Disney’s new movie “Wish” was released on Nov. 22, but many people, including myself, seem to have a distaste for it more and more. In my opinion, many of these issues with the movie are valid as I believe this movie doesn’t feel the same as previous Disney films for a multitude of reasons.
For me, the animation is one of the main factors that affects why this movie doesn’t feel the same as the others. In “Wish,” Disney wanted to take a new approach of combining 3D animation with 2D elements to give the film a painterly look. However, in my opinion, this painted or watercolor effect is seemingly not as successful as they intended.
I think instead of creating a unique look, it looks not fully rendered. Furthermore, with this new wave of animation consisting of projects like “Arcane,” the “Spiderverse” trilogy, “Puss and Boots: The Last Wish,” and more, the standards of animation have been raised significantly. While Disney’s animation is by no means bad, I think it just doesn’t have the same effect as the projects other studios are releasing.
On a similar note, the villain in “Wish,” King Magnifico, is a lackluster villain in my opinion, again, especially compared to the villains in these same projects. His villain song is to the tune of a stereotypical pop beat with lyrics I find to be uninspiring and is nowhere near the level the Disney villain songs have been in the past.
Another aspect of this movie that I think is contributing to my hesitation with the film is the main character, Asha. I don’t have a problem with her, in fact, I think it’s great Disney is creating more original Black characters. More so, it is how she is a continuation of Disney’s pattern of female protagonists. Several new Disney films with female protagonists feature relatively the same personality of being dorky, quirky, and “different” than other girls. These characters include Anna from “Frozen,” Rapunzel from “Tangled,” Mirabel from “Encanto, and now Asha.
While having this dorky personality isn’t a bad thing and even makes sense for a couple of these characters, after continuous characters using this same formula and traits, it gets tiring and boring.
This isn’t a persuasion to try and get people to not see the movie because it’s still a step forward in terms of representation, but I think there are still problems within the film, and these things are not mutually exclusive. Through trailers and multiple clips, I, among others, have noticed a difference in the quality and energy of this film compared to other Disney films and wanted to explore why this might be.