Wish (2023)

I think every time I've been to the cinema to watch a film aimed at youngsters this year I've been reminded that it's the 100th Anniversary of Disney in 2023. And, on each of those occasions, I've seen the trailer for their new film, Wish; and it looked like a good old greatest hits release from Disney. It's fairly inevitable that this anniversary would coincide with a new film, and it makes sense to an extent that one would combine elements of Disney's finest work. There's also an understandable urge to return to Disney's roots for the film; wishing upon a star, hope, a female lead, but perhaps more progressive versions of these origins. So gone are the handsome Princes, riding in on horseback to save the Princess, out with the villainous old women, and again, reasonably, we have a female lead who doesn't need the help of man to partake in saving the day. Instead we have a nasty King (voiced perfectly well by Chris Pine) who presides over the Kingdom of Rosas- a sorcerer who has the ability to grant people their greatest wish. Rosas of course is filled with a multicultural population (something explained briefly in a way that brings to mind the much superior Elemental [2023]) each of which gives the King their wish when they turn eighteen. Our heroine Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose) has an interview to become the King's apprentice, a placing she's desperate to acquire mainly so she can persuade the King to grant her Grandfather's wish, as he's turning 100. DeBose's singing voice has been heard before, in West Side Story (2021) and there's no doubting she can belt out a tune, but her character is particularly one dimensional. After she realises early on that the King isn't all he claims, she sings a song and prances around a bit but as much as she tries, there's no emotion filtering through to the audience. Wish is an attempt to bring together the best of Disney's back-catalogue with a heavy influence on Frozen (2013). When you're relying on something that may well be your biggest earner but is far from your best film, critically things will go awry. It says a lot that Disney recently announced Frozen 4 before Frozen 3 had even begun production Far from being a celebration of Disney's best work, Wish feels strangely inert with an enormous lack of lovable characters; Asha's pet Valentino is the obvious candidate for Wish's Olaf but simply doesn't get enough to do, and as for the supposedly adorable magical star that follows Asha everywhere, it may as well be an increasingly irritating Pokemon. It's certainly not all bad, one or two of the songs land well and if there is a sequel, the Kingdom of Rosas seems to have more architectural scope for exploring, but for a film I was genuinely looking forward to, this ends up being very Frozen lite- and when you don't think Frozen itself is particularly brilliant, that's a problem. It doesn't help that the closing credits have drawings from old Disney classics scrawled beside them, reminding you of better films. However, my five year old claimed she really enjoyed it, and if the prelude to the film (showcasing many of the young children over the years enraptured by the magic of Disney) is anything to go by, maybe that's the opinion that really matters here. 5.8/10