Credit: DisneyDespite Disney’s marketing billing the film as a return to classic values and practices, Wish (2023) has been met with increasingly mixed reviews. Although it’s struck a chord with most viewers, it’s nowhere near the financial success the Walt Disney Company needs.
That all being said, directors Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and the rest of Walt Disney Animation did an excellent job and delivered on what they promised. Although it’s not the ultimate Disney movie some might expect, it served as an emotional reminder as to why we love the studio in the first place.
As much as some might tear the movie apart for some of its stylistic choices, the genre of the soundtrack, or even its color palate, Wish doesn’t miss the boat when it comes to establishing itself as a Disney classic. As much as the collective culture might find it popular to continuously rag on Disney for some of its recent flops, Wish is by no means a bad film.
Disney Granted Our Wish
WARNING: Minor spoilers ahead!
Inside the Magic has elaborated in great detail on the movie’s performance, but not enough has been said about how much Wish delivers that familiar flavor of Disney magic we all know and love. The problem facing the film isn’t that Walt Disney Animation made an underwhelming product; it’s that too many are looking at it from the wrong angle.
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Disney CEO Bob Iger recently commented that the company needed to stop “prioritizing messaging” over good storytelling, and that’s precisely what Wish accomplishes by scaling back to more basic elements that helped establish the company’s identity.
Iger shared,
“We have entertained with values and with having a positive impact on the world in many different ways. ‘Black Panther’ is a great example of that,” Iger said. “I like being able to entertain if you can infuse it with positive messages and have a good impact on the world. Fantastic. But that should not be the objective. When I came back, what I have really tried to do is to return to our roots.”
That’s not to say Wish doesn’t have a message or substance. It does, but it doesn’t get so ham-fisted with its delivery, as seen in movies like Strange World (2022). It’s not wrong to give your movie some sort of takeaway point, but not all movies need it to be enjoyable.
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The reason Wish works is because it has more in common with movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), or Peter Pan (1953), movies that helped establish Disney as a household name. It’s not overly deep and complex because it doesn’t really need to be.
The point of watching Wish is the same reason we watch any of Disney’s classic fairytales. We want to immerse ourselves in a faraway place (like Rosas), see our hero or heroine (Ariana DeBose’s Asha) break a wizard’s evil spell (Chris Pine’s King Magnifico), and save all the wishes with a comedic animal sidekick and a catchy soundtrack to tie it all together.
For the past few years, Disney fans have been begging the studio to get back to what made it so great. They want to see lovable characters overcome the powers of darkness. So why be mad when Disney gives them precisely that?
By that logic, Wish does everything it needs to do to identify as a traditional Disney movie. That’s also not addressing the enormous amount of easter eggs and connections to other beloved movies that absolutely pour off the screen.
Ultimately, when Wish gets something right, it fully commits to it. It has its problems, as all movies do, but it still knocks it out of the park when it comes to being a Disney movie made with Disney fans in mind.
Was Wish what you were hoping for? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!