Credit: Inside the MagicThe feature film Wish (2023) was intended to be a huge celebration of all things Disney for the company’s centennial anniversary. That didn’t pan out, and star Harvey Guillén blames its failure on it being “a weird time” for the Mouse House.
Wish was directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn from a screenplay by Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore, which means that the collective creative team from Frozen (2013), Moana (2016), and Zootopia (2016) were brought together by Disney to produce a huge new hit. The film was explicitly designed as an homage to Disney’s history, with an absurd number of Easter Eggs and references packed into the film, as well as a visual style intended to hearken back to the hand-drawn animation of the company’s glory days.
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It starred Ariana DeBose as Asha, a girl who wishes upon the original star that will come to dominate the future history of Disney storytelling, and Chris Pine as King Magnifico, the ur-villain of the entire animation franchise. Harvey Guillén (best known to many audiences as Guillermo in the critically acclaimed FX TV series What We Do in the Shadows) as Gabo, a young boy who is part of a group of teens who are explicitly inspired by the Seven Dwarfs of Snow White fame.
According to Harvey Guillén, the inability of Wish to recoup its grotesquely huge budget or impress critics had less to do with the movie itself than with the current status of pop culture. He told People, “I think it’s been a weird time for film in general and for animation. I think of the last year that we’ve had, everything is just being dissected under a microscope, and people want instant gratification.”
Guillén has a point. Due to the prevalence of social media, it is fair to argue that movies and television (and culture in general) are being publicly examined and tested to a degree never seen before. The actor continued, “I think that any other year or [at] any other time, I think the movie might’ve been critiqued a little bit differently.”
The Gabo actor also connected the disappointment surrounding Wish with the notion that Disney has become a “woke” company pushing progressive agendas at the expense of storytelling. He said, “It’s about a young woman who’s empowered to do the right thing for her community to help, and for some reason, there were critics who might have a different opinion of what they think a Disney hero should look like or what a Disney female role should look like.”
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Guillén is not alone in thinking that Disney movies (and its Marvel and Lucasfilm branches) are being harshly treated by audience members resistant to any kind of perceived change in characterizations. He further defended the company, “It’s very progressive of Disney to maybe change that narrative and to be on the forefront of that. Maybe some people aren’t ready for that, but there’s no point in looking back. We’re moving forward.”
What do you think of Harvey Guillén’s defense of Wish? Let us know in the comments below!