the movie blends hand-drawn animation and digital artwork over a 2D watercolour-look background with paper texture — it's absolutely beautiful.
This look plays with the idea of the studio's legacy, mixing the past with the present in a richly textured visual imagery we can only hope to see again in future big-screen Disney projects.
Also, it wouldn't be a proper Disney animated classic without songs, and here Grammy winners Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice do a fabulous job.
'This Wish' is a great new addition to the tradition of the Heroine Song (aka Princess Song) like the likes of 'Let It Go', while the playful 'Knowing What I Know Now' serves as an electric companion for a stage musical-inspired moment that is a standout in the movie.
All in all, it's unlikely Wish will stick with audiences as deeply as other recent triumphs like Encanto, but it's an enjoyable, short-and-sweet watch that makes a decent addition to Disney's catalogue.
Wish is arriving in cinemas on November 24.
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Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
