FILM
THE DISNEY OUROBOROS ‘Wish’ belly flops on 100 years of legacy BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
I
t all started in Kansas City with a young dreamer named Walt Disney. Alice’s Wonderland wasn’t his first creation, but it was significant. The silent comedy, released in the fall of 1923, blended handdrawn animation and live-action into something that caught the audience’s attention and investor interest. So Walt bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles and, with his older brother Roy, founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio that year. The Alice Comedies paved the way, and then came an animated cat named Julius, a rabbit named Oswald and a mouse named Mickey. Walt lent Mickey his own voice, and the rest, as they say, is history. Few companies have had a more outsized impact on the world than the Disney Corporation. The movies are still a right of passage for children, mile markers for emotional develop-
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ment. But at what point does history become a burden? Today, Disney is more than just a fairy tale factory: It’s a massive conglomerate absorbing studios and stories whole. Few corners of the world do not bear the fingerprints of the empire, be they through artistic appropriation and celebration or political influence. And into this world enters Wish — Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 62nd feature, the one to mark the studio’s centenary. And with a storybook opening and expository narration, Wish immediately pulls you into the Disney movies of yore with 17-year-old Asha (Ariana DeBose) guiding viewers through the setting, the Mediterranean town of Rosas, and the story of their benevolent sorcerer king, Magnifico (Chris Pine). Asha is training to be Magnifico’s apprentice. Why? Because there’s a rumor that anyone who works for the
friends look and behave an king gets a family memWalt Disney awful lot like Snow White’s ber’s wishes granted. And Animation Studios seven dwarves. And isn’t Asha really wants her stumbles with its that Rapunzel’s boat they’re grandfather, who is turning 62nd feature, Wish. fleeing Rosas in? 100 — fancy that! — to Courtesy: Disney That Wish could have have his wish come true. been the uber-prequel for What’s Gramp’s wish? To sing a song that will inspire future gen- the mythical world of the Walt Disney Company is probably what filmmakers erations. Hmm. Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn, But Magnifico isn’t in the business of Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore had in granting wishes; he prefers to hoard mind, but I guess the executives got them. He’s a law-and-order man who the better of that. It’s as if one of them knows that if he were to grant Wendy’s didn’t get the joke and so made the dream of flight or Jane and Michael’s animators put in a scene where a wish for a nanny, they would — well, I bear walks up to a deer and says, don’t know why Magnifico doesn’t want “Hiya, Bambi.” to grant the people of Rosas their wishWish is a disappointment. It feels es. It’s not the only motivation in Wish like a script ChatGPT spit out using that feels left on the cutting room floor. Disney prompts. Ditto for the animaBut Magnifico isn’t the only force tion: beautiful backgrounds with with magical powers in this world. blockish characters standing in front There’s also a star in the night sky of them as if they are green screened. whose power rivals even the king’s. Well, I guess it’s all one big green Might this be the wishing star, the very screen, really. And it’s one big miss: one every other Disney hero since something that could have continued time immemorial has looked to? In another script: Yes. Sharp viewers a legacy but decided to eat it rather than celebrate it. will no doubt note that all the wishes Magnifico hoards are wishes from previous Disney films. And that many of ON SCREEN: Wish is Magnifico’s lines hew pretty close to now playing in theaters. Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent and Aladdin’s Jafar. And that Asha’s seven NOVEMBER 23, 2023
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