#inform-video-player-1 .inform-embed { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }
#inform-video-player-2 .inform-embed { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }
As Disney celebrates its 100th year, its Walt Disney Animation Studio borrows its past for its latest film, “Wish,” its 62nd, making references to at least a few of the 61 that came before it.
Most notably, “Wish” leans into the idea of wishing upon a star, giving viewers a few bars of the melody from “When You Wish Upon a Star” — from 1940’s “Pinocchio” — before the movie even actually begins.
And visually, it uses state-of-the-art digital tech to execute what the film’s production notes refer to as a “watercolor storybook style” meant to evoke the watercolor paintings that inspired early Disney films, including “Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” and, yes, “Pinocchio.”
Fortunately, “Wish” is more than a walk down memory lane. While not an instant classic, the music-filled adventure is a wholly enjoyable, perfectly pleasant cinematic experience — one with a message about holding on to and working toward one’s dreams.
As with many a good Disney movie, an appealing young woman resides at the heart of its story. Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose) is one of the residents of Rosas, a fantastical island located off the Iberian Peninsula where wishes can come true. That is thanks to King Magnifico (Chris Pine), a sorcerer who grants one wish per month from those given at a ceremony marking a person’s 18th birthday.
There’s a catch, however, to this whole wish deal: Once you make your wish, it’s held onto by Magnifico until he grants it and the person making it forgets what it is until then. Sounds a little iffy to us, but the people of Rosas love their king.
That includes Asha, who is set to interview to be his apprentice. Get that prestigious gig, she figures, and she can persuade Magnifico to finally grant the wish of her 100-year-old grandfather, Sabino (Victor Garber). She seems a shoo-in, especially because, as she learns, she has a fan in Magnifico’s wife, Queen Amaya (Angelique Cabral), who admires the way Asha is there for her friends, family and others on the island.
It isn’t long into her interview, though, that Magnifico and Asha find they aren’t crazy about one another; Asha becomes disheartened by the reason Magnifico has never granted some wishes, like that of her grandfather, and he is offended that she so quickly would ask anything of him.
Disillusioned after Magnifico’s latest showy wish-granting affair, Asha makes a wish — yes, on a star — and soon has the company of a little personified ball of energy that she calls, well, “Star.”
As Magnifico takes a turn toward cartoonish supervillainy, Asha; her suddenly talking pet goat, Valentino (Alan Tudyk); Star; and others risk much to stop the king, who’s now getting high on his own supply … of wishes.
The performance by DeBose helps endear us to Asha from the film’s first few minutes, and the gifted singer shines with leading numbers, including the yearnful “This Wish” and the determined “Knowing What I Know Now.”
However, it’s Pine who steals the show as the power-hungry and vain magic man. The charismatic actor seems to be having a lot of fun singing the king’s disgruntled and self-loving “This is the Thanks I Get?!”
#inform-video-player-3 .inform-embed { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }