[Review] Wish (4/10)

 

Title - Wish
Production - Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Starring - Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell, Jennifer Kumiyama, Harvey Guillen, Niko Vargas, Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, Jon Rudnitsky, Della Saba
Writer - Jennifer Lee, Allison Moore, Chris Buck
Director - Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn
Release - 22 November 2023

This was an embarrassment to the Disney 100 celebration. The Disney Animation was what started this empire and Disney decided to cap off it's 2023's 100th anniversary with this less than mediocre affair.

They probably aimed high. Look at who co-wrote and co-directed it: Chris Buck - co-director of Frozen and Frozen II; Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck in writing credits - both of them co-wrote and co-directed Frozen and Frozen II. The Frozen franchise is the biggest, most lucrative, and possibly the best of Disney's animated movie in the last 20 years.

So are we to blame the newcomers, Fawn Veerasunthorn and Allison Moore? Maybe.

The issue with Wish was that it had a very interesting and noble concept, but maybe wasn't executed well. On paper it might have looked better; but then again, unlike Frozen, none of the supporting characters were memorable because they were not written out properly or given much of a voice.

The only one that did get a voice, no pun intended, was the baby goat voiced by Alan Tudyk; and even he did not have much going on for it. Compare him to Olaf from Frozen, Olaf became an international sensation because of what the writers gave him to do in the movie.

There were a couple of songs I could see popping up in the Oscar nomination (Ariana DeBose once again gave a powerhouse of a performance in her songs), but then there were another couple ones that fell flat. Even the animation to accompanying the number were so cringy - especially the Chris Pine's solo effort. 

And worst of all, after such a let down in the experience of the movie, the credits started rolling with a picture of all the characters from the Disney archive, starting from way back when with Mickey and Minnie being one of the first to appear. The whole thing left a bad taste in the mouth.